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Astrofest thoughts....

NickH

By NickH
in The Astro Lounge

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NickH

NickH

Posted
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Paste yours here..but here's my top 5..

1: Good buzz this year, the 383L+ and Titan cameras seem quite interesting (the former more so)..

2: Very nice crowd of people. Lots of SGL and other people all saying hi. Was very nice. Gutted that I missed lunch with Richie Jarvis (got caught up in a meeting w.r.t Spain Obsy), so sorry mate...:-(

3: Fewer stands, made it actually a bit better, though some stands were taking the widdly woo with prices...(EL panels and inverters for £80, for A5...come on!!)

4: Some really tasty kit on display, and now having seen that F15 refractor in the flesh...it's worth every penny..

5: Dealers who actually knew there stuff, not just salesmen...everyone I spoke to really did understand their products pretty well...and had a good grasp of the competition, too.. and were even ready to admit when someone else made something as good/better...a nice and refreshing change..

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MikeP

MikeP

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Brie and grape sandwiches.

The man on the Solarscope stand explaining etalons and their manufacture to me - fascinating.

Everyone that I met or chatted to, especially the husband and wife newbies that had been to Ollie's place in France - hopefully they will join SGL.

Mike

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peter shah

peter shah

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some really nice stuff on display....i only got over on the friday. i met a few forum members and as you say nick lots of people there who knew their stuff(nice to see)

i enjoyed the whole event...it was a shame i couldnt stay for the saturday!

i should be getting an ODK12 next week to play with so get ready for some cloudy skies.

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MartinB

MartinB

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I had a great time. I was booked for 3 sessions of talks but skipped a fair few of them to go meeting up with people and having a look around the stalls. Enjoyed all the Atik images. Was great to meet up with Kevin Nelson from QSI. That F15 refractor seemed very rocky on it's stand!

The down side - knowing that I was walking past people who I know online but don't know to recognise!

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canuck

canuck

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That F15 refractor seemed very rocky on it's stand!

While I do use my F15 with a Gibraltar, I acknowledge that the Televue mount allows movement. However, as a cosmetic partner, it is pretty much perfect, and so I used it as a display mounting.

The F15 refractor was one of the stars of the show.

I'll take that as a compliment! Thank you. :)

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Doc

Doc

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The down side - knowing that I was walking past people who I know online but don't know to recognise!

I agree I bet I walked pass you a few times Martin, it was always in the back of my mind if these people were the ones I spend alot of my time talking too online.

That F15 refractor seemed very rocky on it's stand!

Pier mounted on a EQ6 is the way to go. That way you can swap scopes for planetary or deep space objects. Best of both worlds.

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BlueAstra

BlueAstra

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Just got back from my visit to Astrofest. Spent most of the time going from stand to stand getting good advice from everyone there. Well worth the visit, and great to see all the equipment in the flesh.

Special thanks to Simon and Ethan at the Widesceen Centre for their advice, and a good price on a Televue Barlow. I also had a good chat with the chaps at Green Witch, and now have a Meade refractor tp play with. I also spoke with a chap called Ian King (who apparently has something to do with Ian King Imaging :)) who helped me choose a FF for the refractor.

The only bit I regretted was he fact that I knew there must be other SGL people there, some whom I had probably spoken to, but I had no idea who they were. Must tie up with the organizers next year and sort something out. A great day out!

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GordonH

GordonH

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Paste yours here..but here's my top 5..

1: Good buzz this year, the 383L+ and Titan cameras seem quite interesting (the former more so)..

2: Very nice crowd of people. Lots of SGL and other people all saying hi. Was very nice. Gutted that I missed lunch with Richie Jarvis (got caught up in a meeting w.r.t Spain Obsy), so sorry mate...:-(

3: Fewer stands, made it actually a bit better, though some stands were taking the widdly woo with prices...(EL panels and inverters for £80, for A5...come on!!)

4: Some really tasty kit on display, and now having seen that F15 refractor in the flesh...it's worth every penny..

