Hi from the West Midlands!

[Oortraged]

Hi there, and thanks for having me!

I've spent the last 10 years or so skirting around the edge of the hobby, and am now in a position to pursue it more meaningfully, so here I am!

I've owned a few scopes through the years, starting out with a 130mm Celestron - I can't remember the type specifically, I know it was a modified Newtonian of some description. Impulse purchase on a camping trip, and once I saw Saturn through it I was hooked!

Alas, I quickly fell out of love with it once discovered aperture fever, and moved onto a Skywatcher 200p. Loved this scope, and got so much pleasure out of learning to collimate it and enjoying the 'fettling' side of owning this kind of scope - lazy Susan dob mods, cooling fans for the main mirror - great fun for tinkering!

A change of circumstances meant that space came at more of a premium, so we parted ways, and I picked up another Skywatcher, the ED80. The logic was it would be the ideal 'Swiss army knife' scope for me. It has been leveraged into DSLR AP, quick set up backyard solar system visual, as well as dark site camping trips! It doesn't do any one thing perfectly, but it's certainly the scope that has got the most use - so by any meaningful definition, the best one for me to this point!

I'm definitely at the point of wanting to make some changes to the set up, as I'm clearer in what I enjoy observing now - for visual, solar system objects and lunar are where i spend most of my eyepiece time. To this point I've been using the Alt-az Skywatcher AZ4 on a really sturdy steel tripod, working from 'Turn left at Orion'. However, I think its time for me to add a new mount in for visual use - and the AZ GTi seems an easy pick for my purposes! I'm hoping the tracking will help make it easier to pick out finer details on planets compared to pushing the scope, thanks to the smoother motion of it. I'd also really like to switch to a binoviewer, as I find it stereo observing far more comfortable, but am a bit wary as to the limits of 80mm of aperture with this much glass? 

Anyway! Thanks for reading my rather rambling introduction, any insights or guidance readily and gratefully invited!

Clear skies,

Ryan

[bosun21]

Hi Ryan, welcome to SGL. It seems like you have predominantly settled on solar system observing. From the perspective of mobility with your choice of mount I would recommend the 127 Maksutov. The additional light grasp (which is actually around 118mm) over your 80mn and the considerably longer focal length of 1500 - 1900mm will make it a far better choice for planetary and lunar observing. They are also relatively light and compact making it good for sticking in a backpack etc. Great to have you onboard.

[bosun21]

I Initially thought you were Scottish due to the name you had chosen, or are you?

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL

[Oortraged]

5 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I Initially thought you were Scottish due to the name you had chosen, or are you?

Haha, I'm not in fact, but I can see how you could arrive at that possibility! 

 

10 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Hi Ryan, welcome to SGL. It seems like you have predominantly settled on solar system observing. From the perspective of mobility with your choice of mount I would recommend the 127 Maksutov. The additional light grasp (which is actually around 118mm) over your 80mn and the considerably longer focal length of 1500 - 1900mm will make it a far better choice for planetary and lunar observing. They are also relatively light and compact making it good for sticking in a backpack etc. Great to have you onboard.

Thanks for this - the idea of switching over to a Mak has been nagging away in the back of my mind, and I've so far managed to ignore it... just looked on FLO and seen that they offer the AZ Gti with a well regarded 127 skywatcher Mak for an irresponsibly reasonable price...

Food for thought! Thanks again for the welcome and guidance

[inedible_hulk]

Hello and welcome! 

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[Mr Spock]

Hi, welcome to SGL 

[Sunshine]

A big welcome to SGL!

[SteveWolves]

Hi you will get plenty of advice here, most helpful.

[fwm891]

Hello and welcome etc. Theres the PAS astronomy show on the 23rd March (most vendors) will be giving discounts on kit and lots of kit to see AND HANDLE makes a big difference if you can compare things side by side...

[Moonlit Night]

Hello and welcome 

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 🙂