International Astronomy Show 2024

[Stuart1971]

11 minutes ago, Elp said:

It does, though it's very similar in FL to my reduced Z61. It'd make a decent dual purpose lens for day and night as it has aperture control. I'd prefer to also see the SQA85 but no info as of yet, if it does exist (some people have apparently tested it). The other option is the 71F.

I have just got the 71f, and so far it’s a great little scope, I got it direct from Askar, so saved a few quid, but TBH for £600 it seems a bit of a bargain really, also there is a reducer coming out for it later this year, no date given as yet, although the dealers may know…

[FLO]

21 hours ago, FLO said:

We are packing the vans tomorrow, ready for our journey up Friday.

Both vans are packed and, by crikey, this is the most stock we have ever taken to an event by a country mile! 😲

Roughly 10% of our warehouse will be at IAS!  

Over 700 items! 

With a total weight of over two metric tons!

And twelve staff/helpers! 

Why so much? I confess we have probably overreacted to criticism we received at Astrofest for not having displayed enough. 

But, hey. It'll be fun 😀

Steve

PS: I strongly recommend you check out the Clearance Corner section of our stand before buying new. There is a lot of kit there! 

[Ouroboros]

Good luck, FLO!  

I’m still weighing up whether to go or not. There are a few new things I’m considering getting. 

[globular]

I'll be there. I've just had clearance from the CEO. She said something like "please don't spend too much" but, if I think about it, that's actually the green light to spend something. It's just a discussion for later as to how much too much is. I can't foresee any problems......

[Ouroboros]

…… and “too much” is a very subjective term isn’t it?  

[Mr Spock]

More bad news folks, my SGL shirt no longer fits 

[tomato]

I emailed FLO to request they bring a couple of small items that I want to purchase and Grant replied straight away to reassure me there would be plenty there so I thought wow, they are clearly confident of having enough stock, but 10% of FLO’s inventory on the road, that’s commitment!

[Elp]

34 minutes ago, globular said:

"please don't spend too much"

I think she may have finished the sentence with time... So you've got free reign.

[Ouroboros]

21 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

More bad news folks, my SGL shirt no longer fits 

S.G.L. Spock Getting Larger?  😉

[FLO]

On 09/09/2024 at 16:19, FLO said:

Date: Saturday 14th September

NEW Venue: The Sports Connexion, Leamington Road, Ryton On Dunsmore, Coventry, CV8 3FL

Some good news 🙂 

Having arrived and begun setting up, ready for tomorrow, we can confirm that this new venue is super easy to find, park at, and access—easier than any other UK event we have attended. 

Graham and Martin (the organisers) have chosen well 🫡

Steve

[Mr Spock]

2 minutes ago, FLO said:

Having arrived and begun setting up, ready for tomorrow, we can confirm that this new venue is super easy to find, park at, and access—easier than any other UK event we have attended. 

👍

Are there food / drinks available there?

[globular]

28 minutes ago, FLO said:

this new venue is super easy to find, park at, and access

I'm going for this apt parking space:  https://w3w.co/eager.starlight.thrillers 

[FLO]

3 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

👍

Are there food / drinks available there?

Yes. We think a bar and a food van serving American-style food. 

Google says there's also a nearby gastro-pub with parking: The Blacksmith's Arms. 

HTH

[Alan White]

Nice stand @FLO and a decent show

[Ouroboros]

It was. Spread over quite a space. 

I think I was the first one through the door this morning.  It wasn’t as crowded as I had feared. In fact if anything it was maybe a little under attended. Good for the customers, but not maybe for the vendors. I hope they did well anyway. 

Unfortunately FLO didn’t have the bits and bobs I wanted but gave me a discount code to spend on line. I’ve finally taken the plunge to image in mono after over a decade of imaging in OSC. Yikes! A whole new learning curve. 🫢 Mono camera, filter wheel and filters. No eating for three months now. 

How about some pics ….

