Posts Made By: Paul Atkinson

Doesn't make much sense. You have the Radians at 60 degree field. A 8 degree fov difference will not be that noticable in the EP. Also, now with the high power Naglers just introduced, it really wouldn't fill a niche other than to lighten the wallets more than Televue aready has. Also, the eye relief gain would be minimal.

Just my 2 cents.

Ashton,

I have the large Wheely bars with small wheels. On it I have a C14/Losmandy Titan and 10" Monolith Pier. It is a substantial load and I haven't had any problems. My feeling is that the smaller wheels are more stable. They provide a lower center of gravity bringing everything closer to the ground. If you aren't going to be moving it long distances, I don't see the benefit of the larger wheels.

Paul Atkinson

There is a company called Dew-Not that makes strips too. I bought them and liked them so much I sold all my Kendrick.

Paul Atkinson

Mark,

I think you mean "ensure" not "insure". Ensure means "to make certain." Insure means "to guarantee against loss of life or property." Just thought I'd help a buddy out as your post was confusing.

Paul

Mark,

Some of these people need help and take things way to serious. If I end up dead I don't care what my wife sells my stuff for. Heck, she'll probably give it away so (God forbid) something happen to me, be on the lookout.

I play the hide and seek game too and I don't have to wait for clouds to roll in to figure out our partnership. I know that I love my wife. In fact, it is kind of fun because she has gotten very good at detecting new things even when I feign ignorance. She told me last night that the scopes were like our daughters baby dolls. I love dressing them up, then buying new stuff and dressing them up again over and over. I guess that is a pretty good analogy.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the new Titan mount that is literally in the trunk of my car onto the pier and the G11 out before she figures out what is going on.

Paul Atkinson

Paul

I second Bill's assement. Also, check my review of the FT focuser right here in the articles section of Astromart.

Paul Atkinson
AstroProProducts

Okay... okay... lets see... hmmmm.... looks pretty good. Now let me ask this. Why are there still two screws on the outside of the new retaining ring? One of my personal pet peeves with the old design is that to move a diagonal or binoviewer you always had to undo both screws and then tighten both. Will the retaining ring work using only one screw allowing for quick changes? Are the prices the same?

Paul Atkinson

First, some of us just like to try lots of things or decide something else would work better. The beauty of Astromart is that it allows you that freedom. A few years ago you were stuck with something you bought unless you had a friendly dealer nearby to trade with, or you attended a star party swap meet. Now you know that you can at least recoup a large % of your cost using Astromart. For example, if I buy a used EP in excellent condition on Astromart I know that can try it, and if I don't like it, probably get at least what I paid for it back. That's a pretty good deal.

Secondly, some people just have the means to do it.

Paul Atkinson

Thats nothing... Pentax has a 60mm EP with a 70+ degree FOV that goes for about $3600!!!!!!

Paul

I appreciate all the feedback from people. I guess some of what I was doing in this project was missed by a few people.

Of course it might seem wasteful to spend what I did fixing it up what some perceive as a "cheap" scope. However, fixing it up was half the fun for me and one of the main reasons for the venture. I can always pull out my Tak FSQ if want color free perfectly round stars and throw my extender-Q on it for high power viewing of planets. I also never said that my modifcations were done TO SPECIFICALLY improve this scopes performace, I simply said that the modifications I did during my project improved the performance when I was done. There was never any false expectation and I was never under the impression that this would end up being an APO. I have those. I was merely commenting on the fact that at low powers the color was not visible and this thing preforms pretty well. Nothing more. You can dress up an ugly girl in a pretty dress but underneath she is still ugly.

I did what I did because I love fiddling. The money was irrelevant to a certain extent. I could buy the $4k APO I spoke about if I wanted, I just couldn't justify another one based on how much I knew I would actually use it. That didn't change the fact that I wanted a larger refractor (over 115mm) that performed relatively well and gave pleasing views without spending $4000 to get it. That's what I got and the enjoyment of seeing it all work was just a bonus. 8)