MrFreeze

Orion's UK site is https://uk.telescope.com/ priced in pounds sterling (they also have https://eu.telescope.com/. priced in euro). Although their warehouse is as you suspected in the Netherlands, their speed of delivery rivals many UK firms. If your order is in stock you will have it in 2 days. I have bought both of my Maksutovs from them and speak as a very satisfied customer. Customer service is based in US, but available 24/7 via webchat. I have used it when my last order went horribly wrong due to my bank classing it as a scam, and found the service excellent. I wouldn't have any hesitation in buying from them. Yes it wouldn't be that easy to physically take it back to the warehouse yourself, but unless a UK supplier was very close the same applies - I wouldn't dream of returning anything myself except maybe Tring astro who are only just down the road. David

Yah - at last. Now my EQ2 will be a bit lighter! I use it with my 127mm Maksutov, and the stock weight isn't quite heavy enough to balance it, so I have been using an additional EQ3 counterweight, sleeved to fit the narrower shaft of the EQ2. This makes it considerably heavier than it needs to be. Yes I know the spare EQ3 would probably be a better mount, but the tripod has vanished - it's 'somewhere safe' in the loft! Also the EQ2 is fitted with a better saddle clamp and is motorised, and the spare EQ3 isn't. The barlow I've wanted to try for a while as apparently it performs well with the Hyperflex zoom. Cross fingers it stays clear and I can use it on Mars a bit later tonight. David

I had absolutely no joy with the short cheshires - can't focus on the crosshairs at all. I ended up with one of the longer ones through Aliexpress. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33056951646.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.44072659Zj8JPx&algo_pvid=076441e5-a541-42ea-bcf3-a42cdf830ed6&algo_expid=076441e5-a541-42ea-bcf3-a42cdf830ed6-2&btsid=2100bde116045638319288156edc55&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ Not bad at all for less than a tenner, and only 9 days shipping. David

They have been used, just not very much. The leather straps seem fine - I'll have to dig out my leather oil that I had for my leathers when I was a biker. Serial no. is 3779190, so I make that 1970 which would be round about the time my father bought his. Too early for the multi-coated optics unfortunately, but they give a very clear image despite the slight internal condensation from being in the cold for the last couple of days. Jupiter looks good, but I can't resolve the rings on Saturn although it doesn't look round. Just been twigging SWMBO that she was only 3 years old when these were made.🤣 David

I remember my father had a pair of these when I was little, and they were really wonderful, but seemed very heavy. I have a pair of the 8 x 30s, but have been looking for a decent pair of Zeiss 10 x 50s for a long time. David

Hmm - if you select delivery from UK the price goes up to $450. I think I'll pass. David

They are lovely diagonals aren't they - I have had one for several months, but are they really dielectric ones ? Svbony say they are, but not according to Amazon. Also some reviewers think not - how do you tell? David

This morning I received my 6mm Omni eyepiece that I bought from the link further up the thread. I must say that it's a really nice eyepiece, and was a bargain at only £10. The eye relief is short, but not really that bad, and it is very sharp and crisp. It has a narrow FOV as you would expect from a short FL plossl. In general it performs very similarly to a 6mm Circle-T ortho that I'd forgotten I had, but the ortho has a slight edge in clarity. Then again the ortho cost nearly 4 times a much, and that was second-hand. I'd also forgotten about two 6mm UWA 'gold line' eyepieces tucked away in the same box, which seem to perform much better than I remember - they can be fussy about eye position and 'kidney bean' far too easily. The FOV is huge though compared to both the ortho and the Omni. I recently also got a TMB Planetary II clone 6mm, and I must say it was awful. Maybe I got a bad one, but it's easily the worst eyepiece I have ever used. It gives a very 'soft' image as if the lens has been smeared with vaseline - it hasn't - I checked. It has a large FOV, similar to the gold line eyepieces, but unfortunately without the clarity. David

Another Aliexpress bargain - and it came with a free red filter. Not bad for a tenner! The screws are for modifying an electric focuser for my 127 Maksutov ( the one on youtube) David

It really depends on your budget, but I would always recommend the OVL Hyperflex zoom https://www.firstlightoptics.com/ovl-eyepieces/hyperflex-72mm-215mm-eyepiece.html as it is such an amazing eyepiece - I wish someone had recommended it to me when I (re)started. It has decent eye-relief, and a very clear image. It's also less massive than many zooms. With the addition of a wide field eyepiece like a 32mm Celestron Omni https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-eyepieces/celestron-omni-plossl-eyepiece.html you've pretty much got all bases covered for about £100. If you want to go for higher magnifications the Baader classic Q barlow works very well with the Hyperflex apparently (mine is still on order) https://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlows/baader-classic-q-225x-barlow.html Of course you can spend vastly more than this - some eyepieces run to over £500 for a single fixed focal length, but the Hyperflex is a very good eyepiece for not too much money. David

Thanks for the explanations of this and the order allocation bit. Unfortunately there is a difference between seeing something and taking note of it (on the assumption that of course it will be mentioned in the order acknowledgement - but it isn't). It's like Terms and Conditions - everybody clicks the box saying they have read them, but very few people actually do read them (we have a local school uniform supplier whose website has like this, but if you click the link for the TOC it deletes your order ! ) David

