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I've recently acquired a 'pre-owned' Skywatcher Startravel 150/750 refractor on an EQ5 mount upgraded with Synscan. I hope to document my refurbishment of this scope one step at a time as a record of what I have done - and, hopefully, provide you with a) amusement and b) a guide if you should wish to do the same. First steps were to put it all together and see if it works:

I was just about to post a question about transporting a 72mm refractor, diagonal and eyepieces, tripod and Star Adventurer Pro with a camera body and bits and I think you've just answred my question. Thank you. Unless anyone has any other suggestions....

If yuou are going the DIY route, don't buy an audio phono lead and add a 2.5/5.5mm power plug as the cable in the audio lead would not be suitable for the power you need to draw. One option you can take (particularly if you want to make just an adapter cable) is to look on eBay/Amazon for something like these: Then simply solder a decent quality RCA female socket on the end with maybe some sleeving on the centre pin wire to prevent shorting out the power. Better still may be some of these:

I went through the same thought process as you and I have just bought the Altair 72EDF with the 1.0 flattener and the upgraded focuser. Looking at the specs the ZS73, the Altair and the RVO 72ED are pretty much the same scope. Now waiting for the clouds to do one. I suspect you're not far from me (south of Salisbury), so I expect you are thinking the same. Good luck.

Hi Steve I was aware of the USB-C issues but a quick trawl revealed these (which may now be resolved of course). Looks to mainly apply to earlier versions of the Pi4. Also - it's not clear if these would affect the uses we are putting them to. USB-C issues: https://hackaday.com/2019/07/16/exploring-the-raspberry-pi-4-usb-c-issue-in-depth/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/02/24/raspberry-pi-4-rev-1-2-fixes-usb-c-power-issues-improves-sd-card-resilience/ Raspberry Pi failure rate and main instability sources: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=295976&p=1785170#p1785170 HDMI issues: https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread/20161-rpi4-hdmi-cec-not-working/ https://howtoraspberrypi.com/raspberry-pi-hdmi-not-working/ https://www.raspberrypistarterkits.com/guide/raspberry-pi-hdmi-not-working/

I've heard much the same - and it's not clear where the unreliability is coming from, so I too will be staying away from the Pi4 for now. I have two Atom-based motherboards and one Atom-based and one i7-based SBC, so I think I have enough computing power 👍. I have a couple of 5-port switches and some TP-Link wireless nano-routers that will do the basics for networking and waterproof box to mount it all in. Just need to put it all together, one step at a time.

Very interesting and informative thread - thanks. I'm starting out on my imaging journey and this thread answers a lot of questions I was beginning to form while planning my control gear. My plan is to build a seperately networked set-up with a link to the house for remote control/monitoring. I have a couple of x86-based SBCs and microITX systems so will be using those to control the scope, camera and mount(s). I may have difficulty putting Windows on some of them due to the hardware so I was looking at using Ubuntu or Mint instead. For portable use on my Star Adventurer Pro I wouild look at a Pi4, if the PicoITX board is too cumbersome. We'll see. I have separate computers that I use to do the post-processing so that's not an issue here, but I was curious about how far I could go using Linux-based computers. This thread has answered that nicely.

Holy Thread Ressurection, Batman! - but I was looking for some background about this scope and found this thread! So thank you @Madhatterfor the review. I have one of these and I'm looking at making a simple mount for it - either a small Dob or a tripod-mounted Alt-Z, just for casual observing - to try and improve the scope's performance. I'll do a basic clean and collimation to see if the scope performance can be improved. I'll not report improvements here, but will post in DIY Astronomy and put a link here to cross-reference the work.

Thanks again everyone.

Not as big as many others in this thread - but here's my Startravel 150/750 f5 on its first outing after acquisition at the start of the year: No real set-up. Just point and shoot, so to speak. All I wanted to do was prove it all worked and the optics were clean. Scope needs a clean and the mount needs a service, but that's cool. Not saying it was cold, but the dew froze on the scope - and the patio froze over. That head torch is pretty fine though. 👍

Thank you everyone. It's nice to be made welcome. Surely these cloudy nights can't last much longer? At least I can take advantage of them to get to understand the EQ5 and how it all interacts electrically. I'll also be able to service the mount and clean/refresh the Startravel 150/750 so that they're both ready to use when the clouds lift. Clear skies, everyone - and stay safe. Martin

I've just ordered an Altair 72 EDF refractor and an adapter for the Pentax to start me on my journey. It would appear AltairAstro's web site's stock control is accurate!. I'll take my time about eyepieces and see what I can get later on. Thanks everyone for your help.

