nightfisher

Positive report John, i have toyed with this scope but im sure i read a poor review on here some time ago, might be wrong by sound of it

making great progress Shane

This is also happening in the radio control market, some of us fly GPS equipped rc planes and a few of the early gps units have fallen over, no longer working, but most like the newer M8N units are just fine and our gps chips are stand alone at around £13 to buy so not a deal breaker, just unplug offending unit and plug in new one 

9 hours ago, Stu said:

The 102mm should be fine as hand luggage, might as well take the biggest aperture possible with you

agree, the 102 is a cracking scope, real good performer

19 hours ago, Lockie said:

That 127Mak is defo the right scope for you, Jules. I know you've tried plenty of scopes to get to where you are (pot calling the kettle black here  ) 

Yep, when you consider its practically a 5" ED in a very compact form, its been very versatile scope, had it on an AZ goto mount for a while picking out fuzzies, but now its main use is Luna imaging with the cannon 1000D, hence why i sold my Antares ortho`s, just not being used no more.

I will go on record to say , if i replace it then it will be with another 127 skymax, but that will only happen if my one had an accident or such like. Cool down is not an issue as it lives in an outbuilding so is ready to go into action when needed, great scope very pleased with it

In answer to the OP`s question, i did this very thing, i decided to concentrate on doing what i can do and enjoy doing, and settled on the skymax 127 Maksutov, and ended up repurchasing the very scope i had sold a few years back, this is now my only scope, as a Luna and planet scope its all i need or want plus its not to shabby on some DSO`s but they dont really interest me these days.

This has proved to be a very good decision for me, i am in a better place with regard to astro, i dont do a lot lately but when i do i am happy with what i do, the scope is cheap enough, if i needed to i could easy replace it like for like and its easy to mount, all in all happy days

I am sure the giro and 2" tripod will support this ota firmly, but the ota might want to contact the tripod legs when viewing near zenith

David is a lovely chap that really knows his stuff, he bought my last newt OTA to make a small dob for a friend

Yes John, the old adage is maybe a little out of date, lot of people are very happy with 100mm newts and the 72mm ED scopes are gaining favour and even smaller scopes are being employed, i have owned large scopes myself, up to 200mm and now i am just happy with a 127, a nice combination of aperture and portability

On 28/11/2018 at 14:59, Stub Mandrel said:

Tested by My Hermes and Yodel ?

If Yodel have any input it will end up lost in the universe

Phil me ole mate, you did it, and well done, once you have it fettled im sure you will love it, you have done a great job

It does sound like there is a problem with the focuser should not be hard to turn

16 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

I'm very late in on this because, after several weeks of deliberation, I have just decided that my next purchase will be an Evo (or Equinox) 120ED to replace the Startravel 120 in the stable along with the 8" Cat and the 10" Dob.

So could I ask those with experience of the 120ED for a bit of advice, please?

The ST120 is on an AZ4 (steel version), so:

Would the 120ED be OK on that mount?  (I know moving it is not exactly smooth, and it lacks fine control.)

Would it be better on a Skytee II?

If so, would the Skytee II mount go on the AZ4 tripod?

Or would an AZ5  do the job?  (Or is the 'scope a bit heavy for that?)

Nothing's ever straightforward with this hobby, so some guidance would be appreciated!

Cheers,

Doug.

 

 

 

You should get away with 120 on AZ4, just, it will hold it, i once hung a 180 pro mak on an AZ4 but a skytee would be better and will fit on your tripod

Not far of a year on, initially i had planned on keeping this 120, but it just never felt like the right scope for me, i let it go and have no regrets at my decision, shortly after selling it i repurchased a Skymax 127, one that i had owned a while back, this has proved to be a wonderful scope, doing Luna viewing and imaging planetary views and double stars, to get nice low power wider field and some DSO views i also purchased an Opticstar 90mm F5.6 frac.

This has proved to be right for me, i like both scopes a lot, the Mak takes up next to no room, lives all year on my RC work bench in an unheated out building, its always ready to work, and so far it has never failed to give very pleasing views and images, i have recently added an AZ4 mount so either scope can be used at short notice.

I feel i have all my bases covered now in 2 scopes, 2 mounts and more than enough eyepieces

Postie brought, (well i had to collect from local office) a new to me AZ4 mount head.........i do wonder if i will work out how to use this high tech item lol

joking aside this is the third one of these....so i better just keep this one, already have EQ5 tripod, so this will be for mainly grab an go, maybe star parties and above all to use my little Opticstar AR90 F5.6, for widefield

On 07/08/2018 at 18:52, RiponJas said:

My new to me baby frac which shall soon be pressed into service mounted with my big frac.. Opticstar AR90S. F5. 5 Quite pleased with the build quality of it.. 

I have the same model, they are a good quality scope, just waiting on an AZ4 to get some use from mine

of course these far eastern scopes will travel in a shipping container with just about no room to move around, its probably the onward shipping from distribution that causes the harm

55 minutes ago, FLO said:

To be fair, considerably more expensive brands have had similar teething troubles when launched. 

I am confident Sky-Watcher will soon be on top of the situation and I want FLO to have a positive and constructive role in this telescope's success. 

Steve

Just a passing thought, has there been any similar issues with the Esprit 150 due to shipping and transit

20 hours ago, Stu said:

Indeed backs are rubbish! Very grumpy making at times. Hope it improves soon Jules

Stu, John, Derek, i think the good wishes are beginning to have effect, so thank you all, starting to feel a little more my old self ? 

42 minutes ago, DRT said:

Whatever I said that caused offence was not intended, but for the life of me I cannot work out what it was.

Derek, think you misunderstood my reply and looking back i worded it incorrectly, just a case of i cant add any more to the thread, probably all the painkillers i have taken today for a bad back....ignore me

4 hours ago, DRT said:

Does it really matter which of those things caused the problem, Jules?

Either of those things should have been caught and fixed by the QA process.

 

No It does not matter and I will drop out of this thread

10 minutes ago, DRT said:

I do think this will prove to be true in the long term, Steve, but the quality control problem with the second scope was nothing to do with packaging and needs to be addressed at source, not by retailers or customers. That scope should never have left the factory in that condition and if more turn up with the same or similar problems the reputation of this game-changing scope could be irreparably damaged.   This was likely s poorly assembled scope, if tooling was to blame the first scope may well have had same problem

John, a pat on the back for full honesty, such a shame, but we have to remember these skywatcher scopes are mass produced, not lovingly crafted, but its bad on the factory worker for assembling it like this, as it can only be one of 2 things, crossed threaded or the thread has been machined at an angle

also a big pat on the back to FLO for sending these out for test

of the 2 scopes i would choose the skywatcher 90

3 hours ago, John said:

Thanks for your patience folks. I am working on something to post later today. I've a few pages of rather rough notes to mould into something vagely readable

My other half seems to have some other priorities for me in the daytime as well - very unreasonable !

 

John, you are already doing a Stirling job putting this newcomer through its paces, and yes there is a life outside of SGL.........so in your own good time sir