DaveL59

The other code seems to be for some other software, not bothered to load that tho. Registration doesn't ask for any code, just model and purchase date along with your email address. Can't recall if it asked for home address and I only did that last night lol. Just went back to the web page, doesn't even ask the specific model so they've no clue if you have an LT70 or DX model

I have one of these trigger grips and it works very well. Manfrotto #222 often comes up on the bay for sensible money, well before this pandemic that is. Easy to overhaul and well made so a good used purchase. You could also consider a small fluid head tho the adjuster/handles can be problematic unless you set it up so they are ahead of the objectives. For a monopod try get one that will reach head height, I use a Giottos one that also has feet that can make it tripod-like tho holding a large bins it'd likely topple if let go. You can of course use the combo to stabilise while seated on a recliner which would relieve the neck ache. Have you tried these zooms on the sky yet? Reason I ask and since nobody seems to have mentioned so far... zoom binos are usually very poor performers and more so looking at stars. You may find you will be wanting to move to a better, fixed mag pair once you spend time behind them.

that's odd as I had to enter my email on both phones. Yet to contact them to remove the old note-3 registered since it didn't like something about it. It is an older phone that I've thrown a droid-10 port onto but I note the camera is now very dark which certainly won't help it. As for the bits thrown in the box (literally I expect) yep they ain't great. The frac came with a spherical plastic diagonal which is erecting, works ok but a proper mirror is a big improvement, not bothered to look at the EP's or Barlow as I'll never use them so they remain "fresh in box". At least the RDF is reasonable. The phone holder is probably an adaptation of their Nex-YZ eyepiece holder and is pretty good if somewhat large and clunky 🙂 I may keep my eye out for an Alt adjuster rod from a vintage scope as that seems a weak area on these LT mounts, very sloppy tho usable.

are you thinking to try your hand at photography or just visual? For me the upside of the EQ is that you only need to tweak the RA to stay on track when viewing and an RA motor means you don't even need to do that. For AZ you're adjusting both axes which I find a real drag, tho goto would take care of that. For the EQ you only need to be roughly polar aligned for visual, I just plonk the tripod down with the RA aimed approx north and don't use the polar scope at all either on the manual EQ5 or the synscan equipped one. An app like polar aligner pro makes getting close enough simple. If you plan to try astro-photography however then yes getting alignment is much more important.

a bit above your budget but one of this range may work for you, the smartphone app assists you in finding targets and suggesting what is available to view that particular night, https://telescopescanada.ca/products/celestron-starsense-explorer™-dx-130az-smartphone-app-enabled-newtonian-reflector-telescope-22461 They also do refractors in the range. Do avoid the LT versions as they are quite wobbly, I have the LT70AZ that was purchased primarily for the Starsense part. While low cost, optically it isn't at all bad but needs a proper diagonal and eyepieces to really show well and the tripod/mount will need improvement.

yeah was thinking the same as it worked about 20 mins after that post. Won't be the first time someone "forgot", same re digital certs running out and sites going untrusted. I used to have diary reminders well ahead of renewal so you could kick the procurement process off early in case the bean counters & co dragged their heels dealing with such trivia...

the 114 is a bird-jones I believe, so not the best I expect. The LT's are quite wobbly too, am thinking about getting some wood to insert in the leg tubes to see if that'll stiffen things up a little. But the Alt adjuster on mine seems very slack on the threads, not worked out a non-destructive way to open that up to see if it can be improved. All in all tho, they are bottom-end rigs so can't exactly expect them to compare to my EQ5's or even the EQ2 🙂 Oh I thought I'd go register mine, been a bit slack with doing that so far. So as per the card in the box I went off to the website and got this: oh dear 😮 LOL

Congrats Mark, at least he was able to give you the code so you can use the app, oh and a new brolly holder came free with it 😉

Will gladly report further but the testing that night the phone was edge vertical and a bit further as I flipped to then get the next target in view. Can't see that I'd end up with it upside down tho as you'd not be able to see if to direct the scope without contorting which is kinda the point to avoid lol. Also on the GEM you can pause and rotate the OTA which helps get the screen back to a more visible orientation, not sure if the ball mount you'd do that? I didn't tho till I was back on/near target so as to get the focuser back to a useful position. Of course with GEM getting the direction arrow on screen is one thing, down to the user tho to figure the mechanics of getting the OTA headed in the right RA/DEC directions, meridian flips etc which is ok if familiar but a little more involved than the simpler Alt/Az the OEM scopes are mounted on.

nice article Steve, as stated, a minefield. What's hidden under the covers makes such a difference to what you get to see. Most of my bins are <1980's of japanese manufacture (full size and micro) and so single coated and BK7, but give fine views as do the 1940's Hensoldt Jagd's that don't appear to have coated lenses at all. Sure my Minolta 10x50 are much brighter being multi-coated but I do quite like the view from the vintage bins. in fact the old 15x50 micro bins I have gave pretty good views of the celestial bodies, just not so easy to mount and pretty cold to hold at night being all bare metal. As your article says, best way to decide if you like a particular pair is try them. At least with buying new and online you can return given we can't easily visit shops to test things at the mo. Not so easy with the bay tho unless there's a real fault that wasn't disclosed. For the CZJ's I do peek at the market but so far they've been going for way too much for my wants. I do have a pair of Foton 7x35 roofs tho which are very good and of course quite likely optics made along the same lines but more robust than the CZJ Notarem 😉

you might find the focuser rocks a bit, may be possible to improve its action, thhere's a useful guide here: http://www.astro-baby.com/Skywatcher Focuser Tune up/Skywatcher Focuser Tune-up.htm

