Celestron Evolution C9.25 First Look & Half Light Report

[des anderson]

Terrific reports,both parts;thanks for sharing. Des

[JG777]

Hi , Birthday & Xmas present on the way next week, will be buying the 9.25 EVO from FLO also.

Eric

Member WADAS

Thanks again John for your time and effort in giving this scope an objective and honest appraisal.

Your welcome Eric, any questions on it get in touch.

[2STAR]

Hi again John, just got my evo 9.25 and assembled this afternoon, bit fiddly with the mount but other wise looks sturdy and well made bit of kit.

Maybe a silly question but I have just spent 30 minutes on trying to figure out how the 2 piece retaining clip for the handset fits together !! , I can see how it attaches to the actual leg but cant seem to sort out how  one bit fits the other, hope I explained properly.

Eric

Any clues please

[JG777]

Yes you did explain properly but I'm not home until tomorrow night to take a look. This is one of those things you only do once and I can't quite remember how it was. Do the photos help?

[2STAR]

Hi John, the pics I have seen only show the retainer with the handset in so not really helpful, there must be something wrong with the 2 pieces of clip on that I have, my daughter can do the Rubik cube in around 2minutes so I am going to see if she can solve lol!!!!!

Eric

It could of course be me just being a bit thick also lol

[2STAR]

Hi John, have taken pic of the said piece, is yours the same please, there seems to me to be a piece of plastic mould out of place.

Eric  

[JG777]

Eric, the part on the left slides into the tube retaining clip. I can't see mine until later but it does look the same from those pics. To help you visualise it place the HC into the retaining holder then slide the back of the holder onto the tube clip. I recall it goes in with a firm click. I will look when I get home later and take a pic but I reckon you or your daughter should have it all done by then ☺

[2STAR]

Eric, the part on the left slides into the tube retaining clip. I can't see mine until later but it does look the same from those pics. To help you visualise it place the HC into the retaining holder then slide the back of the holder onto the tube clip. I recall it goes in with a firm click. I will look when I get home later and take a pic but I reckon you or your daughter should have it all done by then ☺

Hi again John, I have had 4 people 'have a go' with no success, general opinion is about the same that the plastic mould pinpointed in the pics is obstructing the holder from clicking into place. I will wait until I hear from you before contacting FLO, just in case we may have it wrong !!

Eric

[phil125]

Just catching up on your report of the 9.25 - great review, really useful with lots of pics. I used to have a C8 and would love one of these. The single arm never looks right to me, but as you say pretty stable and allows easy assembly. Sounds like power consumption is good, better than HEQ5 etc.

[JG777]

Eric,

Have a look at these pics, you can see how the HC holder slides into the tube bracket. The pointy bit is up! It snaps in, and then I think it is never coming apart!

Hope this helps.

[2STAR]

Thanks again John, no luck, tried, hands are sore lol, thrown both bits on settee, it just will not click in, I will drop FLO a email for Monday

Positioned exactly as your pics , but no joy, anyway, the scope etc all look really good and looking forward to some clear skies for us to get down to our local dark site at Winscar Reservoir.

Will drop you a line when sorted, and again many thanks.

Eric

Member WADAS

Ps: No one else from our group has the scope lol, just my luck.

[Filroden]

Great post.

When you're taking it out in the car do you just strap the OTA using just the seat belt? Have you invested in a case to carry it?

[2STAR]

Just been practicing and messing about with evo to familiarise myself, ,good advice John regarding sliding OTA in  from vertical , lot easier cheers

Eric

Where are the clear skies !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JG777]

Thanks again John, no luck, tried, hands are sore lol, thrown both bits on settee, it just will not click in, I will drop FLO a email for Monday

Positioned exactly as your pics , but no joy, anyway, the scope etc all look really good and looking forward to some clear skies for us to get down to our local dark site at Winscar Reservoir.

Will drop you a line when sorted, and again many thanks.

Eric

Member WADAS

Ps: No one else from our group has the scope lol, just my luck.

Wonder what this is? Comparing the pics its hard to see what is different, it snaps in but I think it needs a good shove. Anyway FLO will sort it one way or another.

I have just ordered one of these from Starizona, hopefully they have one in stock and not to long to ship here.

This puts the HC on the mount which means the cable to the upper AUX sockets will be a better fit and not stretch. If so my extension cable will be one less thing to carry. $30 including shipping which is a bit much but its been a good month so far

[JG777]

Great post.

When you're taking it out in the car do you just strap the OTA using just the seat belt? Have you invested in a case to carry it?

It travels in a padded soft case and sits nicely in the passenger foot well, I move the seat forward and the scope does not move. I used to strap it in the seat before I had the bag but there was still a risk of movement.

[2STAR]

The plastic RDF has to go John, my old eyes just don't get on with it, I have just ordered the Celestron RACI 9X50 from FLO, that was a really good gesture they made to you when you got yours complimentary lol,   mine has cost £102 with post !!, still FLO price was as cheap as anywhere else.

Being retired I have time on my hands, today I have set up, & taken down the OTA/MOUNT/TRIPOD no less than 8 times lol , I found marking some points on the mount with a bit of white ducting tape made it a lot easier for me, I am now practicing in the dark which is more realistic !!.

