Posts Made By: Danny Halstead

David,
That is an interesting set-up and I will be most curious to read any input you have when making comparisons. Perfect mount for this BTW.
Take care and thanks for the photo,
Dan

I would like the thank all of you here for having kept this issue in perspective and focused on the issue. I have seen far to often something like this degenerating into character attacks and so forth. From the initial post to the last good points have been raised. These days we have to be careful how and where we use the media generated by others. I have really appreciated the humor. I for one know that Markus did not intentionally post the photo to infer anything dishonest. Why should he when he already is producing world class equipment that has generated some very incredible images. Still inferences could have been made no matter how unintentional they were. I thank Martin for having brought up the photo and the rest of you for treating the issue such as it is or was the way you did. Markus I think that I can speak for the majority of the folks here and say that "You are forgiven". Smile
Respectfully Submitted,
Dan

Joe,
I would definitely check out the DM-4 at:
http://www.discmounts.com/ It is by all accounts one heck of a smooth mount with many advantages including not having to rebalance when changing EP's and other paraphernalia. I would talk to Tom of Disckmounts for some mounting options for this little gem of a mounts. I have a DM-6 and it is everything they say it is. Tom Trusack has a review on Cloudy nights for both the DM-6 and DM-4.These are both very compact mounts and are desighed from the beginning for encoders that are compatible to most DSC computers. Hope this is of some help.Good luck with what ever decision you make.
Dan

Robert,
".... boy what will next year bring."

From the looks of things you may want to talk to your wife about maybe adding another young astronomer to the family line up!!!!-smile
Dan

Steve,
I do not think that you could really go wrong with either scope as they are arguably some of the worlds finest IMO. I think if it were me and was planning on using it for a grab and go or travel scope that I would choose the 800/600 as it seems like there would be a little more versatility with it especially if you like planetary observation. This will be an envious set-up when you are done.
Good luck,
Dan

itz,
I recently posted this on another forum in response to a member wondering what type of equipment to buy for a son interested in Astronomy. Reading this thread brought to mind that perhaps the post would merit attention here as well.

"When teaching children whether it is fishing or astronomy the learning curve is
steep enough that they should not have to struggle with inferior equipment as
well. Using decent equipment (it does not have to be the best) reduces
frustration and will lend itself to a more satisfying experience which in turn
can lead to a life long pursuit. Why people buy junk for their kids is beyond
me. You are on the right track cjamescook.
Good luck,
Dan"

Jeff,
I would be very curious to know if this is a problem that is characteristic of all such Meade Mounts in this size or if you just had a defective one.
Dan

Jeff Young said:

Meet my Lemon Mark I: big aperture attached to a buzzy dec motor that intermittently ruins the views....

Rod,
I can very well understand how you feel at this juncture. A while back I bought an item from an individual who is well know in the astronomy community. Although I normally never send money for something until I have had voice contact via phone I did this time given the individuals reputation. I sent several hundred dollars via PayPal and received the usual notification of payment from PayPal. After a week of not hearing any thing from this person I called and got an answering machine just saying he was out. I left a message in fact several over the next few days.I sent numerous e-mails. Finally I went to the Yahoo group that had been formed for the product in question and asked for assistance in finding out how I could contact this person. I told my story and did say that "this was no way to run a business. I made no threats and simply asked for help. As it was after about 4 days someone posted that they thought this fellow was in Europe attending a Astronomy event. Finally after all most three weeks I got an e-mail from the person advising that they had indeed been gone and would now send my article to me. Up till then I had not even received so much as an e-mail indicating that he had received payment-nothing. How hard would it have been to have posted a notice on his web site or at least with the yahoo group that he would be gone? Or some message on his answering machine. One thing that did happen even though my post on the Yahoo group was no where as intense as yours i.e. threatening I still got a lot of flack by people who felt the need to defend this person with some of it derogatory. There I was feeling like I am the victim and the next thing I knew I was the Bad Guy!!! The person in question was a very nice guy and I had no problems with the exception of the above issue. I was very glad that I had not expressed all that I had been feeling during the time that I could not contact him. However I have also learned that it is easy for people to counsel patience and or moderation when it is not their money or item in question. To sum this up I am feeling bad for both you and Woden Optics. My feeling is that you are owed an apology by Woden Optics and although understandable you may well need to apologize to Woden , for some of your posts, should it turn out that the delay and absence of communication was just humanly unavoidable. I have to agree with Floyd when it comes to using the forum as a means of retribution although this may have been unintentional on your part. I give you the same benefit of the doubt that perhaps we should extend to Woden as well. I sure hope this situation resolves itself in a manner that is positive for both of you. Keep us posted as the outcome may well be of interest to all of us.
Take care,
Dan

Bob,
If you do any imaging with this mount I would be most interested in how it tracks and performs.
Dan

Doug,
By golly if the views through that scope are half as good as the view of it then you have got a definite keeper there my friend!! BTW is that the anodized version?
Well done,
Dan