I particularly enjoyed looking through the two solar telescopes set up by the BAA on the grassy knoll outside the venue as part of their new outreach programme. Also a SeeStar. Isn’t it diddy? Great little thing though. Here’s a very poor snap of the view through the eyepiece of one of the solar scopes. You can just about see the fuzzy prominences. 

Edited September 14 by Ouroboros

[Mr Green]

Thank you team FLO, was great to meet you all and appreciate the help with my quite large purchase!

Not the grab and go setup I am used to but should be fun!

 

[Space Hopper]

A nice day out today, thanks to everyone who made it such a good show.

Slight negative : Orion Optics were AWOL.

Lots of lovely kit to drool over including a Tv NP101is !  I wanted it, but couldn't have it.......

[bosun21]

Here's Grant from FLO giving us a tour around  the FLO stalls at the IAS 24.

 

 

Edited September 16 by bosun21
Add video

[DaveS]

Interesting that FLO are becoming an OOUK dealer, I will keep an eye on the website.

[FLO]

15 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Interesting that FLO are becoming an OOUK dealer, I will keep an eye on the website.

There have been some changes at OO. We have been in discussion with them for some time and have a number of their telescopes at FLO for assessment.

We look forward to posting more about OO soon 🙂 

[FLO]

From our POV this year's International Astronomy Show was a success. Hard work, but fun 😀

Thank you to everyone who visited our stall to say hi 🤗 

[FLO]

On 14/09/2024 at 23:50, Space Hopper said:

Lots of lovely kit to drool over including a Tv NP101is !  I wanted it, but couldn't have it.......

It is good that you mention the Tele Vue NP101is because it generated a lot of interest but wasn't shown in Grant's video. Sorry Tele Vue  

The video wasn't planned or scripted and was done in a hurry before the doors opened. We'll have the telescope with us again at Kelling 🔭

Steve

[Ouroboros]

2 minutes ago, FLO said:

From our POV this year's International Astronomy Show was a success. Hard work, but fun 😀

Thank you to everyone who visited our stall to say hi 🤗 

I am pleased to hear it was a success for you.   I am amongst many others I’m sure who appreciate the efforts you and other retailers put into making these shows work. Researching and  shopping on line is all very well but there’s nothing quite like talking to suppliers face to face and looking at kit up close. I’m sure the benefits to you are (at least) two fold. There’s the immediate, on the day purchases and there’s the fact that customers meet you and collect  ideas for possible purchases that they may not make until some time later.  Anyway, thanks again and let’s hope it all gets done again next year.

Incidentally, I thought the venue was good too. Easy to find. Plenty of parking.  Spacious.  I was a tad surprised that drinks and light snacks weren’t available in the hall. The food van was fine on the day, but maybe not had it been raining. 

[FLO]

3 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

I am pleased to hear it was a success for you.   I am amongst many others I’m sure who appreciate the efforts you and other retailers put into making these shows work. Researching and  shopping on line is all very well but there’s nothing quite like talking to suppliers face to face and looking at kit up close. I’m sure the benefits to you are (at least) two fold. There’s the immediate, on the day purchases and there’s the fact that customers meet you and collect  ideas for possible purchases that they may not make until some time later.  Anyway, thanks again and let’s hope it all gets done again next year.

Thank 'you' 🙂 

It was good to see a number of other retailers supporting the event, particularly Simon and Ylena at the Widescreen Centre. They always have a good stall and enhance whichever event they attend 🫡 

7 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Incidentally, I thought the venue was good too. Easy to find. Plenty of parking.  Spacious.  I was a tad surprised that drinks and light snacks weren’t available in the hall. The food van was fine on the day, but maybe not had it been raining. 

We agree. The venue was very good, but they needed more than one food van. We'll mention this to the organisers. 

Steve 

[steaven1325]

have just taken delivery of the new little Askar 71f Quad, and it is a lovely little scope, but I too like the look of the 107 as a main imaging scope…😀

Askar make some very nice kit, and 15% discount is very tempting…