What did the postman bring?

[Nigella Bryant]

6 hours ago, JeremyS said:

If you can't beat 'em....

I'm waiting for the motorized version Jeremy so I can put both solar scope's on the one mount. Lovely mount.

[AstroNebulee]

20 minutes ago, laudropb said:

Arrived earlier this morning. I wanted to try a long focal length refractor and I have always liked the Vixen livery. Thanks to Parralaxerr for the smooth sale.

I'm liking the look of those tasty nibbles on the corner of your desk 😊

[HollyHound]

24 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

The 8?

Higher... The 8 was out of stock and according to TeleVue and other respected sources, a good "minimal" set of Ethos is either 6, 10, 17 or 8, 13, 21... well I have the 13 and couldn't get the 8 (yet) so.... 🤔😬

Edited February 20, 2021 by HollyHound

[johninderby]

The AZ8 is smaller lighter duty mount than the AZ100 but still a very good mount and more portable as it is smaller.

Edited February 20, 2021 by johninderby

[omo]

1 hour ago, HollyHound said:

Higher... The 8 was out of stock and according to TeleVue and other respected sources, a good "minimal" set of Ethos is either 6, 10, 17 or 8, 13, 21... well I have the 13 and couldn't get the 8 (yet) so.... 🤔😬

Trying to dodge that bullet, have the 8 and 13, keep trying to convince myself the 20HDC is good enough

[HollyHound]

5 minutes ago, omo said:

Trying to dodge that bullet, have the 8 and 13, keep trying to convince myself the 20HDC is good enough

I have the APM 20 ADC, bought recently and it’s due to this that decided to go down the 100 degree route at long last... as my most used focal length was 14mm, the Ethos 13 made sense, and fits into that set of 8, 13, 21.

However, and being hyper critical here... I was able to see astigmatism in the outer part of the field in the APM 20, whereas none was visible at all in the Ethos 13. It may be the shorter focal length, but I’m convinced enough to replace the APM with the Ethos 21, and then add the Ethos 8 as soon as I can 👍

I should add that the APM 20 is a superb eyepiece and of course is significantly lighter, but as these will be used in my counterweighted dob mostly, the extra weight isn’t an issue.

I will of course do a comparison when I can 🤞

[omo]

@HollyHound Yes the APM 20 was my first foray into 100 degrees, but the 13 kind of seduced my eyeball and the 8 followed

[HollyHound]

15 minutes ago, omo said:

@HollyHound Yes the APM 20 was my first foray into 100 degrees, but the 13 kind of seduced my eyeball and the 8 followed

Same here... I’ve also put a 2” adaptor on the Ethos 13 for convenience and used it with my ES 2x focal extender, to good effect, so should get away without needing the 6 and 10 👍

[Stardaze]

16 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Same here... I’ve also put a 2” adaptor on the Ethos 13 for convenience and used it with my ES 2x focal extender, to good effect, so should get away without needing the 6 and 10 👍

I've thought about doing the same with my 13. I have an ES 6.7 which the 13 and extender could replace for now. Eventually I'll get the Ethos 6 but could work for now and then might swap the APM 13 for an Ethos. The Ethos 8 with an ES 2x extender would also double up nicely as I have added the 2" barrel to that too🤔

On a side note, could do with some replacement caps for the Ethos 8. Available directly from TV in the US but not sure whether they will ship here.

Edited February 21, 2021 by Stardaze

[Dantooine]

34 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

I've thought about doing the same with my 13. I have an ES 6.7 which the 13 and extender could replace for now. Eventually I'll get the Ethos 6 but could work for now and then might swap the APM 13 for an Ethos. The Ethos 8 with an ES 2x extender would also double up nicely as I have added the 2" barrel to that too🤔

On a side note, could do with some replacement caps for the Ethos 8. Available directly from TV in the US but not sure whether they will ship here.

Or what I did was get the 4.7 and the 3.7 which are nothing short of amazing 😉

[Stardaze]

1 hour ago, Dantooine said:

Or what I did was get the 4.7 and the 3.7 which are nothing short of amazing 😉

They’re probably a fair way off. I’d be happy with 13/8/6 and the XW 5/3.5 I think. That’s the plan, but having a leaner year this year..

Keep contemplating a grab and go frac option but might just get some Apollo 15x30’s for now too. Too many ‘wants’

Edited February 21, 2021 by Stardaze

[John]

7 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

They’re probably a fair way off. I’d be happy with 13/8/6 and the XW 5/3.5 I think. That’s the plan, but having a leaner year this year..

Keep contemplating a grab and go frac option but might just get some Apollo 15x30’s for now too. Too many ‘wants’

I had them both at one point. I recently re-bought the Ethos SX 4.7 because I missed having it to use with my 12 inch dob.

The XW's are the choice for my refractors though.

 

[HollyHound]

1 hour ago, Dantooine said:

Or what I did was get the 4.7 and the 3.7 which are nothing short of amazing 😉

Tricky to find stock for these anywhere, but I imagine the view through these is stunning too 👍

[HollyHound]

1 minute ago, John said:

I had them both at one point. I recently re-bought the Ethos SX 4.7 because I missed having it to use with my 12 inch dob.

The XW's are the choice for my refractors though.

