Hello from South Alabama

[cpittman35]

3 hours ago, gls said:

Welcome, I had an astromaster 130eq as my first scope and really liked it. I did end up removing the motor though, and IIRC the drawtube flapped about a bit, but this can be cured by removing it, sticking a strip of duct tape to it and putting it back together, so it sits in the focuser a lot tighter.

Hello gls. I've really enjoyed my scope. I had bigger expectations than reality but I'm happy as can be with what it can do. I ended up removing the motor drive as well. It seemed to get in the way. It made noise but I could never notice it actually moving the scope. When the clouds finally move out I'll try it again just to make sure it actually works. 

Luckily I haven't had a problem with the drawtube but I'll keep your fix in my back pocket if it does give me trouble. 

[gls]

I found the motor to be more of a hindrance than help, once you've got it polar aligned (you don't need to be too accurate for visual) it's easier just to use the knobs to track it. Plus it was quite noisy when I was in the in the garden in the middle of the night.

 

Regarding the drawtube, I just found it a bit sloppy with heavier eyepieces and found they would shift a bit so it was harder to keep things centred, especially at high magnifications, but it's a real easy fix if you do come across this.

 

Overall I was really happy with the scope though and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I liked the nice wide views you get of things, with it being quite a fast scope.

 

Never did get the hang of the red dot finder though. Get a telrad if you're having trouble with it. You won't regret it.

[cpittman35]

5 hours ago, gls said:

I found the motor to be more of a hindrance than help, once you've got it polar aligned (you don't need to be too accurate for visual) it's easier just to use the knobs to track it. Plus it was quite noisy when I was in the in the garden in the middle of the night.

 

Regarding the drawtube, I just found it a bit sloppy with heavier eyepieces and found they would shift a bit so it was harder to keep things centred, especially at high magnifications, but it's a real easy fix if you do come across this.

 

Overall I was really happy with the scope though and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I liked the nice wide views you get of things, with it being quite a fast scope.

 

Never did get the hang of the red dot finder though. Get a telrad if you're having trouble with it. You won't regret it.

You're right. The knobs are easy enough to turn without that noisy motor. 

The one gripe I have about the drawtube is the fact it's made from plastic.  You'd think it would at least be metal so it's more durable. I went in a little too hot one night and pushed it down a couple of clicks with the top of my eye haha. That made for a funny story to the wife the next morning.  

A Telrad is on my Amazon watchlist as I type this.  I absolutely hate tha red dot finder that came with the scope. I have tried every way possible to get it lined up properly and it's just not happening.  A couple nights ago I got Saturn in the scope and adjusted the RDF accordingly, so I thought, until I went to look at the moon.  As big as the moon is It was still several feet off. 

[gls]

1 minute ago, cpittman35 said:

You're right. The knobs are easy enough to turn without that noisy motor. 

The one gripe I have about the drawtube is the fact it's made from plastic.  You'd think it would at least be metal so it's more durable. I went in a little too hot one night and pushed it down a couple of clicks with the top of my eye haha. That made for a funny story to the wife the next morning.  

A Telrad is on my Amazon watchlist as I type this.  I absolutely hate tha red dot finder that came with the scope. I have tried every way possible to get it lined up properly and it's just not happening.  A couple nights ago I got Saturn in the scope and adjusted the RDF accordingly, so I thought, until I went to look at the moon.  As big as the moon is It was still several feet off. 

Thinking about it, you might want to check out the size of the telrad and make sure it will fit on the tube first, because the tube is quite short iirc and the telrad is quite long. There are alternatives if not, such as the Rigel QuikFinder.

You can find the sizes for both in these links.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quikfinder-compact-reflex-sight.html

[cpittman35]

8 minutes ago, gls said:

Thinking about it, you might want to check out the size of the telrad and make sure it will fit on the tube first, because the tube is quite short iirc and the telrad is quite long. There are alternatives if not, such as the Rigel QuikFinder.

You can find the sizes for both in these links.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quikfinder-compact-reflex-sight.html

At a little over 8 inches in length the Telrad would look rather large on my scope but I'm not too concerned about that.  I just hate fumbling around looking for things in the night sky with the stock garbage RDF. 

I like the Rigel too but I'm not a fan of how high it sits off the scope. 

[gls]

I'm not a fan of how tall the rigel is either. I was just a bit concerned the telrad might not fit between the tube ring and the top of the scope, and didn't want to waste your money.:D

[cpittman35]

2 hours ago, gls said:

I'm not a fan of how tall the rigel is either. I was just a bit concerned the telrad might not fit between the tube ring and the top of the scope, and didn't want to waste your money.:D

Well I hadn't thought about that one. I'm glad you did

I'll have to make sure I measure first before pulling the trigger. Maybe I can surf the interwebs and see if there are any pics of that scope with a Telrad mounted to it. 

[gls]

Here you go.

 

[cpittman35]

4 hours ago, gls said:

Here you go.

 

I've seen that same sentiment quite a bit.  I found these 2 pics online of both the Telrad and Rigel mounted to the Astromaster scopes and neither look too bad.  A member of another forum said he mounted his telrad directly to the tube rings and didn't have any issues. 

[gls]

Looks like you shouldn't have a problem then.

[cpittman35]

49 minutes ago, gls said:

Looks like you shouldn't have a problem then.

I sure hope not

Thank you again for all your help.