Happy man.

[MattJenko]

Finally gotten round to writing up some of the evenings had in the garden with the new toys.

First up, the HEQ5 + ED80. Once I had realised that the longitude was entered incorrectly (the mount was being told it was on the Russian/Kazahkstan border) then everything was running quite smoothly. Polar aligning is quite involved, but I am getting decent enough alignments for my purposes, and getting the quite quickly. All I need is 30 sec unguided for my DSLR. What is more vexing is getting the spacing right from the flattener to the DSLR chip, not quite got that right yet, so a bit of a warp tunnel effect towards the edges still on my images. Some spacers have arrived, so will play about until it is all fixed.

The ED80 is a magic thing though, easy to use, set up, focus and own and just looks the part. The focuser has had a user induced slip, but apart from that, it has been perfect. I did use it for a visual evening once, and am loving the pinpoint clarity it provides as a refractor, although it has spent most of its time with a Pentax hanging off the back. Lots to learn, but my images are better than I thought they would be first off, so a decent start.

As for the 250px. What can I say! I have a yoga mat which I am using and I get on my knees and pray to it and this works great to get my 6 foot plus frame to perfect height. I also bought a MaxVision 28mm to go with it, and I am absolutely loving this. It's providing better quality than my Hyperion Zoom, and am tempted by others in the range. As a glasses wearer, it still allows me to immerse myself in pin point stars and lovely bright views. From fuzzy finding to doubles, galaxies to clusters, the 250px is a wonder and I love the simplicity and ease of the Dob. EQ for imaging, Dob for viewing. Spot on. One addition and a solitary nod to electricity on the 250px was a Telrad, which has transformed my finding ability. I wouldn't have believed it, but it is easily the best thing I have done to improve time looking at things rather than looking for things. Telrad to get it pointing at the right area, finder to get centred, eyepiece to view. It just works. Brilliant. It is also not too big to take out in one piece, so I can see this getting a lot of use, although where to store indoors is still a debate with the family!

I could go on about evenings of star fields and Messier objects, along with some lovely coloured doubles I may well never drift past again, but I just want to say thanks for all the information and advice here, I have now got exactly what I need. My images will only get better, given good skies, as I will be out there whenever it is, and while the electronics do their thing, I will be on my knees meandering through the heavens.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. I am not surprised the the MV 28 performs well. I have the 24, and had the 20 for quite a while until the WO zoom came along. The 24 is fine with glasses, the 20mm is still suitable for use with glasses, but the 16 is definitely not!

[MattJenko]

Great info on the other MaxVision eyepieces - thanks, I was contemplating slowly getting the set! Have started another thread for EP advice for glasses wearing.

[cotterless45]

For Telrad use, these are essential !

http://www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html

Nick.

[Paul73]

Nice setup. All the bases covered.

I found that taking a kitchen chair and a decent cushion helped the whole Dob experience along nicely.

Paul