HollyHound

The same is true for the iOptron AZ Mount Pro... you charge it and it runs for a whole night (perhaps bit less if you slew the mount a lot). It's a really great feature to have in a mount, especially as there are no wires getting tangled up 👍

Do you really need to keep the kids, if you have any... just saying 🤣

Sounds very similar to my plan... have the encoders, next is the DSC... seems like a good plan to me 👍

Doubtful... they probably still get a better tune from using synthesizers 🤣

Perhaps I should have said it seemed bizarre to me, having had (false) visions of dobs being cumbersome, when I first started... having said that, some of ones I looked at in books were huge! 🤣

Agreed, I've recently tried both... the difference is minor and (as you say) mostly a little astigmatism at the edge only. Having a 100 degree eyepiece would be great, but as as has been said, the APMs are superb. In fact if you have a reflector at f/5 or less... get a Paracorr first... however this is my opinion only and I'm aware coma bothers others less and of course none of this is relevant to the OPs scopes👍

Looking at your Meade LX90... that's a seriously good scope with plenty of aperture, but at f/10 I would think almost any decent eyepiece (including the Morpheus) would perform perfectly 👍 At lot of it then comes down to usability (ergonomics), eye relief (comfort when observing) and usable field of view.

Arguably, I could suggest forget everything and jump straight to these... amazing eyepieces and it's taken me almost a year to get to them, but that comes at a sizeable cost (both financially and weight) and you'll miss out on the fun of trying others on the way 😀 I actually don't think, apart from perhaps some starter eyepieces that come with scopes and maybe a few others, there really aren't that many "bad" eyepieces... just those that perhaps work better (i.e. edge performance) in faster f ratio scopes and perhaps have a bit better contrast and light transmission. The Morpheus you've just ordered ticks all those boxes anyway without going any higher 👍

Never ever... ever... look at Tele Vue Ethos... just don't 😬🤣

The Morpheus is a very good eyepiece... I've had the 14mm and still retain the 17.5mm. Take it from someone who knows how crazy expensive this can become... use the Morpheus for a while then if you still want to consider other options, buy a used one of the range you want to test and try that first. Actually I've just sold a Tele Vue 13mm Delite, but to be honest I very much doubt there is much difference between that and the Morpheus... in fact the Morpheus has an extra 12 degrees field of view too 👍

Nah, you'll be happy with the first eyepiece you get and that will be the end of it 🤔😬🤣

That makes sense, it's not the absolute weight, more the potential for doing oneself an injury in the process. Last summer I got a terrible bout of what I thought was RSI in my right hand, and as I work a lot of the day in app development you get careful about these things (different keyboards, mice, chairs etc). My hand was not able to work properly for about 5 weeks, even had it in a support for a while. Eventually I figured that it was strain from lifting and setting up the Uni 28 and SkyTee, as I'd been carrying it awkwardly from the office and loaded my right hand unnecessarily due to unbalanced load. I now carry things out with much greater care and haven't had an issue since August. It's the reason I got the Report, as I realised it's half the weight of the Uni 28 and even with Mak (at the time it was the C5), the combined weight is easily managed without any undue strain, so if I do pick it up quickly and take it outside there is less danger of strain 👍 Age is a wonderful thing... not 😬

Indeed, that is certainly doable with the Uni 28/AZ100 combo and either StellaLyra CC6 or StellMira 80mm, each of which are about 7/8kg with eyepieces... not both together, but then that's an unusual use case for me. Bizarrely, almost the quickest setup rig I have now is the 10" dob... it lives beside the back door at the end of a corridor (so away from most of the house heating)... take the tube off, set to one side, carry the base out onto the patio then carry and fit the tube... barely takes 2mins. Quicker than carrying the AZ100 rig out and then mounting the scope. That surprised me, as I'd shied away from dobs thinking they were cumbersome 🤣 I guess they would be going any great distance though... horses for courses 🤔

Will be interesting to see your comparison at to the manageability of one against the other. I certainly had no major issue carrying the (unloaded) AZ100 on the Uni 28 about 30 feet from my office to the back patio (no steps in the way). Although I can easily manage the Report with Mak 127, binoviewer and two Hyperion Zooms outside in one go by the same route, I certainly wouldn't want anything onboard the AZ100 whilst carrying it. Happy enough to carry and load the scopes on afterwards. The same was true for the SkyTee II and indeed the AZ Mount Pro too though.

