Limerick John

I had looked at and considered similar scopes from Skywatcher, Altair, TS etc.. However, paying in Euros and with the lower value of the pound there wasn't much of a price difference when buying direct from the UK. I would still personally prefer a WO scope over say a similar Skywatcher or TS scope in terms of resale value and just how they look. There is some great value out there at the moment from these brands though.

The scope has now arrived from FLO. It took about 4 weeks from date of order as they are ordered as needed from WO. The sticker on the box was quite prophetic. Nothing but rain since it arrived. I have only had a short time today with it. First impressions: It is quite a handsome instrument. Bigger than I thought but not too heavy. Here it is mounted on my AZ4 mount which holds it well. I have added a WO red dot finder that I had lying around. I managed to get a few minutes in the garden with it before the rain came. It seems sharp enough. There is some slight false colour noticeable on the edge of the field of view (leaves against a white sky background) using a 27mm Panoptic but cannot see it in the center of the field of view. At higher powers (9mm Nagler) it was less evident so it could be the eyepiece. Hopefully I can get it under a clear night sky to do a proper assessment of its capability. The 10:1 focuser is very nice to use. No sign of any slippage or slop. The focuser rotation is a bit stiff and is locked out of the box. You need to loosen the three nylon tipped screws to get it to move. I am sure with the right adjustments it can be made a bit smoother. A slight nick in the black paint on the dew shield but apart from that it looks very nice indeed. I'll post a full review after it gets some star time. edit: I managed to get some shots of the moon this morning with my Canon 450D (no cropping and minor contrast edits only. No CA or colour correction). I have added one shot with the moon at the edge of the FOV.

I have a pair of Monarch 5 8 x 42mm binoculars. Very nice to use and sharp. Easy to hold and light enough to use with one hand if required. Its my goto binocular for having a quick look around and for daytime use. The quick focus is amazing. The M7s have a wider field of view again.

I use a pair of 8 x 42s and a pair of 10 x 50s. You can see the difference in light gathering power (not huge though) but I love the lightness and the wide field of view of the 8 x 42. I always find myself grabbing the smaller binocular for having a quick look outside. The Monarch 5's are very nice to use.

Hi I am new to this forum. I have recently ordered a Zenithstar 103mm (gold version) mainly for visual use and some astrophotography. They are out of stock pretty much everywhere so there is a reasonable leadtime. I'll post a review after it arrives. My decision to go with the more expensive Z103 is the build quality , fit and finish. It is going to spend a good bit of time set up in the living room so I was told by SWMBO that it better look good !!! I have an older WO Megrez 72mm which is a superb scope and built like a tank.