Jason B

I'm in the same boat. There are so many companies to choose from. I'm looking at a company called optimal print to get a shot of the moon I have put on a canvas. Can all be done online using my smartphone, so really easy . They have a 9.2 trust pilot rating so I think I'll go with them.

These have korea stamped on them. Not sure about triple tested? Still a good find for the price.

Got these old 10x50 Hanimex bins (never heard of that make either!) for 8 English pounds from ebay last week! Thought to myself that you can't go wrong for that price and I can give them to my son if they're not much cop, but I think I hit lucky. They are actually great and in decent condition . Crisp views and I've also found them great to use as a finder for my 200p Dob. Located Andromeda easily with them, then lined the Dob up... Really easy! Always, struggled to find it using the straight through finderscope attached to the scope. Wish I'd got a pair of bins ages ago. Great views of the moon, Orion nebula, pleiades and a few others. Even took them to the beach at the weekend and they were great there too. Might even look further into binoviewing now.

Noted. Apologies.

I've been waiting for a baader T-thread adapter To come from the EU so I can attach my DSLR to my hyperion eyepiece. Ordered it on the 12th Jan. I've had 2 items I ordered from China on the same day arrived already (over a week ago) , so this EU hold up can be resolved with the required amount of cooperation and will. I can only come to the conclusion that it suits the pro-EU agenda to have these hold-ups (so they can say, 'I told you so'). I'm an apparently rare breed, who was indifferent whether we stayed or left the EU as I believed business would make it work (I still believe it will be business that gets it sorted, probably EU based businesses who export to the UK) . Luckily poor weather conditions have meant I've had very little opportunity to use the adaptor even if it had arrived, so it's not the end of the world; but when it comes to waiting for my astro-gear, I'm like a child waiting for Christmas, even for a simple little item like this adaptor😀

I agree. I struggle to find things in the sky, but using the big dipper pointer stars makes it one of the easiest.

Must've been the fella on the right who done the packaging🤣🤣🤣

I'm going to stop looking at this section of the astro lounge because I'm starting to get really jealous of other members' gear 🤣

🤣🤣🤣🤣 My funds are very limited too, but my powers of persuasion (begging the the wife) have surprised even myself lately!

I have one of those. Not the Celestron one; just a one from a Chinese website. A bit of a faff, attaching it and lining it up in the dark (don't want to ruin my night vision using a torch). However, your celestron one looks much better in design than mine, but I've still managed some rather good results! The results persuaded me to buy a cheap old DSLR and the attachments to hook it up to my scope. Unfortunately the camera is so old (over 15 years) , my more modern smartphone with the adapter is getting better images, so I'm still using that. Going to have to dig into my bottomless astro money pit again and buy a newer, higher spec camera 🤣!

Yes, the Chinese sites such as Ali are actually good at doing refunds; quite promptly too. Over the last year, I had one item never turned up and another item went to a wrong address (tracked it by royal mail and it had gone to the same address, different city!) I got no quibble refunds for both. Everything else has been great, apart from the long delivery times, which I'm usually prepared for. Currently waiting for a few items, one is a canon shutter remote for a quid!

There's one on ebay at the moment, currently 99 squid. I suspect the bidding will go up- still 6 days left. You never know, you might grab a bargain (and I'll be well jeal🤣)

I've never bought anything from ali… yet. I do visit the site and there are some apparent bargains. I have bought stuff from DH Gate, as well as Wish (both similar set ups as Ali), and items bought all have been good enough and as described. I usually just buy low cost items that are sold for a lot more in the UK and Europe, but wiil definitely have been made in the far east.

I did all of the 'looking at other options', but I knew all along I would still get the baader- I think I was just looking for ways to confirm the wisdom of my decision. Lots of people confirmed it was better than the other zooms mentioned in this thread, but not as much as the price difference would suggest. I intend to use mine a lot, so to me the extra cost is worth it.

That's on my list of maybes, along with a few others. I'll use the old 300d for a while, to learn the best settings and mess around with Deep Sky Stacker and GIMP. I'll definitely be upgrading, as I do enjoy getting images of what I see.

I got the T mount the other day and am waiting for the baader adapter to come from FLO (shouldn't be much longer). The DSLR I got a couple of weeks back is an old canon model (300D), but initially I'm not impressed; my smartphone appears to do better, although it is viewing through the baader, where the canon is attached directly to the scope until the attachment arrives. I'm hoping I get better results when I can attach it to my zoom, or I'll be flogging the 300D on and digging deeper into my pockets to buy something more suitable.

I'm not in Cheshire, I'm in Newcastle.

You won't regret it! The pictures look nice, but they can't beat seeing through the baader with your own eyes. Enjoy!

I got the baader zoom for Crimbo and use it with my 200p Skywatcher and it is fantastic! When I first tried it, I didn't cool the scope before using the baader and was a little dissapointed and thought I was going to regret buying something I'd been really looking forward to owning. But when I gave it time to cool the views were excellent; I now love it! Here's a couple of pics of the moon from last night at different mags (no barlow used). They were only done with my phone held up to the eyepiece, so I'm sure much better pics could definitely be achieved. I've included a one I got of Orion nebula as well. I say just get it; You already know you're going to!

I know! I now usually find myself saying to my wife, 'Johnathan's coming today (dpd) , with my parcel' or, 'Alex is due today (parcelforce) with my delivery🤣🤣🤣

🤣 I think you're right. This one example of over-packaging by them was by no means a one-off!

This came (a while back). It's just a moon filter, which itself is unremarkable; but what is worth highlighting, is the amount of packaging used for an item that is only slightly larger than a pound coin. I could almost fit my kettle in the box. I'm an enthusiastic recycler, but I can't help feeling that there should be more responsibility placed on companies who are now posting ever-increasing amounts of items.

You made it sound so simple! I will of course be having a try🙂

That looks amazing! And you did it so quickly! I'm looking to download some imaging software, what did you use, if you don't mind me asking? Thanks, I'll be spending the next few minutes admiring that enhancement👍☺️