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Lovely! Well done @FrenchyArnaud!

Clicklockitis indeed! One for my Starfield, one for my 80ED, a Baader BBHS diagonal and matching 1.25" reducer... Not sure what the transmission vector is but I find it best not to keep telescopes too close together just in case it is catching!

One of those upgrades that is worth every penny! The only drawback is that you want everything else to be clicklock after that 😂

To each their own, though right?

Weather not looking too clever here at the moment but I'm hoping to get out soon - this will be my first observation in months so a great target to try and bag!

Digging through a storage box of telescope stuff I found a Meade 492 DS motor upgrade kit and a couple of autostar handsets! As I recall I had planned to fit them to the old LXD-55 clone I have (I think it might be a Bresser Mon-2) but I'd completely forgotten that I had all this stuff. Things have come on so much in the last 8 years in terms of functionality and affordability that I'm actually not sure it's even worth the trouble. Considering whether to save it all for a rainy day project or just move everything on as a project for someone else - but not even sure if any of it would be of use to anyone else?

Sorry I missed this post - so you succumbed! Looks good, I think I did some research on this scope when I was looking into small scopes - you'll have to let me know how it performs. It's certainly a lot simpler than the faffing I've had to do to get the Evoguide up and running!

Would be great if Stellarvue were more easily available in the UK, I can't say I've heard much bad said about them. Would love to look through the SVX127D!

Thanks! I had a decent setup in my old flat, but not as much space and it often required getting several things out just to get to one thing, so it should be much easier here.

I've reorganised a little bit and added some "safety" features to the cupboard. I've installed a hook and eye setup with an ever so slightly taut octopus clip to stop the non-cased scopes from falling over. There's a hook in the middle doing double duty; it keeps the two scopes from falling into each other, and additionally allows one scope to be removed easily, with the other still reasonably safely secured until you have your hands free to reattach the cord. I've also added a folded transport blanket for some padding until I can get round to putting some custom cut foam there. At the same time I'm considering padding the walls with some camping mat so the scopes don't bash against the wall either.

Got this bad boy out of storage now whilst going through my old astro stuff, so I thought I'd set it up on the Skytee to see how sturdy it is - and if my collimation attempts 9 years ago are still okay! This scope was purchased in 2014 for a pretty low price as it was damaged, but when it turned up it was unfortunately way worse than I could have imagined. I spent some time refurbishing it (thread) but never really got chance to test it properly before moving countries. The objective lens looks in pretty good shape considering everything it went through, better than I remember in fact, and I think it looks rather good on the Skytee which holds it well. In daylight low power viewing with the Pan 41mm it seems fine, a small amount of false colour as expected and a very fine touch needed to get decent focus of the rooftops across the road, but that was through glass with some haze. Not had a chance to try it under the stars yet but strongly considering at least a balcony test sometime soon. Overall I'm happy to be reunited with it, let's hope it performs well in rich field/low power applications which is what I intend to use it for. Excuse the mess everywhere, still got a lot of unpacking and sorting to do - although if you look hard enough you'll find three mounts of varying ages in this picture!

Welcome Ian! I'm originally from Chesterfield so I used to visit the Peak District often 🙂

I heartily agree with this sentiment. Enjoy it now while you can - you can't take it with you!

Ah yes, that makes sense!

Is there a reason why Kelling Heath is not suitable as a location? Obviously it already hosts one star party so I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that it also meets the basic criteria for an SGL star party?

I live to serve 🙂

So, yes we moved countries and all scopes were put into storage - we literally took two bags with us not knowing how it would turn out and ended up there for 8 years! That said, actually my partner and I discuss our hobbies and interests very openly so there's no need for negotiation as such 🙂

I've had a limited play with the AZT6 and a tiny Evoguide 50ED which I converted for visual use, and it's pretty good for that use case. It also works pretty well with my ZS73, although the Scopetech Zero is a much better and not much heavier choice there. I think the AZT6 is heavier than the 50ED though!

Well, if it pleases the court may I present mitigating circumstances in that half of this lot spent 8 years in storage so I ended up with another collection of the same size - and now they are all together? 😂

Just in the process of sorting out the new place and happy to report I now have a dedicated telescope cupboard 😍 Whilst building the shelves and organising I couldn't resist the opportunity for a family picture, especially since some of these scopes have never met until now! From top to bottom: Charles Frank 6" newt Bresser AR-152S TS102 F7 ED Cheapo 60mm achro SW Evostar 80ED William Optics ZS73 Celestron Travelscope 70 Celestron C6 SW Skymax 102 SW Evoguide 50ED (modified) The scope cupboard is in beta at the moment, I've had a quick play around but changes are needed. I have one box of bits from storage that needs going through including a work in progress 10" mirror, but overall I'm pretty happy with how things have worked out!

I turn my back for five minutes and everyone buys an FS128 while I'm not looking! When did this happen? 🤣🤪 Seriously though nice work - looking forward to your continuing adventures with both the Tak and the lawn! Oh and @MalcolmM sorry to hear about your break - fingers crossed for a speedy recovery 🤞

Maybe the fine folks at Rowan will do you a custom order AZ75 in Tak blue with slow-mos AND a handle

Wait till you dream about a TSA150 with a stock MA10mm in the eyepiece holder 😂

Haven't you ever heard of counting Taks to get to sleep?

Oh and @Highburymark wins a Tak-glass flavoured biscuit for correctly guessing the model 😂