Posts Made By: Rex & Yvonne Repich

I would like to give Astromart additional support ( I am already a yearly supporter) but can not find any way to do so.
I there a way to help out more other than just extending my yearly support ? (Extending my support out further does not seem to me to be any help, as the infusion of additional money now would just steal it from the future support incomes).
Astromart has been very good to me and I want it to stay healthy through these hard times.
Rex

Anyone else noticed that Astromart is slower to load and respond since moving to the new servers?
Today I was waiting for the Astromart server to load a page and got tired of waiting and went to the CN site and got faster page loading! Now that's just wrong. The Astromart site has been one of the fastest loading web sites I have experienced for the last ten years. Until now, I have never had to wait for a page to load.
Rex

The "Misc & other Astronomy" classified section is getting very crowded by all the sponsor adds. Normally this section requires quite a bit of browsing to find an item of interest but now it is getting to be a chore to flip through page after page of sponsors to find the adds. Any chance of starting a "Sponsors" section only to keep the " Misc & other Astronomy" section easy to use?
Thanks
Rex

Vince,
first, its you property and you can set the terms that you want.
But my thoughts on this are: if you have little or no ratings and the buyer has many good ratings then a down payment followed by full payment when the item arrives may be a good way to sell an expensive item and build your rating, it would not be any different that you buying from a well rated seller and sending him the money first. I have looked at some items offered by un rated sellers and have not bought from them due to the "unknown" factor. Maybe this should be a more common way for un-rated sellers to build their reputations. Just make sure that the buyer has a perfect rating.

As for Italy, I just sold a very expensive AP scope to a well rated buyer in Italy and all went well (wire transfer into my account before shipping), but as others have said shipping across the world can have problems and it can be harder to protect your shipment from damage or customs issues, also shipping can be very expensive (I my case it was over $500. dollars) and many buyers would not want to pay that much. P.S. A wire transfer from Italy takes 7 - 10 days to go through and customs can hold items for three days (on an overnight shipment).
Rex

I just wonder about the marketing strategy of some of these companies with a world wide recession in place why Televue, ES and Takahashi feel this is the time to come out with the most expensive eyepieces of all time (Zeiss excluded, I know some of theirs were/are super expensive).
Rex

1. That it cost less than the telescope, getting to be close on some eyepieces - lol .

2. No kidney beaning or excessive sensitivity to eye position, (as another poster said), think Radian.

3. A natural look and curvature to the viewing field, some eyepieces make you feel that there is a lot of glass between you and the sky ( I get this with all the Naglers I have owned.)

4. I guess I am old fashioned, but the Takahashi LE's, Meade 4000 SWA's, and Panoptics suit me fine and have the most natural and comfortable viewing for me.

Make sure the counterweight shaft is vertical (put a level on the shaft) and center the buble.
The set screw is probably either 1.5 mm metric or: .050 or .035 US.
Sears carries the two larger sizes in their ball end socket sets. The smaller one is available from Wiha among others (try amazon for a supplier).
Rex

Can't comment, the link no longer works, don't know what it said.
Rex

Rob Howell said:

If you could own only 4 lenses which 4 would they be?

For my two Tak refractors:
1. Nagler 3-6 zoom
2. Ethos 8 mm
3. Ethos 13 mm
4. Ethos 21 mm
I have three of the above and getting #4 soon, then all my other eyepieces will go, these cover it all for me.
Rex

Lee,
Either a .38 snub ( I like the stainless S&W Chiefs special) or a good .380 ( a stainless Walther PPK) will work fine, ( I have carried both). A study I once read that either gun is about as big as anyone likes to actually carry especially in the summer months.The revolver has the advantage of being a no-brainer to operate, just pull the trigger, no need to remember if a round is in the chamber or the safety is on. also being stainless, there is no worry about getting either wet or sweaty and both of the guns I mentioned are built like a tank, they will last a lifetime.
Also, I prefer a hammer on a revolver, safer to operate (I have carried the hammerless .38 snubby, but don,t like it as much), and the hammer will not snag on clothing if you use your thumb as a shield over the hammer when drawing from your pocket.
Rex