joe aguiar

Sorry deleted my post for now

Neil heres my thought 

Sounds like it was a cheaper 114 on a eq1

Depends what u paid for it . Sounds like it came with 5x24 finder and hygens eps. Hopfully not 0.965 focuser. 

If so and I just noticed on another post the eq1 is bit stiff y not sell get what u put into it and just buy another 114 or maybe upgrade to 130 on eq2?

I have seen where people like u buy the time u upgrade to a better finder eps u could just get something better.

Not to mention eq1 is the smallest mount.

Joejaguar 

I got a telrad pretty much as soon as I got my first scope. I cant remember how many weeks or months after the scope since that was like 25 years ago, but I'm pretty sure it was the less than 2 months.

Even the store told me they would garrenty I would like it and give full return if I didnt like it and that the only product they do it on.

And yep once j bought I loved it

Joejaguar 

the original light grey u had to point north and level the tube to be level, that was still easy to do

joejaguar

right the original one u cant take out the ota, altho I have seen some people unhinge the ota out, and swap the ota to a different scope. or install a mod that puts a vixen clamp to the arm allowing similar to the new design of using any scopes in the old model.

joejaguar

I agree with ricochet Celestron meade skywatcher etc and others are good name brand and have lots good scopes BUT they also have basic low entry ones that are also not great ok but not great. They have to make a price point for those that just want to try a telescope and don't want to spend too much.

I also have a utube video explaining people who shop at the big box stores ebay Costco Canadian tire amazon, too sometimes shopping there is even worse than going to a real telescope store or buying from a real interenet telescope store.

those store again have a certain price point and for the general population a scope up to $200 maybe just cheap enough to entice brand new people. Those same good quality name brands sell the same scope to these low costs big box stores and put cheaper accessiors or items to make that scope cheaper for them BUT a brand new person who doesn't know astronomy or telescopes wont know what good or bad.

anyway I cant go into detail here if you would like to see that video go to youtube seach my name joe Aguiar whats a good starter telescopes. The video is about 20 min long.

I don't want to put a link cause I was told we can put links to are utube channel once and awhile but not too often and I just did one where a new person needed help how to polar align a eq mount couple days ago so I don't want to do another one in case I get in trouble BUT just search my name.

so even the big name brands you can get good models bad models, I also say get it from a real scope store the cost might be $50 more but it normally comes with better quality items.

hope this helps

joejaguar

ill give you my opionion

I have never owned or  used coma corrector on any scopes, even on my F/4.5 dob.

saying that tho you have an f/5 system so its gonna have that its standard so for visual it never bothered me in the slightest. Your pic is I think decent however your 2nd pic blown up does show it BUT it only cause its soo blown up tho. many people buy f/4 reflectors for imaging so it will even be worse in those but at f/5 I think image is ok

I guess the issue tho comes cause you want to do imaging so that's a whole different ball game. almost every scope that people buy for imaging will need a focal reducer or like your coma corrector or flate field. this is part of getting into this part of the hobby. There are some scopes that don't need these extra accessiors BUT cause they have those items built into it. The price is more expensive tho.

you are correct coma corrector are expensive even the badder ones are so expensive that I wouldn't even get one here where iam the badder one is $285 +49 shipping then tax that's $377.42. yet that's the cost pretty much of the whole ota tube.

To me as I said in another post I would never buy an accessiory that costs as much as the scope itself,cept maybe eyepices where they can be used on every scope ( I own 11 or 12 scopes right now about) so that makes sence.

so I guess if you plan on imaging that's kinda what you need to do tho.

joejaguar

your flange is short like an inch mine is longer like 4 inches but almost similar

heres mine so u can see

mine also has the single bearing top and bottom and its a cfl 2.5" large format in red also

joejaguar

can u also tell us does he want something for the planets, maybe deep sky stuff like galaxies nebulas and clusters? whats your budjet? and where do u live huge city? large city med city? town? etc

joejaguar

I had to enter time date year point north location bascally everything for it to work each time I powered it up and I don't recall it remembering the time from last session. even if it was there I probally just re entered new date time was no big deal. I think using it for like 12 years I only had 1 times it didn't align. and everytime I have it in the ep view.

joejaguar

On the original topic

when I had my 16" dob I never tried it on the planets or moon I only used it for deep sky, being f4.5 and only being a push/pull dob tracking at high powers were not ideal. so I manilly used it for low to med to med high powers BUT not very high powers or the item would leave the ep fov.

Normally planets need high power viewing with tracking to be ideal or atleast with slow motion controls.

Also being f4.5 had lots coma from the 80% out to the edge, so taking this into consideration if someome used this kinda scope for high planet views, the item will be out the fov even faster maybe 15 sec before its into the outter coma part.and if your not collimated 100% the image will degreed fast. Being this fast even a few % off does a lot in the image.

I also had the meade LX200 7" makf/15 UHTC OTA without the extra counter weight in mirror since it wasn't the fork mounted kind. So its not the Skywatcher version but its similar size. I had some of the best views of Saturn from this scope once cooled. Problem was cooldown was good from 1 to 2 hrs but was perfect after 2 to 3 hrs which is a long time, wven with a fan and intake air. So I would wonder how other brands /makes like the orion/SW without intake air and fans would cool , maybe even way longer.

ok I see where you coming from, that looks similar to the az4.

