Which Diagonal

[G0JVK]

I just ordered myself a nice new shiny telescope a skywatcher equinox 120ed apo to be precise but it doesn't come with a star diagonal and so i am going to order one elsewhere but am not too sure of the size i need i think it's 2" but am not 100% sure so i don't want to make a mistake and order the wrong one so if anybody happens to know this i would be most grateful. also i would be interested to know if any particular brand is recommended. many thanks in advance.

Regards Rob

[Mr Spock]

It takes a 2". The best recommendation for me is the Revelation Quartz at £80 from Harrisons:- Revelation Quartz Dielectric Diagonal 2"

[glowjet]

You could obtain a 1.25" but I think with a scope of that caliber most would go for a 2", you should also look for a diagonal with a dielectric mirror spec of 99% reflectivity, the Revelation model is most popular and at a respective price, WO do a nice model but there is quite a difference in price, HTH.

[brantuk]

Check with FLO - I think they have the 2" WO dielectric on offer at the moment (I have the CF and it's smashing). The Revelation is good too as mentioned above. A 1.25" would be ok but you're going to want to use some nice wide angle ep's with that scope and/or hang a camera on the back so 2" would be a more solid, stable, and appropriate diag to use for that.

[astroimpulse]

It takes a 2". The best recommendation for me is the Revelation Quartz at £80 from Harrisons:- Revelation Quartz Dielectric Diagonal 2"

Seconded! I have this for my E120. Excellent value and the build quality is bang on.

Yet to try it in anger though

[Kai]

Check with FLO - I think they have the 2" WO dielectric on offer at the moment (I have the CF and it's smashing).

Can you supply a link as all i can see is the 2" dielectric at £115 or the Quartz at £225

Cheers

[brantuk]

You'd need to ring them re: special offers as they don't normally list them on the website and have a whole other procedure for SGL'ers. That's one of the benefits of being a member here

[Kai]

Ah you mean the normal FLO / SGL discount , i am well aware of that offer .

The way you posted implied that there was a promotion on the Willam Optics diagonals with FLO and i missed a thread in the Sponsor Announcements section as thats their usual way of communicating special offers , and i might grab one before the offer ended.

Oh well

[G0JVK]

all noted with many thanks to each and everyone of you gentlemen and yes it's a good idea to buy from FLO with the SGL members discount brantuk so thanks for that information i didn't know about that however there's just one small problem with that though how do i do that because they don't reopen for buisiness again till the 4th January and i really wanted to place an order before the VAT increase why pay more when you don't have to, unless of course i could contact FLO via this forum but i don't know if it's possible to do that or not though.

Regards Rob

[John Barrow]

To back up the other posts on this point, I have just received the very same telascope (Skywatcher Equinox 120) and it does not come with a diagonal. I have ordered the William Optics one from FLO Diagonals - William Optics 2" Dielectric Diagonal with SCT Adaptor although I believe that the SCT adaptor is for a different type of telescope but I assume that is a trival part of the overall price.

You should also be aware that it does not come with a finderscope either and while I have GOTO (HEQ5 mount) I suspect that you aren't going to get very far without one. This is causing me a slightly different problem in that there does appear to be any of the one that I want in the country and is unlikely before the end of January (Finders - Skywatcher 9x50 Right-Angled, Erecting Finderscope) but at least I will be able to continue playing with the telescope once I can focus as there is still a lot to learn.

I am not sure that once I have polar aligned it (using the inbuilt polar telecope within the HEQ5 mount) whether I can get the GOTO system to work without using a finderscope to first identify specific stars but that is my next exploration point.

I haven't received the diagonal yet (or any confirmation of my order) and so I suspect that this won't be processed until the 4th January although they should be able to invoice me as at my payment date (and so take advantage of the 17.5% VAT) which will go some way to offsetting any potential discount.

[dmahon]

A red dot finder works very well - all you need a finder for is to help set up the GOTO. I'd recommend a 12.5mm illuminated crosshair plossl as well to perfectly align it, so that things will drop right in the centre of your EP when you slew to them.

The total cost is about £85

You can get away without a finder if you have a very wide angle EP (and a bit of patience).