steveex2003

4 hours ago, Robindonne said:

I also have to thank Christian then.  Im not sure if he’s a member here.  But he send me this from Germany.  Also very thankful for packing.  
 

he sold me a very nice 120ed. It has been reunited with its smaller brother last week, but didn’t take long to decide to say goodbye to the junior😑.

 

It was packed in bubblewrap and very thin cardboard, but it came unharmed.  Thanks for this DHL-guy🙏🏼

 

 

 

 

I have an Equinox 120 (and an 80). I know there are high-end better performing scopes, but to my eyes and feel these are such elegant creatures. I have nothing but love for the Equinox line.

For whatever its worth I recently bought a cheap (<£30 a pop) SVbony Olll and UHC filter, just really to have a play with. I found that I needed aperture for the Olll. In smaller scopes it was just too dark. With the UHC I could see structure in M16 (Bortle 5) that simply wasn't there without it in an 80mm frac. 

Heat and expansion.

If that fails and all mechanical attempts prove futile, you could with great care and a Dremel-type tool, make two incisions to the adapter internally at 90 degrees to the threads. Cut through as close as possible to the threads without actually hitting them. Then with a narrow bladed screwdriver or similar try and crack the incisions remainder right through the threads of the adapter. If you're successful on both incisions you should be able to remove the section between the incisions and then the remainder of the adapter, either by simply unscrewing (if not cross-threaded) or by squeezing the opened ends of the adapter slightly.

An old friend who similarly enjoys driving out on the moors at stupid-o-clock.

Properly charged vehicle air-con.

Stanley Master Flask.

Rab something or other jacket.

Alpaca socks.

6 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

For dark sky camping trips...

An OEX Coyote 3 tent to replace my (currently for sale on Ebay) Coleman Tasman 3.

It's over a kilo lighter than the Coleman and much easier to erect. No messing about with oh no I'm going to snap these poles if I bend them any more, finger slicing ridiculously tight ring and pins! Also despite the light weight, supposedly a hydrostatic head of 5000mm vs the Coleman's 3000mm.. I'll find out next time it rains heavily!

 

 

 

 

Nice!

(Although not the greatest sales pitch I've ever read on the outgoing model 😉 )

1 hour ago, Philip R said:

I can't say I have ever noticed any stiction on my Tele-Optic Giro GR-DX II when loaded with one or two 'scopes attached. Though unloaded I have noticed it is there, but not a lot... and none with the AOK-AYO II loaded or unloaded.

I cant say I ever noticed anything on my (balanced) Ercole either, at least nothing that drew attention to itself.  Of course the knowing may well now be the curse.

19 hours ago, AdeKing said:

 

Thanks Dave, I do need to strip down the GR2 version as the tension adjustment screws don't seem to work very well so I'll take a look.

I would be interested to know what you find here. I have said head, and think it such a wonderful little thing other than similarly not having complete confidence in the tension adjustment screws.

I must say that i don't, nor ever have owned a Variofinder. I did look into one a while ago, and came to the conclusion that it is one of the few Baader products that maybe below par. There were a lot of user reports out there expressing dissatisfaction if i recall correctly.
I do have an Antares Verascope however. I use it purely as a finder and in that regard it's WA views suit me well. I would say that I seem to get a slight reflection or flaring around the brightest targets. I should make an effort to find why this is. All i will say is that for whatever reason fine focus on a target like Jupiter is a little spoiled on my example. Neither of my Orion 9x50 RACI's exhibit this. I may have a poor example perhaps? I bought it secondhand for £50 and for its intended purpose (non-critical viewing) it is a bargain. In its favour it does have a huge dew shield. It doesn't quite have Baader standard build quality in my opinion.  It is large, a lump, and if balancing is an issue, this will add to it.
For scale purposes, here it is sat on an 80mm refractor.

Off topic, I bought an LVW 22mm from Mike, and it remains my favourite EP. I dont think it's sharper than the Morpheus I have, but it has cooler colour rendering to my eyes, which can give a faux, but pleasing sense of increased contrast.
Anyway, another quality product from Mike. 

Just now, Highburymark said:

Steve - just be aware that not all examples appear to be as good as the one I’m fortunate to have bought. There was a thread started by Mike (IPeace) a couple of years ago which explained how he’d had to send a couple of units back  to Baader because of a noticeable spike at high magnification on bright objects. Might be worth reading that before taking the plunge. 