5: Dealers who actually knew there stuff, not just salesmen...everyone I spoke to really did understand their products pretty well...and had a good grasp of the competition, too.. and were even ready to admit when someone else made something as good/better...a nice and refreshing change..

Hi Nick

Actually the EL panel you were referring to was A4 not A5 for approximately £80 including the inverter so that makes it double the value for money:)

It was nice to put faces to names, I now know that not everybody on SGL is bald and ugly. Thoroughly enjoyable although didn't get too much of a chance to look round all the stands and as usual we were the last to leave, what with helping with the packing and loading, we got out at just after 9pm

Best wishes

Gordon

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MartinB

MartinB

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Their are different grades of EL sheet. Earlsmann point out that theirs is a budget offering. I got an A3 sheet from them and it is ok but not terribly even. If you phone them you can get a better quality but it costs you. I had a look at Gerd's EL and it did look good quality but I didn't get to speak to him about it.

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barkis

barkis

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My second Astrofest, and as with the first, thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thank Rui on the Atik stand, for his extreme patience and knowledge. Great guy. Bought another book, I hope I get time to read it.;).

Enjoyed a nice Indian Lunch with MikeP, MartinB, Daz, Paxo and Good Lady, Ian Lunator.

Thanks to MikeP, and his lovely wife Christine for making me so welcome at their home for the weekend. I had a superb time there.

By the way, I am saving up for a Paramount. Only £11,500. :D

Ron.:)

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GordonH

GordonH

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Their are different grades of EL sheet. Earlsmann point out that theirs is a budget offering. I got an A3 sheet from them and it is ok but not terribly even. If you phone them you can get a better quality but it costs you. I had a look at Gerd's EL and it did look good quality but I didn't get to speak to him about it.

Hi

I was with Gerd on the Widescreen stand and according to him any variance in evenness over his EF panel is within 1%. At the end of the day you always get what you pay for and there will be a lot of price variation from different manufacturers. The A4 panel that Gerd had on display was 44 euros + the same for the dedicated inverter so with the current exchange rate you are looking at £80 complete for an EF panel that will cover scopes up to 8" (still a lot cheaper and less cumbersome than a dedicated light box)

Best wishes

Gordon

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NickH

NickH

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My second Astrofest, and as with the first, thoroughly enjoyed it.

By the way, I am saving up for a Paramount. Only £11,500. ;)

Ron.:)

Make sure you get a good UPS/mains supply on it...:-)

I know someone who's blown a few of them..

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russ

russ

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My first Astrofest, really enjoyed it. Like a kid in a candy store when we first arrived.

Great day with Rob - thanks matey for making it such a stress free and enjoyable day.

Lots of shiny kit to look at but couldn't afford. Thanks to Scopes'n'skies for being the only stand with anything affordable. I would have come away empty handed otherwise.

Biggest surprise was playing with all the fancy refractors on show and finding that the focusers with the best feel were the standard Skywatcher jobbies. There's some crayfords out there that look very flashy but feel pretty awful.

The Starlight f15 refractor looked absolutely amazing and worth every penny if the views are as good as the looks. Would be awesome on an EQ6.

Took the OU test and it made me realise how little i know about Astronomy away from the observing. But i must have failed in a big way because according to my multiguess sheet i was on question 19 but according to the screen i had finished. So i had completely made a mess of things. Should give them a laugh when they mark it and find i scored 0.

Great day in all, will be going next year without a doubt.

Russ

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russ

russ

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I had a fiddle with most of the crayfords I could get my mits on and I thought the starlight F15 had the smoothest focuser out of all of them and some very surprisingly rough.

John

Yes it was very nice indeed. The whole scope was a dream.

Had a play with the Orion XX12i and the Synta dual speed crayford on there was incredibly smooth, both course and fine focus. Obviously had been setup right.

Also noticed that the Orion XT dobs (all models) were smoother on both axis compared to their Skywatcher cousins.

All the Orion Optics OC1 focusers felt stiff and lumpy for some reason. But nowhere near as stiff as the WO stuff. I suppose they all just need a tweak.

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