Posts Made By: Kurt Horsley

...from the kayak trip. -Kurt Horsley

Greg Nowell said:

My distinct impression is that the number of go-to scopes for sale on Astromart is pretty small. I don't mean upper end systems like CGE, Losmandy, AP, etc. I'm thinking of the ones that probably sell the most, like the one-armed models from Meade and Celestron.

I doubt very much that a one-armed scope, say a 6 or 8" SCT on a one-armed go-to alt-az mount would last more than four or five years. It could be a bargain, though, in the sense that if you DID get four years out of it $250/year isn't a lot. I see them ADVERTISED in the magazines, but I don't see them re-sold here in proportion to the numbers that must be accumulating out there.


regards
Greg N

Greg,
Forgive me...but I really have to disagree with you here. I've had a couple of the one armed nexstars and still have my original nexstar5, which is more than five years old now. They're still going strong. In fact, I can't see the slightest bit of degradation at all from the optics or the mount. It's accurate, quite and fast...just as it was when it was new.
I even have the cheap little baby nexstar mount that I'm using with my Orion ED80 and it's showing no signs of wear at all. It's still accurate and does a fine job, despite definitely being more "toy-like" than the nexstar 5 is. I've mounted a lot of different scopes on it and it just keeps going.
I paid full price for the nexstar5 and just $100 for the baby nexstar mount. Both are running without problem and show no sign of wearing out.
And, as long as we're at it, the nexstar advanced series CG5 that I have is even more impressive. Although it's not one of the one-armed mounts that you're referring to...it remains one of the most impressive mounts you can buy for the dollar amount. Definitely WAYYY under rated. Regards, Kurt Horsley

...that a nexstar6 goto mount sells used for $425... but I can't sell an entire nexstar5 with optical tube included for $500?
You can't even buy a C-5 spotting scope for less than $550 but somehow an entire N5 with scope, goto mount, tripod and all accessories isn't worth $500...yet a plain mount with no OTA or anything else is worth $425?
Somebody explain how that works...

I'm really, really, REALLY familiar with Celestron SCT's. I've had 8-9 of them myself and used 50 others. I've also adjusted C5 and C8 focusers many times.
But I just bought my first C-11...and the mirror shift when focusing seems ridiculously bad to me.
I've seen good, bad and everything in between on focus shift, but this one is clearly the worst I've ever encountered.
Is this normal with the larger scopes (C11 and C14)?

I called Celestron and got the usual brushoff. Despite the fact that they've never even seen the scope, they tell me "it's within specification". I asked exactly what "the specification" is but they couldn't seem to tell me...probably because there is no such thing.

...how 'bout a feral pig?

Panasonic FZ50 w/tocn 1.7 yielding 636mm.

Captured at the Fort Worth Nature Center on 6-20-09.
Panasonic FZ50 operating in 3 magapixel "extended optical zoom" mode and Olympus tcon17 yielding 850mm.

Despite staying logged in, every time I open the astromart home page my settings are lost. I have to re-enter name and password every single time. After that, settings return to normal.
Anyone else having problems, or is the problem on my end?
It only happens on astromart. All the other websites on my browser work properly without repeating log-in.

Anyone found a user review of the Orion Premium 102 f/7 ED refractor?

Nice job Micheal,
Thanks for posting. Now maybe others will do the same. Great job. KH

Bob,
Not at all bad for that distance. Stay at it. Long distance photography is very challenging. Thanks for showing the picture. Kurt Horsley