Mark.
Very much so. I read something here that I don't know about, which is frankly most of it - but that's the joy, and then off i go and then read about said item or observation. Although i don't struggle with reversed image, a correcting prism of the quality Mike demanded (in his review post) could never be a bad thing. I was fairly up to speed with the potential downsides of these diagonals, but an all but perfect pre-tested specimen got about as close to me sending a PM as it gets. And then that being said, the view of Jupiter last night via my sit-up-and-beg WO dielectric holds my attention in absolutely no lesser fashion I am sure.

6 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Good to hear others have had some success tonight - and welcome to SGL Charles. 
I’ve had an interesting evening too. First night out with new Baader Amici prism diagonal (bought from Mike/IPeace on this forum), used with Tak FC-100 on Jupiter, Saturn, various Summer Triangle targets and the Moon. Absolutely textbook images without a hint of the dreaded spike, even on brightest stars. Views indistinguishable from other BBHS and Zeiss prism diagonals, Up to 185x on planets and 200x on Moon with both single eps and binoviewer. 

 

I was very tempted to give that Prism a shot. Glad it performs so well.

Went and had a look on the back of this. Very stable down here in Exeter. Great detail observed on Jupiter!

What a great read!

in a given (blind) situation I fully believe I would have spent/thrown my money at the APO, then the Fringe Killer and possibly something else and even something else again before the Contrast Booster for CA cut.

Have both the 6.5 and 9mm. Excellent EP's. Used in F7.5 and F6.2 refractors and an F4.7 Dob. Very sharp to my eyes. The 17.5 and 9mm are my personal favourites from the range. I really do not struggle at all with eye placement, and find them to be most comfortable. The 4.5mm has very obvious EoFB in (my) fast scopes. This didn't bother me at all at first. It does more so now. Fortunately perhaps, it is my least used EP.

Another good read:
https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/cat/user-reviews/the-baader-planetarium-morpheus-r3003#:~:text=So the combination of all,made the Morpheus a wonderfully

My motley collection. I am possibly considering moving the AZ5 on in favour of an Ercole Mini perhaps.

Once understood, I quite like Reference Surface. It has a Datum Level ring of no nonsense about it.

I do enjoy an A/B shootout report.

Have you compared your two scopes yet? What did you find?

Thank you. 

10 hours ago, Louis D said:

Agreed, most Pentax, Morpheus, and ES (JOC) eyepieces focus very close to the shoulder.  All Tele Vue eyepieces focus further in or out relative to the shoulder except for the 17mm NT4 which also focuses right at the shoulder.  I really notice swapping in my 10mm Delos because I have to rack it 1/4" out to reach focus.  The 12mm NT4 was so annoying at being 20mm below the shoulder that I added five 4mm thick O-rings and a 20mm 2" extension ring to the bottom to nearly parfocalize it.

Apologies for being dim. What does the term; close to the shoulder mean?
Thanks.

I use the Skywatcher 3/8" steel 1.75" leg tripod a lot. For an 80mm Frac and a Lunt 60 the difference in stability really is night and day compared to a Manfrotto 055 CF camera tripod. Personally I really wouldn't consider the 3/8" tripod as light and certainly not compact. I also use the 2" steel tripod and I find the difference in portability between the two practically moot.

Everyday really is a School day on this site 🙂

If I may for 5v 100mA, quite literally cat 5e cable will carry this all day long. Personally, if this was for external applications like an outside weather sensor you maybe better of using something like a 0.5mm flexible cable. Stranded core cables such as flexibles are better suited to connections where movement may be possible.

Dependant on how it is installed 2.5mm T@E is good for anything between 17 and 27ish amps. The volt drop across 5m, even at 25a will be negligible.

A 0.5mm 2 or 3 core flex will carry 3 amps.

0.75mm is good for 6 amps

Edited.
My mistake, i see you are not a fan of Manfrotto.

Whilst I have a 250mm Dob. Possibly to my shame I hadn't looked through it for a year, preferring my 120 and 80mm fracs. A couple of months ago  i did drag the Dob out in a failed attempt to locate the Owl Comet. The two things that sprung to my attention were; where did all those stars come from, and how noticeable the diffraction spikes were not having seen them for a while.