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Sobel

By Sobel
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Sobel

Sobel

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So wanted to do a quick update, thanks for all the support I've received on here, it's been over a year now and we've used the scope quite a lot. Have to say, even though the scope is expensive, for my Dad and I we have had absolutely no regrets with the scope or service from FLO, it has been a since to use once we got the hang of things.

My two sticking points so far have been 

  1. I had to make a shim from elastic bands to go under the RDF mounting plate to make it easier to align, and if I had one tip for any newcomers to the scope, get this aligned as your first goal and keep it attached to the scope, makes setting up so much easier and faster.
  2. The Skytron 12V cable to power tank would often wiggle loose when slewing and cause the scope to power off and need re aligning, we thought about keeping AA batteries, but we ended up buying some velcro straps to keep the cable secured against the scope arm. 

Other than that, I haven't had any issues with dew or frost thanks to the Aztrozap dew shield/heater and the scope has performed exceptionally. It is so easy to setup and align, we can do it in about 15 minutes now and be observing straight away (we tend to use it straight away and we tend to use it through the cool down period, not optimal but we tend to focus on easier stuff at the beginning).

Highlights of the year have to be :

  • First time seeing Jupiter and the moons.
  • First time seeing Saturn and the rings.
  • Numerous double stars, these are really amazing to look at.
  • Globular clusters, such as M13.
  • Whole host of DSOs like M57.
  • Viewing the moon, Rupes Recta, Tycho etc.
  • Seeing 2 satellites go across my FOV when aligning one evening. 

So on the whole, have been thrilled with the scope. But I still have a lot to learn. I haven't even touched on collimation (a few brief checks seem to indicate it's in OK alignment) and I haven't looked at more advanced settings such as backlash settings yet (I don't seem to get any jerkiness with the scope, it is all fairly smooth when slewing).

We also need to get out to a dark site, our small town is OK for dark skies, but I bet it would be amazing in a really dark site, e.g. the view of Andromeda with my 10X50s in a dark site is roughly the same as the view through the scope in the back garden. That tends to be how I compare sites, dunno if it's accurate or useful however.

So no regrets at all! Still thrilled and excited each time we take it out. Just a shame our weather isn't more reliable, I don't live at home so if I'm home for a weekend there's never any guarantee we'll get to use it :(

 

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Horatio

Horatio

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Hi Sobel, nice piece of kit you've got, I was going for a refractor and ended up with the 6SE!  Not much difference there then......I agree with you about the guys at First Light Optics, I was worried to begin with about using email for correspondence as I much prefer to talk to a live person but I've been blown away with there customers service, help, advice etc...yes they have been amazing.  Now that's the way to keep and gain customers.  I hope you and Father get some great views out of the 8SE and many years of pleasure.

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