MiladyB

20 minutes ago, TerraC said:

ARgh So frustrating..   Just about to hit the buy on an Az-GTI from FLO.   This morning £215 or £285 with tripod and extension.  This afternoon £249 for the head and £339 for tripod and pillar.   That's scuppered that then.   back to the drawing board.  

 

I feel your pain. I'd been looking at a Heritage 150p to combine with an az-gti mount - it was between that setup and the 250px flextube. The 150p wasn't in stock and I wouldn't have ordered the mount on its own as I wanted to get the scope first. I was hoping to get into a shop to look at the 250px. Now the big dob is simply too expensive, and the other setup will probably cost way more than it would have been.

I thought I was being wise being patient for once - d'oh! 🤦🏻‍♀️

As gutting as it is for consumers, it's the sellers who will lose out on orders at least in the short term - since wages haven't risen in line with the prices. I feel for the retailers as most will squeeze their profits in order to try to maintain sales. It's effectively a bubble, though, and hopefully the market will self-correct soon.

49 minutes ago, SMF said:

Where’s the other £300.00 coming from?

My guess: increased manufacturing costs on the units themselves (goods inwards, covid security in factories etc), and a hefty lump of surge pricing on due to sheer demand and staffing issues.

Hopefully the prices will settle down once logistics and manufacturing come back on stream more fully. It must be really tough for retailers as well as consumers, with people potentially being priced out of the market at least temporarily.

For now I'm going to have to shelve buying the 250px flextube I've been hanging my nose over but wanted to look at 'in the flesh'. Hopefully it'll be back on the list once things ease up 🤞

On 21/01/2021 at 00:38, andyman said:

You say you've not got room for 10 inch dob lol...you can get the 250px flextube ..easy to store easy to transport and will give you the biggest bang for your buck

I made the mistake of looking at this with my husband, who suggested where we could store one for easy access to the garden and now it's a distinct possibility we'll look at getting one - at some point, at least - perhaps just not to begin with. 😯

19 hours ago, andyman said:

You say you've not got room for 10 inch dob lol...you can get the 250px flextube ..easy to store easy to transport and will give you the biggest bang for your buck

They look amazing. SO tempting, but at nearly 30kg I'd struggle to manoeuvre it into the garden. 😭

9 hours ago, AlexK said:

Mine is too, so I do just this:

And that's a full OTA 12" Dob:

Which is stored at home simply standing upside down in the rather shallow wall wardrobe.

Just a little investment into a DIY transporting system.

Plenty of really decent advice above. My 2 cents is: wherever you end up on your search, a 150mm aperture is about what should be considered the starting point for truly rewarding planetary views with a reflector. So I'd stick to that as a bottom plank.

WOW! 😯 That's brilliant. Something to consider for the future 😁

Love that! When we eventually move out of the city, I'd love a permanent pier in the garden to put a really big dob on, but being able to pack down for taking camping is a must right now, and the car is always full to the gunwales as it is! 😄

55 minutes ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

There's loads of ways to mix and match. For instance, I have mounted on an AZ-GTI (or AZ5), a cut price customer return 150i tube modified with a new focuser. The supplied fixed vixen dovetail removed and replaced with tube rings to counter the imbalance caused by a heavier focuser. I wanted to use as much aperture as possible on the AZ-GTI without straining the mount and the Heritage 150 didn't exist at the time.

Nifty!

I'm itching to get going with some kit now.

Excellent advice @Tiny Clanger - thank you 😊

As you say, there's no harm having a 'grab and go' as well if/when I get more confident 😄

MiladyB x

While reading up on the Heritage 150p I noticed someone had posted on here last year about using their Heritage 150p dob on an az-gti mount (which I really like the look of but had discounted as they don't do a 6" in the range) so that's maybe something for me to consider if I feel like I want goto for fun without going full EQ - must admit it hadn't occurred to me that could be done 🤦🏻‍♀️ I clearly have a LOT to learn!

Thank you SO much for the advice! I knew I was over-complicating things. 😄

I think it's going to be a Heritage 150p for now, and once I've got the hang of that and can venture further afield than my back yard, I can look at a Goto EQ setup for some AP as well.

Now I just need to find somewhere with the Heritage 150p in stock!

Thanks again,

MiladyB x

Hi,

Goto isn't a massive priority at this point. I initially liked the look of the SW Explorer 150p - it seems to have a lot of fans - but I gather it would be a bit heavy for the az goto mounts. I'm happy to put in the work to learn to navigate without goto, with the option to go EQ goto later.

I've got a reasonable budget - up to £1000 for OTA, mount/tripod and some accessory bits. I really just want something good quality that I can get stuck in with, and has the potential to be 'scalable' later on. The more I've looked at and read up on the more I've boggled my mind to be honest so all advice is very much appreciated 😊

Hi,

So after a LOT of reading, video-watching and head-scratching, I'm desperately in need of some guidance from you lovely people, please!

I don't have a clear line of sight on Polaris from my back yard due to buildings, so an EQ mount isn't going to be that great for me. I might look at one for taking out into the countryside later, but I'm thinking alt-az for now.

I looked at the Star Discovery 150pi, but am not sure how good they are - no collimation, and some reviewers seem to dislike the focuser and vanes? I don't mind star-hopping with my planisphere and an app.

I'd like to get into AP at some point perhaps, but it's not my first priority.

I'm basically wanting to see some nice planets and DSOs, so I'm guessing as I don't have the room to store a 10" dobsonian and I want something portable, either a 6" newtonian or a decent refractor would make sense.

I'm liking the look of this combo, but am not sure if I'm barking up the wrong tree? 

One of these:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-outfit.html

On one of these:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth-astronomy-mounts/skywatcher-az4-alt-az-mount.html

What do you think?

Thanks in advance, and wishing you all clear skies!

MiladyB

Hi everyone,

I've spent so long reading people's equipment reviews and suchlike on here for the last few weeks I decided I should sign up.

I'm a rank amateur when it comes to using a telescope for astronomy, having only used a small refractor (without much success) many years ago, but I've been a keen comet and meteor watcher, and avid moon-gazer for decades.

I'm currently reading Turn Left at Orion and Collins Stargazing: A Beginner's Guide to Astronomy, since telescopes are rarer than unicorns in the shops right now. I intend to buy a decent scope and mount for visual observing and some basic astrophotography once I have a better idea of exactly what equipment would suit me within my budget.

Wishing you all clear skies!

MB