The advice you gave regarding lowering the OTA in from vertical was appreciated, I was a little nervy at first but confident now every time.

Holding the mount handle whilst releasing the manual alt clutch is a must also.

We are hoping (weather permitting) to travel down to our darkish site at winscar tomorrow 8/12/15 where the scope will get its first real outing, Cant wait to get observing, it seems like an eternity since we had any clear sky at all here.

Regards Eric

ps: FLO are sending me a new and assembled handset holder, its looking like its us old fools here are no good at jigsaws lol !!!!!!!!

[JG777]

Sounds good Eric. Good luck for Tuesday night. I was out earlier with mine we had a clear night, first one in ages and the FLO app is predicting Tuesday clear as well so will go out again.

Ok a few more tips some based on silly mistakes I made. Have a look here http://www.latlong.net/lat-long-dms.html this site gives you co-ordinates in the required format of the Hand Controller, it needs to be in DMS ( degrees, minutes and seconds) . You tap these in to the HCs custom time site which you will need up there in Winscar. If for example you are going to the resovoir then this comes out as 1° 46' 2.2692'' W and 53° 31' 9.3828'' N. The HC takes the W cordinate first which is longitude and ensure it is set to West not East. Then tap in the latitude which is North. You can do this before you leave home and the settings will save. If you get this mixed up like I did once your scope will not align. Then ensure correct time, correct date in Month / day / year format , universal time and standard time. If you get that all in correct you are good to go. Yoy probably already know this stuff :shocked:

2 star align is very reliable although you might want to give 3 star skyalign a go but I find skyalign a bit fussy. I used 2 star earlier and used Polaris as my first star then chose Vega for the second. Now dont ditch the RDF just yet because I admit I do have one on my scope as well as the RACI. It is a very decent RDF unlike the Celestron abomination, but an RDF is useful to get you into the general ball park area at the sart of the align. Ensure the RACI and RDF are aligned with the scope as near accurate as you can manage, this really helps things. Once you have the star in the eye piece defocus it and turn it into a big doughnut. This helps to centre it in the EP.

When you align try and ensure you approach each star from the same direction. Usually moving up and to the right.

Some people report they get better results if they mount the scope slightly forward heavy. I personally do not preffering to have it balanced, but this may work for you.

There are some indentation markers on the bottom edge of the mount for lining up with the bolts. Thats what I use in the dark.

Check you lower clearance on the OTA once you have the visual back, diagonal and EP in place. You might need to set a slew limit.

Have you got ant dew control? These big SCTs do fog up a bit without warning!

Les us know how you get on. Have a great evening.

[2STAR]

Hi John, great night at winscar last night, I wasn't at all optimistic as I was driving down the M1 motorway in driving rain ,spray and gusty wind, however, what a pleasant view on arrival, to find  Milky Way and all clear sky, even I could see m31 with naked eye !!. 2 hours of great viewing with 4 other members of WADAS. The evo 9.25 showed great potential for use when I am more familiar with it, great scope no doubt.

The saga of the handset holder finally sorted, I had received the wrong assembly piece that the handset sits in, no wonder we couldn't 'click' it into place lol.

FLO have sent me another and I have returned the 'wrong' bit showing obvious signs of wear and tear after numerous people had made numerous attempts to fit them together lol.

[2STAR]

Hi again John, The Celestron RACI 9X50 Illuminated finder scope just arrived today, 

Celestron must be the worst company in the world regarding lack of assembly instructions!! for their products!!

Eric

[2STAR]

Just attached the RACI finder scope, waiting for reasonable weather to align it .

Eric

[recceranger]

Believe me - SkyWatcher instructions are nothing to write home about either

[JG777]

Hi John, great night at winscar last night, I wasn't at all optimistic as I was driving down the M1 motorway in driving rain ,spray and gusty wind, however, what a pleasant view on arrival, to find  Milky Way and all clear sky, even I could see m31 with naked eye !!. 2 hours of great viewing with 4 other members of WADAS. The evo 9.25 showed great potential for use when I am more familiar with it, great scope no doubt.

The saga of the handset holder finally sorted, I had received the wrong assembly piece that the handset sits in, no wonder we couldn't 'click' it into place lol.

FLO have sent me another and I have returned the 'wrong' bit showing obvious signs of wear and tear after numerous people had made numerous attempts to fit them together lol.

Ah good to know and see that is sorted out now. We had a superb night out on the 8th although the clouds were always not far away the clear patches gave us some amazing views. Lots of deep sky objects and some new ones to me. The C9.25 is an amazing scope and is really opening the skies up for me.

[JG777]

Just attached the RACI finder scope, waiting for reasonable weather to align it .

Eric

It is a great RACI but I keep leaving the lights on with it and the batteries are always flat when I get out there. Have I got any spares in the box? Of course not!! I have got used to using it now without it lighting up. You can get pretty good alignment on a distant object in the daytime, then fine tune it out in the field.

[2STAR]

Not sure if I mentioned that the handset holder was not compatable with tripod legs , flo sorted it for me by sending correct piece out to me.

Eric

[gtis]

It travels in a padded soft case and sits nicely in the passenger foot well, I move the seat forward and the scope does not move. I used to strap it in the seat before I had the bag but there was still a risk of movement.

Hi john what padded case do you use

Neil