International Astronomy Show 2019

[heliumstar]

Still debating with myself whether to go or not. The little one is sick so more no than yes. Any photos for us? Oh and those new scopes and mounts?

"We are especially looking forward to revealing the first of a new series of premium telescopes, a new (to the UK) manufacturer of premium astronomy mounts, a new manufacturer of astronomy accessories and, of course, the new Rowan Astronomy AZ100 Alt-Az mount. "

I guess these were shown so would be good to see these fine pieces

Edited November 15, 2019 by heliumstar

[Owmuchonomy]

Had a pretty good day particularly chatting with Neill at the Go Stargazing stand. Bought some meteorite samples from David and Martin. Particularly liked the display of Patrick Moore’s Ford Prefect. Felt sorry for the Rother Valley guys; you could almost see the tumble weed in their suite. In contrast, the other hall was humming. Friday night drive back to N Yorks was a bit busy.

[Whirlwind]

1 minute ago, Owmuchonomy said:

Had a pretty good day particularly chatting with Neill at the Go Stargazing stand. Bought some meteorite samples from David and Martin. Particularly liked the display of Patrick Moore’s Ford Prefect. Felt sorry for the Rother Valley guys; you could almost see the tumble weed in their suite. In contrast, the other hall was humming. Friday night drive back to N Yorks was a bit busy.

Had a good day.  Was busier in the morning but by the afternoon had gotten a lot quieter.  Yes the RVO hall was very quiet.  I think they would have been better off sharing room with others to get a higher footfall.  Liked to see some the scopes in person to give an idea of the size.  Spent many hours talking to those at ICAstronomy and Pixelskies remote hosting booth.  I can't thank David / Colin enough for happily letting me talk about everything and anything. Didn't quite get a chance to talk to others at the IKI / FLO displays but then they were always busy.  I was hoping to pick up a red/spacecat as a portable 'take anywhere' scope from them so in some ways the credit card came back more relieved.  Did pick up an ASI183MM Pro to match it with though (sorry but I do like to support multiple UK businesses so do spread expenditure around a bit!).

[geordie85]

It was quite strange for me simply because it was in a different hall to the pervious 2 years. Still a decent show though. I did notice that there wasn't a single esprit 100 there. They had the 80, 120 and 150. 

[John]

I could not get to the show as planned so I'm sorry that I missed out. Hope all those attending had a good time though

[Space Hopper]

I was only there for 4 hours, but really enjoyed the show.

The morning run down was fine, M1, M69 were both good, but obviously much busier mid Friday afternoon on the return leg.

[Mr Spock]

Setting off in a few minutes. Should be there just after 10.

[Chris]

14 hours ago, PhotoGav said:

To all those going tomorrow, have a great time!

Just about to leave the Stoneleigh lodge hotel and head over. So glad I booked a room as it took nearly 4 hours to get here with all the road works, and the windscreen wipers certainly got a good work out lol. very much looking forward to meeting some of you and seeing all the nice shiny kit!

I'll be the one with a camera and shotgun mic, hopefully they'll let me film for my YT channel. I'm not sure what the rules are? 

[Chris]

13 hours ago, heliumstar said:

Still debating with myself whether to go or not. The little one is sick so more no than yes. Any photos for us? Oh and those new scopes and mounts?

"We are especially looking forward to revealing the first of a new series of premium telescopes, a new (to the UK) manufacturer of premium astronomy mounts, a new manufacturer of astronomy accessories and, of course, the new Rowan Astronomy AZ100 Alt-Az mount. "

I guess these were shown so would be good to see these fine pieces

I'll be sure to film as much as I can (if allowed?) and link it here maybe (if ok?) Then if you don't get to go at least you can take a virtual tour  

[Chris]

15 hours ago, Helen said:

They look lush, Helen! yum!

[DaveS]

Gutted that I can't be there, hope it's going well for everyone,may try to make a two day event of it next year.

[Helen]

Just arrived 🤗. See everyone shortly 😁

Helen

[heliumstar]

3 hours ago, Lockie said:

I'll be sure to film as much as I can (if allowed?) and link it here maybe (if ok?) Then if you don't get to go at least you can take a virtual tour  

Hey Lockie, go go go. Film and post please Eyecandy needed

 

[Danjc]

Just got back home from a great day and managed not to go mad spend wise but came close to buying a WO Zenithstar 73 APO & flatterer. 
Met some great people but a massive thanks to  @FLO for taking a look at my belt mod install and tweaking it with an added bit of a mount tune up 👍🏻

[Radders]

Enjoyed the show today. Big thanks to Rob @FLOfor belt modding my HEQ5 Pro. Only money I spent today was a tea for my dad and some chips for me. Some fantastic kit on display. 