130 kgs... that's an amazing payload😮 That should be able to take anything the AZ100 can handle (and more). I'm more than happy with the payload of the Uni 28, although if I do go down this route of trying the Bresser 10" OTA on it, I might have to re-consider, but I'm sure it will be fine, besides I have the Tri Pier for anything super heavy (it's rated for 100kg!). Look forward to the photos when it arrives... nice one 👍

Exactly, it's very modular and well designed. I had a quick go with mine last night with the StellaLyra CC6 onboard (balanced with the ST80 on the other side) and it was a delightful experience... so smooth, both manually and slow motion 👍 I'm still undecided about the Nexus (DSC or II), but I think once I start using it fully in anger, having "push to" will be useful... I do already have the encoders fitted, so also ready for this motor system, which will give tracking... that will be very useful indeed 😀 @johninderby I saw you just sold your Uni 28 and mentioned getting a Planet... have you found any issues with your new refractor on the AZ100 and Uni 18, relating to wobble etc, or just want to "future proof" with a bigger tripod 🤔

Now that would be nice 👍 Nope, just as shiny... wonder if it matters too much with large barrel and smaller 1.25” exit internally, probably would be better matt though 🤔

Absolutely, they work fine 👍

It was one of your threads I originally read about them 😃Just to emphasis, they do fit and work absolutely fine but having compared them to the TV one, it just seems that little bit smoother and closes completely (the Baader leaves a tiny single thread gap on mine... very much a first world problem and given they are half the price, I’d still recommend them 👍👍

Well the two I bought do thread on, but they seem a bit “gritty” and don’t thread fully... perfectly usable and really barely worth worrying about, but having received the 6mm with an actual TV extender and seeing how well that fitted and smoothly threads on/off, it just seemed right to get the same for the others 😃 Minor investment compared to the price of the eyepiece and will find uses for these Hyperion extension rings. Thanks for the detailed information 👍

This came about through a private conversation about our respective eyepiece collections and scopes to use them in... that’s still probably no comfort, but at least you don’t have to beat yourself up about missing a sale listing 😬

Umm... not just you, I’ve literally just ordered another from @FLO as I feel yours threads better than the Hyperion I bough, however the difference is small 👍

Thanks John. I’ll get the Losmandy dovetail and see how it goes. Looks like a good option for handle. I’m also considering using my observer chair (footrest) as a stand, to introduce the tube vertically, but that might be awkward and fraught with issues. See how I get on 🤞

Hi John, As I mentioned in the earlier posts and just recently on the AZ100 owners thread, I am going to try my Bresser 10” OTA on the AZ100. The StellaMira Losmandy dovetail mentioned seems ideal and so will be ordering one... however, I wanted to know whether you had much flexing on the tube or tube rings in this configuration, and whether you’d think another dovetail (Vixen) would make sense on the opposite side to the Losmandy, potentially giving extra rigidity and acting as a sort of handle too 🤔 Bresser do have a handle but it’s not able to be shipped anymore to the UK anymore, but the dovetail could serve both purposes anyway. Thanks Gary

Yes, I considered something similar, but was concerned my (minimal) DIY skills might not be up to it. Shame, as the Bresser dob mount is just so smooth and easy to use. As I am getting either the Nexus DSC or Nexus II anyway for the AZ100 (mine has encoders), then I figure if I do get on with the “push to” concept, I can still use that unit on the dob base (with this kind of encoder setup), if I decide to go down that route. I am curious to try the 10” OTA on the AZ100 though first 🤞