Posts Made By: Tony Leung

... you're getting me lusting for one too now. Looks great!
Whats the current lead time for one of those these days?

I would take either the 25mm Ultrascopic or find a used Vixen LVW or Orion Superwide 22mm for around $140...

I get my simple pleasures with just a pair of 10x50s... simple, no tripod. Perfect freedom to roam the skies...

You've got to get the Sky Atlas 2k version no matter what else you get. You can get the millenium or mapping software to supplement the Sky Atlas 2k later... I have both the laminated field edition and the deluxe unlaminated desk edition...

... I remember picking up a really old copy of some star book with whole sky maps from the elementry school library one day tens of years ago... that nite i looked out the back porch and hey there it is - it matches - must be Orion... so there you have it, major light pollution in S.F., no scope, no binocs, no nothing...

Shortly later I bought a pair of Selsi 7x35s and continued... I remember charting Mar's movements, and then Uranus, Vesta, and Neptune. I was delighted to see the 4 moons of Jupiter, Titan (or so i thought - maybe i did or maybe I didn't), M42, M27, M13 and M31 wow! ... millions of light years away i thought back then... I was really delighted to see the different colors of stars, especially the red ones like Betelguese and Antares...

... it wasn't really until about this time last year, after tens of years, that i finally bought a small scope (a spotting scope) and January of this year that I bought my 8" dob... Even though with it, I can easily find all the Messier objects, see 5-1/2 satellites of Saturn, resolve many globulars and most open clusters, find lots of galaxies, resovlve tight binaries, find a few white dwarf secondaries, and quasars billions of LYs away, its not quite the same as when i was a kid - with a limitless sense of adventure and imagination....

M76 was easier than I thought on my 80mm Megrez II: My log from 8/30/05 from my mag 5.0 light polluted skies:

M76 - very small glow @ 29x; and at 62x small moderately faint rectangular glow; a little more conspicuous with ultrablock filter (more 3D like and see 2 "areas" of glow)

Of course, that was after I found it easily a few days ago with my 8inch dob...

for the alzimuth motions, make sure you have that nut real loose if its anything like the original XT (the nut should put ZERO force on the lower piece and could even have 1mm or more of slack)...

As for the altitude bearing, since you have the XTi version, you could loosen the knobs and balance the scope better. I'm not sure exactly how the XTi bearing surfaces work, but on my XT the bearings are plastic bearing to plastic hub, and after I replaced the plastic bearings with PTFE bearings, it just did NOT work - next to no stictation. PTFE just does not work will on the plastic hub. Probably needed ebony star there too (but too much work for adding ebony star on altitude surface). ... so i had to put the plastic stuff back...

But the alzimuth, ebony star and PTFE or teflon works well with the VERY loose nut...

On my XT8, I have my EZ-Finder II between the 9x50 RA and the focuser, and behind (toward the primary mirror side of tube) the focuser's square plate. Your Telrad is probably bigger, and may not fit so well there though....

The 22 LVW you sold me works great on my xt8 f/6! Wanna swap scopes too? That way, maybe the 22 LVW will work better with the f/4.7 XT10 and your 22 Pan will work better with the f/6 XT8

Excellent choice! I've had mine for a year and still love it (with a few minor mods). Just remember, when you put together the base, listen to the manual and keep that nut holding the bottom REALLY LOOSE. Otherwise your alzimuth motions will be stiff and jerky...