I LOVE the Baader T2 Quick Release System ----> Untill Tonight!

[Pingster]

The baader T2 quick release systemn is indeed quick and i feel in love with it.

Tonight as a covered my dob in a plastic bag while i rest... i heard a horrid cracking noise as something fell 5 feet onto solid concrete. Looked down and OMG! How on earth did my Baader Mrk5 binoviewers come loose? How on earth did i forget to fully tighten the single locking screw?

Picked it off the floor in shock. Both eyepiece holders had big dents in them.... the body is badly scratched in two places... my pair of TV plossls both have damage on their eyecups.... my worst nightmare.... lucky it was not loaded with my panotics!

Im a perfectionist... so this is heartbreaking. They look horrific. Really mad, this quick release system really should have 2 screws just for safety.

Surely the collimation will be broken.

Plug them back in, the mag is set as x340. Jupitors moons are nice small spheres... Juipitor looks exactly like the day i first got em.

So far no visible optical damage.... it seems. I am amazed. But knowing the fall it look, im always going to be wondering at the back of my mind if the view is effected.... its a curse!

So as a word of warning... tie a safety bungie cord to your Mrk V's.

[allcart]

I feel your pain. I'd be mortified if I dropped one of my cameras.

You will no doubt test and re-test until the doubts subside. I hope you can learn to live with the cosmetic damage?

[AndyH]

Urgh.

Sickening report

[Stu]

Horrible thing to happen pingster . Only takes a moment for something like that to happen. Sounds like you have escaped any optical damage which is good news.

Stu

[daz]

I dropped a screwdriver on my first 8" newt primary mirror - even though the view was not really affected, I could not stand the though of the minor dent in the mirror! I feel your pain!!!

[faulksy]

i feel for you pingster, what a mare. like you i like everything perfect, if something like that happens to me, i have doubts for a while.hope there ok

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Heart-stopping kind of moment. Terrible thing to happen.

[swamp thing]

Ugh! How annoying. Not good Pingster. That is sooooo frustrating when things like that happen.

[Pingster]

Thanks for all your replies. Its helped me get over my regret. Its somthin tht has happened to all of us at one point.

Last night sunday 29th, after 2am we had awesome clear skies, with moment if what appeared (for the uk at least) excellent steady seeing.

A perfect night to test for damage. Loaded the scope up at x170mag. Looked at Vega & double double with ethos mono view Then compared with simular mag in Mrk5, woe amazing. View is 95% as good as mono. Double double split by and starts look great. At lower mag x62 the Mrk 5 gave a beautifil view of the double double, split by a fine hairline each pair. Beautiful.

Jupitor at x360 as good as ever. The moons roubd spheres, some differing in colour than others. Minial CA even at this mag. Edge of jupitor very fine, at moments of best seeing bands showed internal frestions. The big red spot showed as a nice light orange/beight mark. Ushed jupitor to x460. Moons still clear and round with just a touch of CA around the edges. At this mag jupitor still looked good most of the time. Just a touch blurry, then every so often a second or two of excellent seeing, made me gasp as festions and bands looked almost tack sharp! Even at x460! Deff the best view of juiptor i have ever had.

So the bino has suffered no damage at all! Amazing.

As a precaution i have tied an elasticted strap onto the dobs "handle knob" and bungied the other end to my bino, just to be sure and it feels great! Highly recomended!