Astromart

June 18, 2002 12:52 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

C102HD or Orion XT8 Dob?

I have a Discovery Scope, I got it from OPT, they stock most of them, so if you decide to go that way, you wont have to wait. http://www.optcorp.com/index.asp Also, check this link out! Its the Orion 1OXT, with a different name on it, for 499!!! I wish I had the money! Click on the picture to enlarge it. http://www.optcorp.com/cart/ProductDetail.asp?PR_ProductID=1619 Hope that helps! Ron PS-I have a 6 inch scope, and it's not enough aperture!

July 11, 2002 03:23 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Meade apos

Posted By Ron Sowers

Hey, noticed no one replied, you might try Ed Tings telescope review website, he reviewed almost all the meade apos. :-} Hope that helps, Ron

July 28, 2002 04:46 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Daytime "star test" question

Posted By Ron Sowers

Hey, heres another way, I heard about it years ago and it worked pretty decent. Set up a lamp as far as you can from your scope, preferably have grass between your scope and the lamp to cut down on heat waves. Make a panel out of heavy aluminum foil and place it in front of the lamp. Poke the smallest hole possible with the tip of a tiny sewing needle in the foil. If you make the hole small enough and your far enough away, AND you actually make the hole round it makes a decent false star, and you can even do this on a cloudy day since you don't need sunlight to reflect off anything. In fact a cool cloudy day has better seeing conditions. The worst part is actually making the hole round and getting it in the right spot. I ended up with about 11 or 12 odd shaped holes before I got a decent one. And becareful if you have the foil too close to the bulb, it'll start smoking haha. Hope that helped, Take care! Ron

August 21, 2002 12:48 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Orion customer support a disappointment

Posted By Ron Sowers

Maybe try someone else who sells Orion, like OPT etc? Maybe they'll part with one, that's stupid you can't buy something because you weren't the original purchaser, thank God car parts stores aren't like that...."I'm sorry you can't buy an oil filter, your not the original owner of the car" hahaha Good luck! Ron

August 22, 2002 01:30 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

10" offbrand

Posted By Ron Sowers

Hey that's me ha, I know OPT sells it and I guess some others do too. In the S&T Skywatch 'O3, it has a bunch of scope's listed and their prices and it shows there that it's from Hardin Optical. But I think it's an import clone and many must have their name on it? Ron (77}

August 23, 2002 01:45 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Orion SkyView Pro 8 EQ vs. SkyView Deluxe 8 EQ

Posted By Ron Sowers

Hi, Personally I would prefer the F5 version as it would have less coma and nicer veiws of the planets. Also the eyepeices would work better. The faster the scope (lower F-Ratio} the better your eyepeices have to be. The sturdier mount would really be nice too. The clock drive it comes with is an on/off pre-set drive. If you align your mount to the celestial pole, or close, it will keep an object in the field of veiw for a while depending on how well you aligned and how close the speed of the drive is to ideal. (Not counting periodic errors} The F-4 version would let you get to a lower power and have a little wider feild of veiw for sweeping the Milkyway, but I think I would prefer a little less FOV with less coma. Hope that helps, Ron

August 27, 2002 03:10 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

82 scopes: worth a look

Posted By Ron Sowers

I have that too, and I wanna know what's up with the price of those Parks 6 inch scopes! Man, almost a grand for a 6 inch reflector with a 1.25 inch focuser! Egads! haha Ron

September 9, 2002 01:54 PM Forum: Equipment Talk