Greymouser

I received my second order from this wonderful company on Friday. Again very well packaged and quickly delivered by DPD, the best courier too imo. I do like the sticker: " May contain clouds ", brought a grin to my face that did, does every time I see it as it is now on the box that contains my OTA. In fact I would say FLO are missing a trick there, I would pay good money for this kind of humorous sticker, they should produce and sell more varieties! ? All contact with the company has been very prompt and very good. Not so much with the second order which was very straight forward, but the first required some back and forth e mails, between me and the firm. I would say that other suppliers could learn a thing or two from this company, not mentioning names or anything... If there is a choice I will be using this company in the future, before any other, because of that excellent customer service. Thank you FLO, keep up the good work. ?

My shopping list gets bigger and bigger... ?

Could you tell me which click lock you went to exactly. In fact could you break down to a real easy level, ( for someone quite stupid, like myself, ) exactly what you did please.

I was under the impression that they were only a 50 degree FOV, is my assumption wrong?

You are not the first to suggest this and I had in fact been considering that, but for two reasons, it could be a possibility. The cost would be considerable, to put it mildly and any field flattening correction would then be lost, unless you can then buy another correcter for the two inch visual back? I wish I could afford it though, especially the top of the range eyepieces! ??

I will check again, without the full moon! It wouldn't surprise me though...?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reducersflatteners/celestron-f63-focal-reducer.html Well I have now used the scope with the focal reducer in place. ? Whilst it is billed as mainly to improve imaging, it certainly seems to improve visually too. I will have to experiment further, because I first used the scope on a moonless night at F10, last night with the focal reducer in place, F6.3, there was a full moon, which made things a littler more interesting! Certainly the view of M31 was wider and seemed sharper, but that may have been my imagination. I am sure I saw more detail, which is surprising considering the full moon, I suppose it may have been just me, if I am being negative, but it did seem better. It really does make a two scopes for one in my opinion alone, not least because it makes it easier for lower magnifications. The 40mm eyepiece at F10 gives a Magnification of 58.75, at F6.3 it is 37, I think, even though they advise not to use an eyepiece longer than 35mm at 6.3! Never mind, with several eyepieces it seems to have improved things. Considering the thing cost £99, it seems to be a good buy, especially when you consider that I spent £2349 on my scope. Even more so considering the future benefits when I dip my toes into imaging... As well as it also gives a flatter field. I can heartily recommend it for those with a similar scope, even if like me it is only for visual versatility. ? My first impressions of the Nexstar 9.25 Evolution can be found here:

Thank you and interesting. ? It would be visual, initially. I did look at the option of a Skytee II and the Uni28, ( seeing it mentioned by you I think...) Telescope House sell it with a metal tripod too. FLO claim a load of 10 KG, TH one of 15KG, I presume slightly different mounts? Even though they look very similar from the pics. Considering the light pollution at home, I need portability though I think. If you consider the ED150 to be not really worth considering as portable, what would consider a good scope for portability? Sorry if it is a stupid question, but I just do not know enough, but do know Dobs are not as good as some say, more " moveable ". ?

Thank you for your reply. Can I ask bot you and John about what you would advise as the minimum mount for this telescope? FLO are selling it with an EQ6-R, which I suspect will not be remotely portable? ?

Can I ask you just how good the case it come supplied with is? I don't think you mentioned it, other than it arrived undamaged. It is just that I have come across some flight cases that were not too good to be honest, which is not good when transporting scopes etc. Thanks.?