I'm thinking of sticking to the XWs from 10mm down... just need to get the XW5 and that's all covered, but again I can imagine the 4.7 is both visually impressive and also minimises the amount of nudging required tracking something at that high power 👍

 

[Stardaze]

23 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

I'm thinking of sticking to the XWs from 10mm down... just need to get the XW5 and that's all covered, but again I can imagine the 4.7 is both visually impressive and also minimises the amount of nudging required tracking something at that high power 👍

 

I don't think I need the extra FOV from 5 down too. Have the XW 5 so just the 3.5 to add. Typically favour 20/13/8 for most things I enjoy at the moment. That could change I guess. 

[HollyHound]

6 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

I don't think I need the extra FOV from 5 down too. Have the XW 5 so just the 3.5 to add. Typically favour 20/13/8 for most things I enjoy at the moment. That could change I guess. 

I'm thinking the same... I'm very happy with my XWs, but since discovering the immense view with the APM 20 and now the Ethos 13, I found 70 degrees just seemed constrained at those focal lengths in the dob. I will get the Ethos 8 as well, so have the set you mention (20/13/8), but use XWs below that and also for my other scopes primarily 😀

[Dantooine]

1 hour ago, HollyHound said:

Tricky to find stock for these anywhere, but I imagine the view through these is stunning too 👍

I got the 4.7 over a year ago before the astronomy drought. Managed to find that telescope house had a 3.7 however it came from Germany. 

[Dantooine]

1 hour ago, HollyHound said:

I'm thinking of sticking to the XWs from 10mm down... just need to get the XW5 and that's all covered, but again I can imagine the 4.7 is both visually impressive and also minimises the amount of nudging required tracking something at that high power 👍

 

With the ethos 3.7 I can fit the whole moon in the fov with my refractor at 198x. It’s quite a sight.
The 4.7 gave me a treat with Orion Nebula last month and is a very usable eyepiece a lot of the time. It nice have such impressive fov’s with manual setups and so easy to find targets even just using an rdf 👍

[HollyHound]

8 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

I got the 4.7 over a year ago before the astronomy drought. Managed to find that telescope house had a 3.7 however it came from Germany. 

Ah yes. I got my Report from Germany before FLO had them in stock. Unfortunately ordering from the EU is now not quite as easy or cost effective 😬

[Dantooine]

23 hours ago, HollyHound said:

Higher... The 8 was out of stock and according to TeleVue and other respected sources, a good "minimal" set of Ethos is either 6, 10, 17 or 8, 13, 21... well I have the 13 and couldn't get the 8 (yet) so.... 🤔😬

you didn’t order a 21 did you 😎

[HollyHound]

9 minutes ago, Dantooine said:

you didn’t order a 21 did you 😎

I did... your APM 20 hooked me in, the Ethos 13 last week completely grabbed me and so the triumvirate of 21/13/8 beckons. Now, don't get me wrong, the APM 20 is superb, but I do see astigmatism in the outer edge of field (which I'm learning to use effectively now) and so the Ethos 21 is a logical step, then the 8 when it's back in stock. I'm also hedging against price rises from TeleVue, which I believe will happen quite soon and so the Ethos 21 increase would be an even larger rise as a percentage and make it close to a £1k eyepiece. So call it sensibly thinking ahead 🤔or madness... either works 🤣

It does mean, that after a short period of comparison... your APM 20 will be moving onto a new home with some other deserving home quite soon 👍 Which also offsets the price.... you may also note that I'm (finally) selling off some of the eyepieces I've experimented with and no longer use... you see how I'm trying to justify it to myself here... is it working 🤣

Edited February 21, 2021 by HollyHound

[Rustang]

Never posted here before but its exciting! What did the postman bring? My journey into Narrowband imaging!

Thanks Adam! 👍

😊

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

An ADM AZGTI saddle, followed by the great allen key hunt. Why is it always the last one you try that fits? 🙄

The 4" refractor has fixings for two finder shoes, so I bought another one... Astro Essentials branded. All from FLO.

Edited February 23, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[HollyHound]

Ok, the Ethos 21 is a big eyepiece... I knew that when ordering, but still a big old lump when seen for real 😮

Hopefully should give superb wide field views in the dob though 🤞

[Dantooine]

On 21/02/2021 at 19:39, HollyHound said:

I did... your APM 20 hooked me in, the Ethos 13 last week completely grabbed me and so the triumvirate of 21/13/8 beckons. Now, don't get me wrong, the APM 20 is superb, but I do see astigmatism in the outer edge of field (which I'm learning to use effectively now) and so the Ethos 21 is a logical step, then the 8 when it's back in stock. I'm also hedging against price rises from TeleVue, which I believe will happen quite soon and so the Ethos 21 increase would be an even larger rise as a percentage and make it close to a £1k eyepiece. So call it sensibly thinking ahead 🤔or madness... either works 🤣

It does mean, that after a short period of comparison... your APM 20 will be moving onto a new home with some other deserving home quite soon 👍 Which also offsets the price.... you may also note that I'm (finally) selling off some of the eyepieces I've experimented with and no longer use... you see how I'm trying to justify it to myself here... is it working 🤣

It’s a painful journey and then you see the light and the light is wide 😁