Hi and welcome to the forum. Re the eyepieces, does it take the regular 1.25-inch eyepieces? Depending on your budget you might consider a zoom eyepiece, that way you get a whole range for a single price and unit. Something like a 7-21mm or 8-24mm might suit which would get you a range of x30-88 ish. Quite likely the barlow is junk too so adding a decent 2x barlow may be worth doing. Decent single eyepieces would be around £50 each for BST's so which way you go would depend on budget and can quickly add up when you build a collection of these. Something like the SVbony SV135 7-12mm zoom might work fine in this scope and is reportedly good. For your current eyepieces you might get a result by cleaning the lenses tho dismantling to get all the internal glass clean can be a bit daunting and needs care so you can reassemble in the correct order and orientation.

there's this one too, a bit cheaper - well till you add shipping lol https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000803294288.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.40a41d79OJ3r0y&algo_pvid=77cf0e31-3ffd-437c-95c0-a53d8b22a199&algo_expid=77cf0e31-3ffd-437c-95c0-a53d8b22a199-1&btsid=0b0a555516037301365127014e6dbf&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

could be the same tho brackets may differ, I can't really say tho one reviewer there says they are so...?

depending how long they actually take to ship https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32835072290.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.603e79a7PCFYyY&algo_pvid=0a1101b7-4988-4520-abcd-9681a6e239db&algo_expid=0a1101b7-4988-4520-abcd-9681a6e239db-3&btsid=0b0a555616037280870373498e45c2&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ Generally the stuff I've ordered via Ali take around 8-14 days so might be viable for you.

not sure you'd want to aim the unit too high Mark, but on the OEM mount the phone isn't parallel to the OTA but at an inclination back to front of the phone of around 20-30 degrees. I guess the idea being that it is aiming above the horizon when the scope is level to improve the chance of a plate solve. Or maybe just to not catch the end of the scope in frame 😉

perhaps they thought they should appease a little by giving a couple of amazing views to enjoy 🙂

Here's a vid showing alignment, from around 11:10m into it

there's an alignment feature that you should go thru when you fist set it up where you get it and the scope pointing at the same target, much like aligning a regular finder, only you use the touchscreen to indicate the offset.

The way this works is to plate solve the section of sky the camera/mirror sees and then give a direction to move to for your chosen target. It will try to plate solve again if you stop motion and as you near the target so it can fine-tune the directions it gives. Phone motion sensors aren't accurate enough to do the job alone in most cases. If a bright moon is out it will advise to aim elsewhere so it can locate and suggest you choose targets away from the moon to make location easier, so strong light pollution may not help in getting a star fix. Likewise cloudy areas where it can't see stars will result in it asking to try another area to get a fix. A bit of loss of FoV via mirror/prism doesn't seem to affect it so long as there's a good bit of sky captured centrally for it to solve against. Makes me wonder tho about the LT mounted scopes that have a fair degree of wobble, as it'll sense that and complain about moving the telescope while its trying to get a fix 😉

Times when a dash-cam might have been very handy to grab that image 😉

Looks very neat 🙂 Similar to the rig John knocked up with a cut-down diagonal. For me I added the shielding as too many neighbours where I've no control of light from their windows plus I thought it might give some dew shielding on the more moist nights.

hi Mark I'd be worried about the phone sliding out as you elevate the scope, unless there's another means to secure it or the pic is a cutaway of a repurposed phone case. Yep, alignment is done via the app so no adjusters required on the mounting. A quick test I did the other night on the TAL-1 seemed to work fine with my phone and that included the usual flip from pointing NW to get location and then the flip & rotate around to Mars in the E. That said mine is a note-10+ so may have more sensors but it did seem to work just fine. The app seems happy to scan and locate even when at a tilt so having the phone level is more aesthetic it seems. It also didn't seem phased by me rotating the OTA to get the focuser where I could use it 🙂

oh dear, seller clearly doesn't realise what he's potentially done here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron-Starsense-Explorer-LT-114-AZ/274548134820?hash=item3fec5813a4%3Ag%3A3GAAAOSwOERflZzK&LH_ItemCondition=3000|7000

Welcome aboard, hope you have fun with the new toy, once the clouds have gone away of course... I'd hang fire on buying bits until you have it and can assess what you've got but these may help. Check if it has a collimation cap or cheshire eyepiece with it, if not then a good idea to get one as you may well need to check/adjust the collimation once you've brought it home or at least periodically over the years. Eyepieces well worth thinking about better ones if it only has the stock ones. A range of BST ones or perhaps a zoom might be a good starting point. A Right-angle (RACI) finder would make things easier on your neck so might be worth considering if you find a straight thru one a chore to use. The book Turn Left at Orion, perhaps to help find your way around 🙂