New equipment with an intro...

[EA2007]

Hello people,

Been a while since I have been on here, some of you may remember me (for better for worse, lol)

After graduating uni last year and taking a while to get a proper job, I eventually found one which paved the way for me making some good money to spend on some new astronomy equipment.

Having previously purchased (in chronological order...) a Celestron Starhopper 8" Dobsonian and then a Celestron NexStar 4SE, I decided to go for something a little more balanced.

So.....out with the little NexStar and in with the new (after a few years).

Having searched the internet (what a wonderful idea), I found somewhat of a bargain, courtesy of David Hinds - get this, a Celestron C8 OTA, with fastar compatability for the sum of £560! This thing usually goes for double....fair enough its an ex-demo version and going by the description Adam Hinds gave, I was expecting it to be quite mashed up with scratches.....all I can say there is a few very light scuff marks on the OTA, nothing like what I was expecting, all the optics seem in ok order and it came with all the necessary accessories, bonus!

Next up on the list was a mount....a good mount. I was going to go for the HEQ-5 Pro, but after realising that the mount is pretty much the core to your observing then I figured why not invest in something future-proof and go for the EQ6 Pro, so I did!

I ordered both items on Wednesday night, the mount from Rother Valley Optics (first purchase from them) and the OTA from David Hinds (again, first purchase) and although Mr. Hinds mentioned next day delivery I was fully expecting them both to not be delivered until this next week. To my surprise they came early Friday morning

As with another post in this forum....it needs to be said that Rother Valley Optics are supplying the NEQ6 Pro. As far as I am aware this is the same as the EQ6 Pro, but with an 'N' printed on it !? There seems to be nothing on the internet to suggest a difference, infact all you get when you plug NEQ6 into Google is the 300p on the NEQ6, not the mount as a solo effort. I'm thinking the 'N' stands for 'newer'...anyway.

Having spent time to go through the manual understanding the set-up procedure then watching the wonderful tutiton DVD courtesy of RVO via Ian Littlewood (is it just me or does he sound like a midlands Andy Murray?), it wasn't too bad a job to get the scope fairly accurately NCP aligned.

Something strange happened last night, maybe it was heavenly intervetion, but around 6pm the sky started to clear out after having solid cloud for the last 2 days, by 10pm it was pretty clear, so out with the scope and mount. Just got the thing set up, started to have a look around for some things, mainly M57, cos its well easy to find and yes it looked rather good through the C8 and even bigger, albeit fainter with the 2x barlow attached.

Then the cloud came...........well, that kinda put a downer on things so I had to pack up for the night. Here I am awaiting another clear night, so I can fully test the new setup. From first practise though, all is good and a worthy purchase.

[Doc]

Nice to hear from you again and Yes I'm one of those that do remember you

Great scope at a wonderful price. It will look fantastic on top of that EQ6.

Post some pics please as it's always nice to see what other people observe with.

[continuum]

Glad to hear you had such good delivery from RVO. I ordered an instock scope and mount last Tuesday and I am still waiting!!

RonJ

[EA2007]

Hello Doc,

Remember you aswell!

I shall try and get some pics on, I am having difficulty in trying to store the mount some place. I don't really want it upstairs as that will mean me having to lug it down when I want to use it......and downstairs is rather limited space wise.

Once I find a home I'll pic it up!

[Psychobilly]

Welcome Back EA ....

Peter (the postaholic previously known as Billy....)

[A McEwan]

I don't remember you - but congrats on your bargain purchases! Ex-demo stock from astro retailers is usually better than described. Bonus! Nice to have First Light on the First Night too!