Total City-Based Beginner

[Cosmic Geoff]

5 hours ago, Lung said:

I'm having a quick look at tripod options for the Celestron Astro Fi 127, but the base of the mount seems to rule out everything. Can anyone suggest a tripod that would work with the mount, or a modification that could sort it?

I am not clear what your objection is. If you buy this and decide you don't like the tripod, you will then have to buy a different mount and tripod and attach the OTA to it via the standard dovetail.

TBH the tripod does look on the flimsy side.  I am looking at an ebay photo for an Astro Fi 127 on offer for £547.*  It is common for the tripods of entry level kits to be on the wobbly side.  The tripod of my Celestron 127 SLT Mak was more wobbly than I would have liked, but I used it for a while.  (I also acquired another tripod head and made wooden legs for it, but that was a lot of work).

Unless you can identify a suitable mount that can be swapped onto a more substantial tripod later, you will have to resign yourself to either putting up with a tripod that may not be as rigid as you would like, or  buying an OTA and pairing it with a rigid mount and tripod, which if you go for a mount like the EQ-5 Synscan or the Celestron AVX, could cost you a lot of money.

*A potential for profit when the £300 offer expires? 🙂

[Elp]

From my experience, tripods typically sold as packages on the cheaper end especially those that are extruded aluminium are not worth the price of the raw material. Wobbling or lack of ability to damper vibration from when you focus the scope for example or even a slight breeze will ruin the experience straight away. If you've got the space and budget for it, the Skywatcher thick section steel tripod makes for a good investment, I've since moved on from it but it was quite solid. Wood and certain carbon fibre tripods work well but cost more. If you've got the facility to do so, a permanent pier (or a DIY one) to mount onto will be best.

Edited January 1 by Elp

[Lung]

4 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

I am not clear what your objection is. If you buy this and decide you don't like the tripod, you will then have to buy a different mount and tripod and attach the OTA to it via the standard dovetail.

No objection, just wondering whether I can simply swap out the tripod in the Astro-Fi bundle for something more sturdy if I find the included one too wobbly,.but keep the Goto mount and OTA.

 

2 hours ago, Elp said:

If you've got the space and budget for it, the Skywatcher thick section steel tripod makes for a good investment, I've since moved on from it but it was quite solid. Wood and certain carbon fibre tripods work well but cost more. If you've got the facility to do so, a permanent pier (or a DIY one) to mount onto will be best.

I don't think the Astro Fi (or Synscan) will fit on that steel tripod as it has the flat topped connection with 3/8 bolt.

[Cosmic Geoff]

5 minutes ago, Lung said:

No objection, just wondering whether I can simply swap out the tripod in the Astro-Fi bundle for something more sturdy if I find the included one too wobbly,.but keep the Goto mount and OTA.

As I just explained, you can't. The Astro Fi 127 tripod has a bowl-shaped head.

[Elp]

22 minutes ago, Lung said:

wondering whether I can simply swap out the tripod

For my hand picked tripods I specifically chose 3/8 photographic for three reasons, theyre more versatile (you can use them for standard photography or more recent astro mount heads (many hd mounts)), more choice, and you can buy adaptor plates to suit astro mounts. 

[Jules Tohpipi]

13 hours ago, Lung said:

I don't think the Astro Fi (or Synscan) will fit on that steel tripod as it has the flat topped connection with 3/8 bolt.

There’s two versions of the excellent Sky-Watcher tripod with 1.75” Stainless Steel legs. The first just has a standard 3/8” at the top and is suitable for anything accepting that e.g. the AZ-GTi and general photography equipment. The other version has an azimuth pin and is suitable for the EQ-5 and the like. But I’m not au fait with the requirements for the Astro-Fi. 
 

Below are links for the two versions. Albeit, as FLO says, the image for the azimuth pin version is not the correct image. 
 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/sky-watcher-stainless-steel-175-tripod-with-38-thread.html
 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/sky-watcher-stainless-steel-175-tripod-for-heq5-eq5.html

[Lung]

After everyone's fantastic input to my thread I thought I'd post a quick update.

Just after my last post in here I was chatting to a friend about getting into astronomy and he offered to give me his scope as he'd bought it a year or two before but due to ill health had only used it once or twice then consigned it to a cupboard. He couldn't remember brand or type so promised to dig it out and have a look. A few days later he told me it was a Skymax 127 on AZ GTI mount. Perfect! Unfortunately, he had also had to go into a hospice due to his health, and a few days later died.

I have no interest in bothering his family for his telescope so if they decide to give it to me later then great, but in the meantime I found a Tal M on Facebook and couldn't resist for £50. It came in the wooden box and all accessories were present, so it seemed a good idea. I've now stripped it fully and am in the process of refurbishing it.

Some pics:

 

 

Edited January 21 by Lung

[dweller25]

36 minutes ago, Lung said:

After everyone's fantastic input to my thread I thought I'd post a quick update.

Just after my last post in here I was chatting to a friend about getting into astronomy and he offered to give me his scope as he'd bought it a year or two before but due to ill health had only used it once or twice then consigned it to a cupboard. He couldn't remember brand or type so promised to dig it out and have a look. A few days later he told me it was a Skymax 127 on AZ GTI mount. Perfect! Unfortunately, he had also had to go into a hospice due to his health, and a few days later died.

I have no interest in bothering his family for his telescope so if they decide to give it to me later then great, but in the meantime I found a Tal M on Facebook and couldn't resist for £50. It came in the wooden box and all accessories were present, so it seemed a good idea. I've now stripped it fully and am in the process of refurbishing it.

Some pics:

 

 

You should start your own thread on this so we can watch as you go along with the refurb 👍

Edited January 21 by dweller25

[LondonNeil]

Just to say,  another newbie here.   Also hoping to interest  8yo and 6yo daughters and 3.5yo space obsessed son.   South London bortle 8-9 but supposedly the small green space at the end of the street is 7.  30-40 minutes away I can get to 5 but that won't be often. 

11 days ago I bought a st120 on ebay,  on a az3 (knowing the mount would frustrate in all likelihood).  I've had 4 super fun short sessions looking at the moon,  Jupiter, Saturn and last time a bit of orion and other stars.

It's good so far but I'm looking to get a better mount and tripod.  I'm also looking at the gti, although with st120, upgraded 2" diagonal, Barlow and eyepiece the scope is a little over the 5kg weight limit so I'm thinking about the gtix.

I had a brief trial with some binos I had and my 8yo before buying the st120 and...no, the scope is the winner for the kids. 

I'm also seriously considering a smartphone adapter to allow the kids to see easier and all dry once. 

if I get the gtix i'll likely also get a second scope for the other side.... so two of us can view stuff at once, I can talk to the kids about what we are looking at or stop two arguing for a bit!   I'll try and find something cheap on ebay.  Something that offers slightly different views to the refractor....maybe a skymax102 or a small reflector...