I norm just buy eq mounts I like the eq4 to eq5 it holds a decent amount size scope reflectors to reflectors to scts. But to me its just easier to track even if you don't have any drives on a eq mount BUT I just ordered 3 dual axis drive with battery pack and hand controller for 3 of my eq mounts and they were $138 each. I guess I could have just got 1 and just use each ota on it BUT I like to have a mount for each scope I own.

Anyway I guess what I was saying in my case a dual axis drive with controller and battery pack is about $150 (with tax) which is a small % of the whole scope and mount package WHERE with  the dob verion costs 100% of the scope.

to me doesn't make sence but if you have 2 dobs and a az4 type mount then I can see where it fits your needs well.

joejaguar

you can, you may need another weight.

I used to put a 80mm/f5 the 102 is abit larger and heavier

my setup was on a 10"sct then I needed guilding rings & mounting rail that added extra weight, and thewn I need to buy sliding counter weights under the scope. all that added a lot weight. I can see the 102 adding even more weight cause its not just the ota but the rings and bars then weight to counter balance it. 

I would recommend a bit smaller scope UNLESS you already have the 102.

BUT it did make a great large finderscope

joejaguar

I had that scope it came out spring of 2000 (just saying this is case you want to know precise date and 90's can be within 1990 to 1999 which is a big gap, plus it was after that anyway.) the 5" came out sept or oct 1999 ( I got the first shipment of the 8")

this model you also need to point it north in case u r not doing that, the other 2 suggestions are good too.

joejaguar

the only problem I find those tracking dob bases are expensive about $500 plus taxes $565 total. That's as much as the whole scope itself like a 8 to 10" dob.

I would never buy an accessory that cost as much as the scope itself. an ep is different you can use that on every scope  you have but that base would be for only that scope most people don't have multi-dobs.

but this is my view on these tracking bases maybe if they were $100 then I can see that

joejaguar

I like the 1000 oaks  film better,  I tried the Seymour years ago and I think it gave a green image. I also had the badder back nesr 2000's and bought the big sheet 20x30 to do few different scopes. I dont find it much better compared to 1000 oaks if it is it minor it's not a big difference at all but I dont like the white colour and I dont like to use planet filters to make it orange either.

The real sun viewing in ha.

But this is me

2 hours ago, Totally_Computerized said:

I probably will go that route then , I only have two lenses for my 70d the variable that came with it and the 50mm that everyone buys when they have a canon 😁 Iam going to see how I go with the dobby then and start saving for a mount .

Are the Phillips planispheres worth having while using a dobby , I watched some videos on how to understand them , but are the useful in practice?

yes I would get one and a good map charts that's weather proff or water proff

joejaguar

most important thing is mount most people get a heq5 is rock sold and good tracking/goto

a skywatcher 80mm evostar apo is a good refractor for that just add a focal reducer and there may have to change focuser to something more solid.

you can try finding a used SWED or something similar well in fact even try looking for a used HEQ5 mount too.

then again after that u need a camera but u have that, then a guilder or autoguilder/filters etc it starts to add up. u may need a laptop and a powertank for power unless u can have a cord from the house.

even getting this used mount and scope used still can run $1500 cdn maybe that's 1000 UK but u understand still not cheap

joejaguar

ok I see it also depend on your climate too, there are many factors in this hobby, I guess you can try wrapping it as others suggest see if that helps

joejaguar

1-with a dob you can only do moon and the few bright planets

2-next step would be get a eq mount maybe eq6 for the scope polar align and with the goto you can do 30 to 40 sec unguilded and be ok since its tracking u might even get to 1 min.

3-after that u need to guild or get a auto guilder to prevent star trails or boated stars.

so the first step you are there just need a t ring and or adptor

the 2nd step is kinda easy too but that mount on used market where iam about $1000 used, I think that's about 600 your money but check that out, this is also not so hard.its when u get to the 3rd option that it becomes expensive with camers auto guilders good tracking goto mounts

joejaguar

nice video I watched it

your is the teck way for those that like that way and good for imagingers

mine is for the brand new people and none teck way

hopfully between the 2 vids people will get good info and this helps them out

cheers

joejaguar

  The telrad is considered to be one of the best finders. If u get into imaging u can just buy rings and a eq6 mount.

I would recommend maybe for a month or 2 just try visual and get used to how a telescope works focus, understand ep power, Constellations where things are in the sky. How the sky moves etc then try imaging?

Your finder scope has a small opening door under it, as the guy above said there a round plastic on the battery, take it off.

There be maybe 3 mall wheels. 1 turns it on and the other 2 can a just the dot abit up and down and other left or right.

Make sure cap is off. I know sounds funny but people do.

Also to start use only the highest number eyepiece like the 25mm. That's the lowest power. Most new people think it's the other way if u get 3 eps 25 12 6 they think 6 is lowest maybe meaning power and use this.

To find out power divide focal length then by the ep number, so the 25 is the low power 6 high power etc.and if it came with a Barlow dont even use it either.

Try looking with low power at a building a hydro pole chimney etc and focus till it's clear. 

Hope this helps

Joejaguar