I'm not that convinced that a 1.3Kg weight saving between the 150PDS and the 130PDS will make that great a difference in stability (obviously there will be some improvement, just not as much as you think). For planetary work a 127 Maksutov might be a better bet, as due to it's much smaller size, it will be much more stable. It's a common misconception that you can't do astrophotography with an EQ3 - I would refer you to the following thread : David

Hmm. That will take some time to print. David

If only that were true : Print that! Sorry - couldn't resist. David

I'm not sure how you managed this, as I have never been given a timescale on any out of stock orders, or been 'let know'. The only method I know is to repeatedly check stock on the items I ordered (which on my current order has been given as 10-14 days for the last several weeks). Yes I am very aware there is a pandemic, which is why I haven't made a fuss or emailed them (being a 'key worker' I will be VERY lucky if I get a chance to use up my annual leave - all holidays (except Christmas day) over the season are banned, 6 day weeks compulsory in December, and I can only dream of being furloughed) David

My setup is similar, but not identical - a 150PL on an EQ3 Pro, and that's quite heavy enough thank you, to carry as one item. Yes you can take the tube out seperately, and each time you do this the angled screw on the mount takes another chunk out of the dovetail. Mine's already graunched quite badly, and I've already had it almost fall off the mount when fastening it in place. I never figured a method of adding a decent dovetail clamp to the EQ3 that won't foul up the DEC motor mounting. The big improvement I managed was getting an electric focuser (the so called Skywatcher auto-focuser). This stops all the wobble you get when trying to focus manually, which makes it much easier to live with. That said, I now tend to use one of my Maksutovs for most sessions, as they are so much easier to carry outside fully assembled. I suppose french doors in preference to sliding patio doors might make it easier, but that's yet more expense. David

Wow - that is seriously expensive. In comparison an Anycubic Mega S printer (I have one of these, along with a Photon) which can produce 210x210x205 prints costs less than £160 including postage! So, yes it looks like print agencies have priced themselves out of the business. I'm about 50 miles from you, so probably not practical unless you get really desperate. David

Not all Skywatcher Explorer 150P scopes use a 2" eyepiece holder. Mine certainly will only take 1.25" eyepieces, but it has a 42mm thread if you remove the actual eyepiece holder bit, and I ended up fitting it with one of these : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32800166770.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.65.32801862bvdIaC Absolutely brilliant piece of kit - stops the eyepieces being marked, and ensures collimators etc are held centrally. It can make it a bit more difficult to extract eyepieces with safety undercuts though. David

The obvious online firm is Shapeways, but be warned - they aren't cheap. There are many others, or you could try to find a local maker space, or some person local with a printer to do it for you. You will need to create an STL file (Stuctured Tesselation Language) for them ( or whoever else you use). There are many programs available to generate your STL - the best known is probably Sketchup, but there are many others, many of which are free. Personally I use Gmax for historical reasons - I have been 'into' 3D design for a long time (about 35 years!) 3D printing is another rabbit hole that can consume vast amounts of time and money (just like astronomy!) - be warned. David

A 2.5mm wall thickness is perfectly reasonable. I made a dew shield for my Mak127 (the one on Thingiverse - not recommended - too small and needs filing to fit) and that is 150mm OD, 175mm height with wall thickness about 2.2mm. I wouldn't want to sit on it, but it's perfectly strong enough for it's purpose - it hasn't broken yet despite it being too tight and being forced into place with quite some effort. Your size is too large for most small resin printers like the Anycubic Photon which make much stronger parts. It would be possible (just) to print this on an Elegoo Saturn if you know anyone lucky enough to have bought one. (The last batch of 200 produced sold out in about 20 minutes!) David

I have the Hyperflex, and it is a really stunning eyepiece. I also have the Celestron 8-24 zoom which is pretty good, but the Hyperflex is noticeably clearer. The Hyperflex also seems to 'fit' my face better than the Celestron if that makes any sense. With the Hyperflex you are just 'there' as opposed to looking 'through' an eyepiece. David

Definitely don't buy that kit - waste of money. If you're on a budget, a decent zoom lens might fight the bill. Either Celestron 8-24, or one of the Svbony zooms. If you can afford it, the Hyperflex zoom available from FLO is excellent quality, or the Baader one if you really want to get the best. I use the Hyperflex 7-21 in my Mak, and the Celestron 8-24 in the 150P , and rarely take them out of the scope to be honest. David

I'm not convinced this will work, as I doubt your synscan has the software to negotiate voltages with a Quickcharge PSU. If it can't negotiate succesfully, the PSU will default to 5V not the 12V you need. Sorry. David

That sort of worked - it's not perfect, but a whole lot better. I didn't think of a hairdryer, as my wife thinks they ruin her hair and it's been a long time since I had enough hair to need one.🤣 David

This dew shield arrived this morning. Would have got one from auntie FLO, but out of stock, so got this one from China. Seems very nice, but appears to have been sat on in transit and now is sort of triangular.☹️ Anyone any ideas on how to make it round again? David