heliumstar

I use Zeiss lens wipes for everything from glasses, objectives to eyepieces

Freshly cleaned just for the photo. It's completely invisible

Opened the package today to get ready for tonight. Looks like it'll be clear for a few hours. The mount looks great. Smaller than Vamo and quicker to disassemble for travel. So far so good. Very easy to balance and smooth in operation. We'll see how it handles 120x tonight.

I used it in FS-60Q configuration without any issues 👍 The longest I used it pointing straight to the Sun was 1.5hrs during Mercury transit last year. I would assume the same for 76 since the configuration is identical. Extender is quite down the tube.

Sometimes I only take BCOs 18mm and 10mm + 2.25x Barlow with me. 18mm as a finder and then 10mm and Barlow. It gives me magnifications from 30x to 120-130x in nice jumps - depending on the telescope.

I usually price it at 0.66x but include shipping. For second hand I go slightly lower than what I bought it for and include shipping as well (usually). @Ianw apart from here and astrobuysell.com/uk check ebay as well. Sometimes amazing stuff comes up for decent price.

Thanks for pointing this out. I have to admit I had no intent of reading the manual :🙄

This was on my buy list until I saw it's only 80cm or so in height fully extended. I received the mount as well but it's sitting in a box for now. Full day of meetings today and feel like squeezed towel so not sure if unpacking today. Yours looks very good though

I inquired about this mount a few weeks ago at FLO and been waiting for it to show up. Just ordered one yay. Will put it against Ayo II and Vamo and one of these three will stay I already know that Vamo can handle my scopes just as good as Ayo II so it will be interesting to see how this little one from Japan goes. Slo-mo is certainly a plus...

It's good I didn't try this myself Amazing amount of parts he he. ----- Here's my latest Alt-Az mount. Ayo II. Waited for this one to come on sh market for awhile. I have to say though that Vamo is as smooth as its bigger 'brother' Ayo II and as stable at 130x so in reality no real improvement with my telescopes - apart from mounting two on it

Thanks for the reply. I found two more sources that say it's flattener as well. It wouldn't make sense otherwise

So, I have this reducer and flattner as well but nowhere in the system chart I can find how I can use these two together so it got me thinking. Is the 76D reducer (TKA18580) a flattner as well?

Had a first try last night with the Gitzo. No issues at all with Ayo II and two telescopes. All together aprox. 8kg on top of the tripod. I wish I opted for Gitzo earlier. At 130x magnification damping is instant.

If I was in your position I would ask the local shop for a little discount. Also, I don't agree that 70 EUR is big difference in price considering local support you probably get if you buy in local shop. If anything is wrong with the telescope as it arrives to Greece from Germany and you have to send it back the savings will quickly dissapear as well.

Interesting. Let me be the devil's advocate here....None of these things pointed here would make me suspicious at first. These days some might not like cash in hand and bank transfer before collection makes sense if picking up the item - transfer on the spot via app would be sensible for both I think. I would for example pay via Ebay's system (Paypal). As for a person not being able to answer questions. Maybe they don't know anything about the telescope? The ad is a little thin, almost like ignorant. The user actually has a long standing account with a few ratings as a buyer. I agree buyers need to carefult but do we have a definite proof here that this is a scam?

To update the thread. Just ordered Gitzo GT4543LS which can extend to 158cm and closed length is 61cm. 2.38kg - can handle 25kg which is plenty for Ayo ii, az gti wifi + one of my refractors (all around 3kg). Might be even good for 6" f5 Newtonian. Will see how it compares with Sky-Watcher stainless steel 1.75" in terms of stability.

Good day today. Two packages arrived. The first was in travel for a few days so I opened it up, cleaned the item and got rid of packaging. The second one was packed weeks ago (as per the seller) so I opened it, removed the contents and put the packaging into quarantine. Cleaned myself well afterwards. I am still not sure if all of this is really needed now but just in case. Anyway....new mount... And then the package from Ebay. Great deal for 1.5k imo. Reducer, Flattner, 1.7x extender, rings and dovetail, some adapters, clicklock, camera rotator, etc. Some of this I don't really need but it came as a package. And finally 76DCU in absolute mint condition - bought last year. For a 3" this scope is very, very light. I like it. Little brother wanted to take a photo as well.

Might be because English is my third language and I don't get this - can you explain furter?

Or better yet, two!

This, I love trying new things and since I revisited this hobby 3 or so years ago all kind of equipment went through my hands. I have pretty much a good idea what works for me in regards to scopes (and I am kind of restricted by my balcony width) but not eyepieces Everything from TV, Tak, Baader, Pentax and many others went through my hands and eyes and I am still on the hunt. It is very interesting that the most enjoyment at the moment I get with BCOs and Barlow. I tried SLVs extensively. Bought a few used and like what I am seeing so am selling them and ordering new ones in the focal lenghts I like. Absolute best views were with Pentax XW but they are just humongous. Philosophically I don't know anything about happiness. I just know that at different points in my life I was either content or not. When my daughter was born I was happy but emotion that was overwhelming me was actually fear (this little thing is now with us and it's the whole other 'game' than easy going no caring life) and happiness was pushed down so to speak I don't know whether this feeling when buying and opening packages of astro equipment is happiness but I sure feel good and happy. It might not be up to standards of other people and there might be some raised eyebrows in regards to relation of buying->happiness but I kind of don't care. Give me that box If that is shallow, so be it....

I convinced my better half that it's better to invest in astronomy equipment - like park the money there instead the bank to get their puny little 0.85%. I threw a few keywords in like, inflation, crisis, low Pound value at the moment and things like that .... then went to ABS/Ebay and bought a new used scope for 1500 that came with a lots of bits and pieces. The truth is even though I were kidding there is some truth in it. I think considering I bought it used it will hold value. Until time to sell I will just use it. Was looking for 76 objective unit anyway so why not the whole scope when opportunity presented itself. It did make me happy when I clicked buy

This is an eyepiece that is just phenomenal. I use it as a finder and barlow it to 8mm sometimes. I have yet to look through something better in the 15-20mm range. I don't know what Baader did here but this eyepiece is out of this world for all my scopes.

Haha. Yes. Was waiting for this one for a long time. I am impressed with Vamo so this is the next step for slightly heavier scopes or dual mount. Are we talking SXG-HAL130 ? I had that one but it is kind of cumbersome. I see Gitzos everywhere with thes type of mounts so I guess it works. The price is high though but if it works why not.... Had Manfrotto carbon 055 as well (3 sections). Put it up against Vixen APP-TTL130 and it wasn't as sturdy. Went back to Amazon. It did work fine with Altair 80ED-r and Vamo though but I need something now for bigger scopes that is lighter. From what I am reading Gitzo Systematic 5 would be the way to go but 3 series has quite high capacity as well.

Need a little help please Ayo II is coming in so I need to beef up a tripod for it. 1.75" steel legs is too heavy and is used only at home on the balcony. I need something transportable. So Ayo II is 3kg or so + scope will be 7kg at most. Would Gitzo Systematic Series 3 be ok? What aboud 3 legged thing - Winston 2.0 looks like it's capable and 30mm legs (2mm less than Gitzo series 3 systematic). Report 212 looks nice but is twice as heavy than carbon fibre ones and less capacity.

There should be no guilt. I don't want to live a life when I only spend on things I need. I have wants as well. There is an inner struggle sometimes with things like, maybe someone needs resources more than I do but I compansate that with occasional donation. The struggle is still there though. Myself, it does make me happy when the package arrives Thumbs up for the thread since I feel there are quite a lot of us with struggles like this