Hi everyone. Apologies for posting a question when starting my membership of SGL and not saying hello first! I didn't see this forum till tonight otherwise I would have said hello. I'm here now and I'll try and make amends. I'm very recently retired, having moved to Wiltshire mid-2019 from Surrey. We're perched right on the edge of Cranborne Chase, so we're close to dark skies (Bortle 3 to 4 in my garden). I'm an electronic engineer by training and enjoy tinkering, so I am looking forward to desiging and building the control systems needed to watch and image the stars. I have an old Jessops 80mm Newtonian on a dreadful mount and will be putting this on a simple Dob mount as soon as I can. More recently, I bought a Star Adventurer Pro and have had fun (skies permitting) taking pictures of Neowise, the Pleiades and Andromeda, learning something about stacking and processing images afterwards. Very recently I picked up an old Startravel 150/750mm refractor on an EQ5 mount, both of which will need servicing and I've just ordered an Altair 72 EDF refractor to use as a grab'n'go and, more seriously, for imaging. So lots of equipment - and now I've the time to get to grips with it. Hope to learn from you all - and in time to get to help others too. Martin

I am also looking at eyepieces for use on the new scope when travelling, so use on both scopes has to be considered. I appreciate your point about the eyepieces you suggested but again, availability may be the deciding factor at this point.

I had noticed Altair Astro had a better stock situation than many but they've not updated their site to say they're back after Christmas, so who knows if the stock is accurate. Teleskop-Express also seem to have some stock too. As you'd have guessed, I'm putting together a small set of equipment to get me going. The older SW 150/175 comes with a 2" diagional and two eyepieces that will serve to start me off, but that 38mm SWA PanaView may well be within budget - and interesting it's a 2" size too. Thank you.

Thank you @KP82. Very useful information. I've also noticed the lack of supply - some sites quoting June as the earliest stock may be available! This may sway my decision a little bit but more likely after I decide between a 70mm, 60mm or 50mm scope. It looks like I have two steps to take now: For imaging I need to check the FOV offered by each scope when used with my Pentax I also need to check that the scope/camera/finder will work on the Star Adventurer Pro. Thanks for the help regarding the eyepieces. I'll see what budget is left once I choose the scope, but that gives me a good choice to start with.

Greetings everyone - first poster and, as usual, I would like some advice. A bit of background for you all - I'm interested in both observing and imaging and am pretty much at the start of both hobbies. At present I am more interested in DSOs than the solar system (both for observing and imaging) so would like to concentrate on these aspects of astronomy with my equipment. I have a SW Star Adventurer Pro with its own tripod that I have used with my Pentax K3 DSLR and lenses for imaging and I recently acquired a motorised EQ5 with an SW 150/750 refractor. I'm fully aware the large SW refractor won't be much use for imaging, but it will help me with observing. The mount will however be a good start for imaging at home once serviced and upgraded. I've been lucky enough to be given a decent sum of money to spend on an imaging scope so I am looking at what to buy to add to my equipment to help imaging and to provide me with a travel scope for observing when away too. The scope therefore needs to be useable on the Star Adventurer Pro and I have kind of ended up looking at either a 60mm or a 72mm scope along the lines of: Altair 72 EDF Refractor / RVO Horizon 72ED / TS 72mm F6 (these all look to be very similar if not identical scopes) WO ZS73 SW Evostart 72ED DS-Pro WO ZS61 Altair 60 EDF doublet Sharpstar 61EDPH WO Spacecat 51 I have the 25mm and 10mm eyepieces and the diagonal from the SW 150/750, so suggestions for other eyepieces and possible diagonal would help too. I will get the appropriate flattener and the T-mount/adapter and spacer as necessary for the Pentax K3. Hope I've covered everythuing - but happy to provide more info if required. Thanks