BoredPhil

As someone who has finally succumbed to needing reading glasses, this is a v helpful discussion! If clouds clear tonight I now know what to expect - one of the main reasons I put off the opticians was the thought of working out how to observe. I'm also an advocate of multiple cheap pairs - I bought 4 pairs online and I'm down to 2 after a week... I'll get some decent ones once I've got better at not losing/dropping them. Hopefully I still have a pair after tonight...

Thanks @dweller25 and @Cosmic Geoff - how had I forgot dew shield!? Going to have to be DIY isn't it - even I can't mess that up! One of the reasons I went for this scope was how forgiving people said it was on EP's, but I mainly have stock starters and a couple of OK plossls (8 and 15) I've picked up used for other scopes. You're right - the stock 25mm is my go to for wandering around the sky, so the 32 Plossl idea fits my kind of thinking for wider views. Hadn't thought about planetary imaging, but now you've mentioned it, I may have to give that some thought too as it could be fun! Really appreciate you taking the time to reply. I do love the scope, but know it's capable of more than I'm doing at the moment

Howdy all. A few months ago I treated myself to an Evo 6 I found second hand - it fit the bill for something quick and easy to use (life isn't giving me much observing at the mo so want to make my time count) and after a rubbish year I deserved it 😁 I'm enjoying it a lot (when I can) and I'm now wondering if any other owners have any recommendations/tips for getting more out of it? I'm a general observer - whatever planetary or deepsky I think it's capable of, and I've been pleasantly surprised. I've never had an SCT before so still learning (getting comfortable with alignment, but limited field of view means waiting later and later for suitable stars to appear), and my plan is to make sure I'm up to speed/have my set up sorted out for the longer winter nights - so I've got a few months to plan and do a bit of upgrading. Any equipment (diagonal, focuser??) recommendations? Will a telrad save me a bit more time? Any lenses that it likes/disagrees with? I've got a basic selection of 1.25" that seem fine to me, but I expect if I invest wisely I'll be nicely surprised. -Is it worth going to 2”? Any tips/hints/hacks welcome!

usually just something simple like a dying battery, or one of the connectors is a bit bent so not getting a good connection, otherwise, as @Carbon Brush says, there's not a lot to them. If you've not used one before, you don't need to have your eye right up to it - first time I used one I thought it was broken, until I moved back a bit and glimpsed the light!

Just reread your first post and I wonder if a telrad might be a bit big for the 70mm... maybe a QuikFinder if you really don't get on with the red dot

To start - and if set up properly - the red dot will be fine. But if you want to learn the sky a bit more, and a telrad finder is good for star hopping. As you've said, the main thing you need is clear skies!

Several years late to this thread, which is brilliant by the way, but had to say this paragraph, especially, got me. Reassuring words that apply to more than just watching the sky

@davel59 exactly!! I've got a new found understanding of how annoying I must have been for my parents! I had a couple of hours of daylight practice before Venus appeared (aligned the red dot on a distant aerial) I'm just lacking things to aim at in the daytime, but I'll keep trying to get used to setting it up, balancing etc. I'm limited to a south-facing garden, which will be fine for evening planetary later in the year, but it's a bit flat down here so I can't get any elevation neighbours houses/fences. There used to be a club down here that's now stopped, but I'm sure they used to meet somewhere nearby. I agree, transporting is a concern though... I'm used to flasks and thermal cups for my brews (had one in the garden last night) and there's nothing wrong with creature comforts!

@DaveL59 7 and 9 and incredibly clumsy! There would be head wounds and broken glasses, but annoyingly they'd probably get used to pointing it more quickly than I am!! With so many from Kent there must be some good tips for darker sites once lockdown is over

@JonC @MikeP 👋 looks like another clear one down here tonight, but I won't get a chance to play until next weekend 😭 Debating throwing the Travelscope in the car to see if I get a chance to use it, but that's technically for the kids and they'd use it to justify playing with the SW - which I don't think would end well unsupervised...

@DaveL59 checked it and yes, dodgy positive connector on the pack. Not sure it's salvageable (looks like it's been chewed on one side) but there may be some old piece of kit lying around I can dismember to replace it. Nothing like combining two hobbies in one!

Hi Carole 👋 I'm a bit further down (Deal) but spend a lot of time around Sittingbourne for work. Think there's a good few from Kent on here

Yep, that's the one @DaveL59 - thanks. I imagine I would have been frustrated looking for a 6v one! I was googling 6v supplies last night in case it's that but then disappeared down a rabbit hole of electronic delights in the online tat bazaar! The contacts and wires look a little ropey, so I'm going to burrow in the shed at some point for my meter to try to figure out what's going wrong. Hopefully just a quick solder (need to find that too while I'm in there!) and I'm sorted, but that would be suspiciously simple... 😁

Thanks @cletrac1922 - that looks a lot more reliable than the flimsy wiring on the pack I've got, thanks for the tip! And thank you to everyone for the kinds welcome. I've even seen some names from posts on the boards I've been reading for a long time - you're all as friendly as I hoped!

After lurking on the for sale board on and off for a couple of years (also been reading other posts!) I finally found a step up from the Travelscope 70 and bought a used SW 130m last week for a bargain price 🕺 Work being horrendous at the mo, I've only just got it home today, so I finally got an EP in it once the kids were in bed. I've had a nice couple of hours trying to get used to an EQ2 with Venus (lovely crescent tonight) and general star hopping until the moon came up. Unfortunately, the "m" in 130m doesn't work - despite my smugness at remembering to order some D batteries - so I've spent the last hour taking things apart to try to find loose connections etc. My suspicion is the battery holder as there's no light on the control, but I'll need to examine it all more with the voltmeter at some point to try to narrow it down. It's no big problem if it's not salvageable, I'm only planning on observing as I've read too many posts on here warning about the potential cost of imaging! (I was going to say "astronomical cost", but that was too cheesy, even for me 😁). So for now, I'll keep trying to get used to the mount (the number of times I went for the wrong dial...) and enjoying the ridiculous effectiveness of a red dot finder. Thanks for reading - hope you have clear skies and no work in the morning!