[Alan White]

It was a great show, best one to date.
Paul Money was great at his talk and chatted after, thanks Paul.
Damian Peach was great as well, really interesting talk.

Bumped into @Helen, those Welsh Cakes looked grand, I should have said yes.
The AZ100 mount was stunning, see seperate post.

@Lockie shame I missed that hat and you, how did I miss that hat?
 

[heliumstar]

Can anyone chime in on  "new series of premium telescopes, a new (to the UK) manufacturer of premium astronomy mounts, a new manufacturer of astronomy accessories "

[AdeKing]

This was my first IAS and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was good to catch up with @Davey-T, @Mark at Beaufort, @michaelmorris, I was fortunate to be treated to a couple of @Helen's lovely welsh cakes and had a nice chat with @Lockie as well as the guys at @FLO.

The AZ100 was duly admired and played with and I'm pretty sure that a couple of mounts in my collection will make way to pay for one in the next 12 months or so.

A very well thought out mount and it was nice to see that the suggestions made here on SGL have been adopted and it was nice to see the StuMod adding a simple on/off altitude axis lock to let you change eyepieces without having to mess around with re-adjusting the drag on the axis.  An incredibly well thought out mount that definitely doesn't need you to be a contortionist to operate the slow-mo controls as the target moves.

I also managed to stick to my guns and just came back with a Geoptik observing chair from RVO.

Great day was had, I was disappointed to have missed @Montana at lunchtime, but maybe next time.

[Whirlwind]

1 hour ago, heliumstar said:

Can anyone chime in on  "new series of premium telescopes, a new (to the UK) manufacturer of premium astronomy mounts, a new manufacturer of astronomy accessories "

The mounts they were referring to were the RainbowAstro (e.g. RST135 mounts).  Looked impressive in the amount of weight they can carry for the portability.    

The refractors appeared to a be new (or not something that I recognise but the name escapes me).  There was a 102mm example of display. Didn't get chance to check out the specs in detail.  It will be interesting to see where they are pitched against something like the Esprit's.

[heliumstar]

1 hour ago, Whirlwind said:

The mounts they were referring to were the RainbowAstro (e.g. RST135 mounts).  Looked impressive in the amount of weight they can carry for the portability.    

The refractors appeared to a be new (or not something that I recognise but the name escapes me).  There was a 102mm example of display. Didn't get chance to check out the specs in detail.  It will be interesting to see where they are pitched against something like the Esprit's.

HA! I was hoping for that and kind of predicted it.

 

I think I will be selling all of my eyepieces except for BCOs. RST here I come.

Edited November 16, 2019 by heliumstar

[Chris]

10 hours ago, heliumstar said:

Hey Lockie, go go go. Film and post please Eyecandy needed

 

Tis done I've got 74 minutes of eye candy footage to edit! I've made a start and got it down to 34 minutes so far.  Interviewed I few vendors - Ian from RVO, Amy and another chap at Atik & QSI, Simon at the Wide Screen Centre, Dave from nPAE (precision Astro Engineering), Rob from IKI, and of course I finally got the pleasure of meeting Steve and Grant from FLO. Boy have I got some exciting stuff to share regarding FLO!

[Chris]

What a day, I enjoyed that so much! Really great to finally meet some of you, and I have no idea how I managed to resist buying anything with room upon room full of goodies! I think I must have been pre occupied with filming Ok, I was tempted by a WO 73 ED.  

[Chris]

2 hours ago, Whirlwind said:

There was a 102mm example of display. Didn't get chance to check out the specs in detail.  It will be interesting to see where they are pitched against something like the Esprit's.

Yes speaking to Steve, FLO are launching their own brand of scopes - Stella Mira ! The Apo on display was a 104mm f6.25 Triplet with not one but two ED elements! It's in a lovely black and red livery and of course very nice CNC machining inc a carry handle I was impressed. There is more but I can't remember what I'm allowed to say?

Edited November 17, 2019 by Lockie

[Skyline]

8 hours ago, Lockie said:

Yes speaking to Steve, FLO are launching their own brand of scopes - Stella Mira ! The Apo on display was a 104mm f6.25 Triplet with not one but two ED elements! It's in a lovely black and red livery and of course very nice CNC machining inc a carry handle I was impressed. There is more but I can't remember what I'm allowed to say?

An approximate price tag and any other models?

[Mr Spock]

8 hours ago, Lockie said:

There is more but I can't remember what I'm allowed to say?

Same here. I'll leave it to Steve to announce stuff  Exciting stuff...