What did the postman bring?

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

This one arrived today, intended for use with my little Vixen spotting scope.

When I first saw this, Stu, I thought it was to stop you slipping over during your trip to Finland!

[PeterW]

Stands up on its own.... impressive!

 

peter

[JeremyS]

22 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Stands up on its own.... impressive!

Stu or the tripod?

[Stu]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

When I first saw this, Stu, I thought it was to stop you slipping over during your trip to Finland!

It was blooming slippy out there so it would have been useful!

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

This one arrived today, intended for use with my little Vixen spotting scope. Very pleased with the height and the little support at the bottom. Am getting a trigger grip ball head too which will arrive next week. Have also picked up a higher power eyepiece which should give me x30 ish, could be fun.

Hmm...  the Ancient Greek 'pous' is ambiguous as although it usually is taken as meaning mean foot it can also mean leg. No problem with a tripod, but that appears to be a monoskele (compare with the Manx triskele) and a tripod at the same time!

 

I'll stop blowing smoke rings up my fundament now...

[PeterW]

Stu seems to be stand on his own when I’ve met him.... ?

 

Peter

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

Stu seems to be stand on his own when I’ve met him.... ?

 

Peter

But has he got three feet?

[JeremyS]

Orbit orrery - was reduced to a fiver by Blackwells. Useful for outreach work with Scout groups.

 

[fireballxl5]

My extravagance knows no bounds, well almost as this filter was pre-loved?

[PeterW]

Collected from work, compact, but solid. Going to be fun using these in the daytime with wide field eyepieces. Need to sort a carrying option  and some finder mounting.

PEter

[Captain Scarlet]

33 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Collected from work, compact, but solid. Going to be fun using these in the daytime with wide field eyepieces. Need to sort a carrying option  and some finder mounting.

PEter

wow as may be evident from my sig I'm a bino junkie, and these fill me with lust...

Magnus

[JeremyS]

45 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Collected from work, compact, but solid. Going to be fun using these in the daytime with wide field eyepieces. Need to sort a carrying option  and some finder mounting.

PEter

Now this is a review I'm really going to enjoy reading. The bins look amazing!

[JeremyS]

Hand controller for the SW AZ GTi. Whilst wifi control via my iPhone works well, this gives me more flexibility.

Plus Lynx cable to connect to mount and power lead to connect to Tracer battery.

 

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Hand controller for the SW AZ GTi. Whilst wifi control via my iPhone works well, this gives me more flexibility.

Plus Lynx cable to connect to mount and power lead to connect to Tracer battery.

 

Good decision Jeremy. I more often use the handset with mine, works much more easily I think and as you can feel the buttons on the handset it is better in the dark!

That Lynx power able is also excellent quality, doesn't get tangled and stays flexible.

[Gina]

A pair of servo motors to control the lens of my All Sky Camera.

[alanjgreen]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Hand controller for the SW AZ GTi. Whilst wifi control via my iPhone works well, this gives me more flexibility.

Plus Lynx cable to connect to mount and power lead to connect to Tracer battery.

 

Nice. Thats the exact same setup as mine.

Just add some sticky Velcro to the back of the handset and wrap some of the other-half Velcro around the legs above the spreader. Now you can stick the handset to the legs when not in use and when carrying outside!

Nudging the scope around is a breeze with the handset (and buttons you can feel and press).

If you get any strange warnings and errors then look up my "first light" report where I have mentioned all the changes I had to make to the default settings (handset comes setup for EQ).

HTH, Alan

Edited March 1, 2019 by alanjgreen

[Ags]

The lack of a hand controller puts me off the AZ GTi. A glowing touchscreen with no tactile feedback is no substitute! And the handsets cost way too much... I'd be happy to use my phone for goto, if I had a small dumb cheap handset for fine adjustments.

[Stu]

3 hours ago, Ags said:

The lack of a hand controller puts me off the AZ GTi. A glowing touchscreen with no tactile feedback is no substitute! And the handsets cost way too much... I'd be happy to use my phone for goto, if I had a small dumb cheap handset for fine adjustments.

Astroboot sometimes have the controllers available. I picked one up for £77 from there, mint condition V4 firmware. Worth keeping an eye out. Mine connected and worked with no problems.

[fireballxl5]

52 minutes ago, Stu said:

Astroboot sometimes have the controllers available. I picked one up for £77 from there, mint condition V4 firmware. Worth keeping an eye out. Mine connected and worked with no problems.

Do the V3 hand controllers work with AZ-GTi? I guess that you would need a new cable in any case.

[Gina]

Eyebolt for stopping my observatory roof lifting up and off in a storm.

[JeremyS]

46 minutes ago, Gina said:

Eyebolt for stopping my observatory roof lifting up and off in a storm.

Now _that's_ a useful accessory, Gina!

[fiestazetecmk2]

Nice to see an imperial measurement for a change.very refreshing. I'm still old school. 

[Skywatcher130]

15mm BST Starguider - initial test on a distant tree was very good,  can't wait to try it out properly! (and was lovely and sunny earlier too, now raining ?)

[johninderby]

TS-Optics AZ5 Alt-Az Mount

I had sold my Skytee II mount to help fund a new GOTO mount and as much as I like the new mount do miss the simplicity of the old Skytee II for quick views.

Hard to get hold of just the Skytee II head only at the moment so decided to order the Telescope Express version. Comes without saddles but no problem as I would have replaced the Skytee ones anyway. Looks the same as the Skytee but however doesn’t feel the same at all. Stuck the Skymax 180 on it and was surprised to find there was zero backlash. ? Feels tight and well sorted. ? 

Fitted a spare ADM saddle and also fitted a Manfrotto QR baseplate to the upper mounting point. I use my 80mm frac on a photo tripod with a Manfrotto geared head so having a common fitting will be usefull. Just need to get hold of a couple of countersunk M5 screws though before it can be used.

First impressions are while it is a Skytee they seem to have applied a bit of quality control and properly sorted it before shipping.  ?

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by johninderby

[Fraunhoffer]

Sky-Atlas - second hand.
Going to fish out my old drawing circles to make some FoV and Telrad acetate templates now...