ScouseSpaceCadet

A used 9x50 Erect Image Finderscope courtesy of Ebay. Besides a scratch or two not noticed unless you look for them, it's great with clean and clear optics. My dodgy knees and creaky neck can have a rest now. Woohoo!

SQM 18.77 mag./arc sec2 Brightness 3.36 mcd/m2 Artif. bright. 3190 μcd/m2 Ratio 18.6 Bortle class 7 Elevation 30 meters Pants. The urban jungle 5.5 miles from Liverpool city centre. Around 50 metres from an urban A road lit up with new LED lamps and new LEDs in the cul de sac. Also, other web tools suggest the area is Bortle 8...

I've used both a SW 130p and SW Startravel 120 on the AZ5 and found it incredibly easy to use and my equipment feels secure. Particularly the 130, which feels almost toy like on the mount. There is a touch of focus wobbles but that's mostly attributed to the light weight tripod. I do feel the AZ5 would benefit from larger alt-az clutch knobs. They're not always easy to find in the dark and until I got used to the mount, did on a couple of occasions accidently unscrew the extension tube nuts whilst fumbling! The slomo cables were tried once, but they felt a bit pointless using short tubed scopes so were replaced with the original knobs. The heavy duty 1.75" tripod does improve stability and increases the AZ5 mount load capacity to 9kg. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth/sky-watcher-38-stainless-steel-tripod.html There's also a cheaper Astrotrac aluminium tripod with 3/8s adapter available from 365Astronomy however I can't comment on its performance. https://www.365astronomy.com/Astrotrac-AT1-Aluminium-Tripod.html

Thanks chaps. Doug I have a 2x barlow left over from the 130PS/AZ5 I intend to keep. The 2" diagonal would be nice but atm funds are stretched! The OTA came with a 45 degree prism diagonal so I splashed out an extra £19.95 on an Opticstar Deluxe 90 degree mirror. It seems OK . The TV aerial I used to align the RDF looked sweet.

Finally, a refractor! Of course accompanied by the inevitable terrible weather... Nothing snazzy just a common Sky-Watcher Startravel 120. Soz about the grass. The garden's mid overhaul...