Carl Au

Thank you. That’s me told…

Has anyone fitted a handle to a TS/Altair/Starwave 102 ED-R.

I take it you bought a scope, I notice FLO has one less Starfield these days for sale

Interesting. Does the Starfield have the same 3 point 2 inch to 1.25mm fitting as the Altair Astro version (There is definitely variation between the different sports of this scope even if it’s just a different coloured focuser (or part there of) Always reminds me of a ships wheel. I love mine, silky smooth and easy to securely fit a 2 inch diagonal with one hand. I did however buy a 1.25 Baader click lock adapter which I used for attaching a Lunt Herschel Wedge as I found the original one awkward to use and not as smooth as the wonderfully engineered 2 inch fitting. I adore my scope, I have said it before, but I really should start a KUO fan club

Yeah I did the same thing for a while, good work around

There you go see, a work around, we’re all in favour of a work around

I own one scope and rarely if ever own two at the same time. My latest and final scope is a Fl 7 Starwave 102 ED-R on a TeleVue Gibraltar mount. I have owned mostly refractors over the past 50 odd years. I have had big dobs in the past and just can’t get on with them. I find fl7 to be the sweet spot in 4 inch refractors. I don’t know if I have a particularly good one, but it’s the best telescope optically I have ever owned. I also live in a tiny 300 year old cottage, not a lot of storage space and the shed is full of my lovely wife’s gardening tools (English cottage gardens take more maintenance than you might imagine). All of my gear goes under the bed in the guest bedroom

I like astronomy, been involved for 55 years. If, and that’s a big if, that some amazing for one night/opportunity to see something I would never see again, perhaps I would find a work around. I don’t enjoy social occasions at all, I am not wired up for them, but it’s just a hobby at the end of the day, and there is always another night so family comes first

That’s a good point, I could probably get away with using a 25 mm 68 degree and get away with it… but I am not going to, my kit is complete

Interesting

I have heard of a couple of folks very recently who, I assume decided it’s more trouble swapping over between formats than its worth, thought I must have been missing something, a new trend even? I usually own one, currently a ES 28 mm, which I am extremely pleased with I have to say.

Have any of you abandoned 2 inch eyepieces and moved entirely back to 1.25 numbers? Discuss…

Well I had some good views, I did OK. High cloud kicking in and yeah a bit of mist now too. I am going to take a chance and leave it to try to grab a view of Mars later

Which is what I ended up doing in the end, the wider field of view, particularly planetary. Jupiter slides so slowly across the field of view in 82 degree eyepieces….. which reminds me, my scope is outside and I have a small window to see Saturn through the 🌲 🌳….. better dash

I don’t know if this helps, but have owned a fpl 53 102 EDR for 3 years now, AA’s version of the KUO scope. I won’t be selling mine ever, quality build, quality optics so good you wonder where the catch is for only 900 quid, except there isn’t one. Less than 250 buys you the wonderful AZ4 mount, the Starfield is absolutely rock solid on one, I know because I used one for years with scopes this size. Another couple of hundred pounds get’s you the equally lovely Baader zoom. Again with the scope you are talking about I used nothing else for a couple of years, wonderful things. Add a WO diagonal and red dot Finder and you have lots of spare cash left. Everything is currently in stock at FLO