fatwoul

Are you looking for a direct replacement?  Or are you asking if there is a better alternative to a 10mm plossl, given your equipment?  What are you primarily hoping to observe?

Hi again, all.  Thanks for the continued welcomes, and for the pointers to various bits and pieces on here and AB&S.  iapa and Neil H, thank you very much for your help. I think I may have taken too long to venture back to the forum, as both seem to be sale pending.

Thanks everyone, nice to see some familiar names still knocking around.  Mr. Spock - good advice, I should never have sold the NEQ6 I already had.  Honestly, given it would be for visual use only, I could probably get away with something a bit smaller.  I'm older, fatter, and my knees aren't what they were.  Surprisingly, I've heard some positive things about C9.25 on AVX.

Ultimately, given the amount of nights I'd realistically get to use it, I need to be a bit budget conscious.  I've finally grown up and got myself a mortgage (!) so I can no longer pour my wages into an observatory (I sold mine a few years back 😞), but if I found a suitable mount in the 500-700 quid range, I could maybe justify that.

If I don't manage to find anything, you might eventually see a C9.25 pop up in the classifieds!

Thanks again

Hello all,

Some of you might recognise my username, as I was a regular member between about 2011 and 2016ish.  I'm just stopping by because I'm maybe in the market for a mount for a C9.25, so I thought I'd say hello whilst I was here.

I hope you're all keeping well, and the last 18 months haven't been too difficult for you.

As always, my best wishes to everyone

Robin

Very sad news, but at 89 we can be happy that he lived a long, and very productive life, and has left a legacy we can all be proud of, and thankful for.

I was keen to order one of http://www.altairastro.com/product.php?productid=16335&cat=260&page=1]these, based both on positive comments from Olly, and on the fact that it is pretty unusual, in a useful way - it can serve as a finder and a finder-guider, and is easier to focus in the latter capacity than a standard finderscope.

Unfortunately, when I initially decided to get it, AA has an out of stock notice on the item, so I emailed them asking when they would expect more stock. As some of you may know, communication is definitely Altair's weakest point, and many of us have struggled to get a response from them. I'll be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that they sell some very nice things, and are the only stockists of some items, I would have given up on them some time ago for this reason. Emails from my own account, messages left via their website's message system, phone calls and even text messages to private mobile numbers all failed. I finally got a reply from Nick by sending him a stroppy message via one of the Yahoo groups he is on. Once that contact was established, the process became much better - Nick notified me when in stock, and I had my finder within a couple of days.

Two minor hiccups did occur:

The finder was sent to my billing (home) address rather than shipping (work) address. Fortunately, I was home when the TNT man tried to deliver, so this didn't cause a problem.

The 23mm reticle eyepiece wasn't supplied in the box. Ian and Nick have assured me one will be in the post on Monday, and I'm sure it will be. This also hasn't presented an immediate problem as the finder's main role will be as a guider.

The finder itself is very nice, and is now doing a lovely job of guiding my NEQ6/Tak E-180, and I've never had a problem with the quality of the items I have purchased from Altair.

Their failing is in their ongoing difficulties with communication which seem to have plagued them since I started using them. I really hope they figure out a way to sort that out, but despite that I do recommend them, provided you can get in touch with them!

Ordered an Atik 4000 Mono last week from FLO. Unfortunately we had to wait for a delivery from Portugal, but that was nobody's fault, and the camera arrived safe and sound yesterday, in time for the clear spell we hope to get this weekend.

One thing to note: I think FLO are very busy at the moment, as I was never able to speak to the guys by phone. Your best bet is to email them as they do always reply.

I ordered a set of Bob's Knobs for my MN190 (front and back) at the start of August, and received confirmation from Rob Morrow within minutes.

Unfortunately, after two weeks there had been no sign of them. I contacted Bob again, and he told me they had probably got lost in the post somewhere, and immediately sent me another set. I received those within days.

I fitted the knobs easily, and they have worked a treat ever since, making collimation in the dark much more straightforward.

Last week, I received another parcel from Bob's Knobs - the first set of knobs that had been lost since early August! I emailed Mr Morrow asking him what he would like me to do with them, and he told me I could keep them as compensation for the long wait. I thought this was exceptionally kind, since the delay wasn't his fault to begin with. I may sell them on, but to be honest, I don't want to do Robert out of any business.

Everyone on here agrees that the way a company deals with problems is the real mark of professionalism, and Bob's Knobs certainly delivered in every respect.

I cannot recommend Bob's Knobs highly enough. The product and service is nothing short of fantastic.

I always feel like a suck-up writing reviews. Especially reviews for FLO, because they're the most popular supplier here. But there's a reason for that. I don't think I've had a single transaction with them that hasn't been as good as it can be.

The last month has been no exception. I have recently ordered (and received) an Atik 314L+, filter wheel, full compliment of 1.25 filters, and various other bits and pieces. Altogether I think this represents two seperate transactions. There hasn't been a problem of any kind with either order, and both times I received everything in perfect condition, within 24 hours of ordering. This isn't surprising to anybody else who deals with FLO.

I have now ordered an OAG in complete confidence that everything will happen as smoothly as it always does.

I was also impressed with the advice I received this week from Martin. I have been trying to resolve a guiding/drift problem, so I contacted FLO to see if they thought changing to Losmandy dovetails was worth a try (I'm currently using ADM vixens). Martin suggested I try other things first, since new dovetails would be expensive and not guaranteed to make a difference. When a supplier advises you in such a way that they do themselves out of a possible sale, you know they've got to be a pretty honest and that their opinion can be trusted.

Thanks again, guys.

On Wednesday, I ordered my Atik Titan, and a few other bits including a pair of Star Sharp Bahtinovs (which are really nice, by the way). As usual, I received everything I ordered the next day.

It's barely worth posting reviews like this, as most of us know FLO's great service record. Nevertheless, I just wanted to thank them here for once again being efficient and easy to deal with.

For those who haven't tried shopping from their new website, it's very good. The submenus could do with more pictures, because I like pictures, but the navigation is much improved, and there are lots of new items; besides the masks, the new flatfield screens look interesting.

Now that my POD is built, I just thought I'd briefly relay my recent dealings with Altair Astro to get it and the pier inside.

Simply, my experience has been that I have received what I ordered, within the specified time, and that while their communication has been a little sluggish on occasion, I have received replies to my emails and phonecalls sooner or later throughout the process.

Also, Altair have stepped in and been supportive and helpful regarding the small problems I've had installing some of the gaskets to weatherproof the dome.

Thank you Ian and Nick for your help so far.