HollyHound

Not sure, I haven't yet had to do this (only had mine for 5 months)... I have read somewhere that it usually preserves collimation quite well though 🤞

From the Mewlon 180 manual...

I would agree and I love mine… however it’s not that affordable, but arguably worth the money 😀 I have also tried a CC6 (in fact John’s), which was very decent, but a noticeable difference, when compared alongside 👍

My grab and go setup… the Takahashi FC-76DCU… this lives just inside my office door and is carried out in one go. Fortunately I only have to travel about 30 ft and through two doors to my patio 👍 I usually orient the scope almost vertically whilst carrying and am quite careful 🤞 The observing chair and small eyepiece case follow and I’m ready to go in a minute or two at most 😀

Looking good… I’m sure you’ll get many hours of observing joy from that setup 😀

Something for when I really want to push magnification on the moon 😮 A lovely Vixen HR 2.0mm… bought from a fellow SGL forum member, in superb condition and well packed 👍

I have this one and it does perform very well indeed… was great on Mars last year 👍 However, since getting XWs and Ethos around this focal length, I use it less frequently now, which is a bit of a shame 😬

This should now be my 2” eyepiece case going forward… primarily for use in the 10” Dob and Mewlon 180, but may see action in the refractors too 👍 The 21 Ethos has been replaced with 22 Nagler, XW 30 has been joined by XW 40, and the ES 2x 2” Extender is there if needed. I've also decided to retain the Ethos 3.7 SX. The remaining Ethos and Paracorr II are unchanged.

He he... indeed, does look like one for sure 🤣 Yes it's lovely, I've had the XW 30 for over a year and did have an XW 40 last year, but sold it because (at the time) I found it gave too large an exit pupil for the scopes I had then... however, now I can really make use it.... one is back in the fold again now 👍

Finally completed the 2” set… a Pentax XW40😃 This should be useful in the Mewlon 180 to maximise the FoV when required 👍

Interested to hear your findings on this... In my new set layout, I've got the XW20 or Pan24 as the widest 1.25" (keeping the 2" eyepieces in another set now), so if this gives a usable wider view on the FOA-60Q particularly, then it could be a great addition 👍 Thanks, Gary

As I’ve been slightly thinning down my eyepiece collection to form three separate sets… I’ve also now refined my 1.25” set too. A set of Pentax XWs from 20mm to 3.5mm, Masuyama 16mm, ES 2x Extender and a couple of filters 👍

Hi, For me it came down to these factors: The 100 degree view works well for me on 13E downwards, but I didn’t it so easy to use on the 21E. The Nagler 22mm works much better for me in this respect. The 21E is a heavy beast, which I can manage on the Dob (with a counterweight), but it’s just so much easier with the Nagler. It’s also usable on my refractors and Mewlon 180 Both are superb eyepieces, but I prefer te ergonomics of the Nagler 👍 Cheers, Gary

My newly refined 2” eyepiece case, primarily for the Dob. I’ve replaced Ethos 21 with Nagler 22 and Ethos 3.7 with ES 2” Extender. Using the Extender with Paracorr and Ethos 8 and 6 gives me magnifications of x357 and x456 respectively and a minimum exit pupil of 0.5mm 👍

Glad it’s arrived safe and sound at last 😀 One of the downsides to living on a farm… our usual ParcelForce driver was on holiday last week and the replacement obviously didn’t know the area 😬Got there in the end though and I hope you have many happy observing nights with it… it’s a great mount 👍

Damn, I thought I checked none were in there before closing the box 🤣 🤞

Thanks... this is the set I use most of the time now for short sessions and love it 🙂 I really only use the Hyperion Zoom now as a pair for binoviewing, but have used the matching barlow and it works well. I would say that the Hyperion is a great option for normal use, just be aware that it's FoV reduces as you go up in focal length (I think at 24mm, it's only about 44 degrees FoV). The photo I posted above is now out of date, as I've replaced the 30mm Meade with an ES 6.7mm 82... these ES 82s are lovely eyepieces 👍

Likewise… most of the time, when I am using my Tak FOA-60 (usually in Q mode), I use this set (see photo), which includes these two eyepieces (plus your Panoptic 15mm) and am perfectly happy with the views I get 😀 I do also have the Hyperion 8-24 zoom and it makes for a perfect “grab and go” single eyepiece 👍

Agree with Bill here, the 16mm is such a tiny and lightweight eyepiece and I would expect the others in the range to be the same. I've never tried it in my 10" f/5 Dob (I primarily use a set of Ethos and Paracorr for this), but might just do that next time for fun... however I would expect it to fall apart away from the centre 🤔

I now have Mikes Masuyama 16mm and agree with his findings... excellent contrast on axis and vivid colours, but with quite a degree of distortion when moving away from the centre in my refractors. However, I primarily use this in my Mewlon 180C (focal length 2160mm f/12) and it gives much better results off axis.... particularly lovely view of the whole of the moon with this eyepiece 👍

Once you have finder, diagonal and eyepiece fitted, it becomes quite heavy (6 or 7 kgs), but not sure about the payload capacity for the AZ Gti 🤔

I have the same scope and it is indeed a truly excellent performer on planets and the moon 👍 I’ve compared it to both my FC76DCU and FC100DC and it compares well… they are much lighter and do have the edge (just) in terms of contrast, but it’s close. Enjoy… it’s a superb scope and will serve you well 😀

Bought from a fellow SGL member and perfectly packed, thanks 😀 TS Optics Equatorial Platform for my Bresser 10” Dob 👍

Nice… I took my Nikon Monarch 8x30 binoculars fortunately, and was able to view Jupiter and Saturn most nights from our balcony… much higher than in the UK right now 👍

Just arrived back from two weeks (long delayed) holiday in Rhodes and Amazon just delivered this… Panasonic Lumix S5 😃 Not 100% for astro use, but I will no doubt be attaching it to the scopes this Autumn/Winter and see what results I get 🤞