I went and bought one

[wavelandscott]

I mentioned some time ago that I was going to spend some of my 2004 bonus money on Astro gear and so it begins...

This morning bright and early (8:00 am), the postal service delivered a MoonLite Dual Rate Crayford focuser (CR2) and installation kit to my door.

I quietly ordered it last week on the 11th of May and it arrived today. (I had informed [okay begged] my Minister of Finance and the purchase was "mostly" approved/endorsed by she who must be obeyed...)

Ron at MoonLite was a delight to work with keeping me "in the loop" during the whole order/shipment process.

It shipped via USPS Priority Mail...I was able to track it's progress through shipping on the website with the tracking number provided.

The costs were:

MoonLite CR2 USD$ 265.00
Installation kit USD$ 21.00
Shipping USD$ 36.00

A bit pricey but, out of the box it looks gorgeous and feels great! A delight to see and feel...(I better be careful in my description or I'll sound like some of the eyepiece fetish people around here) but it does feel silky smooth...

I am hopeful to install this new piece of gear this next weekend so I know that it will be absolutely clear skies while my scope is apart...the rain should set in Sunday evening if I get it all done as planned!

I was going to keep quiet about this purchase until I had this project successfully completed but, after seeing it this morning I could not wait any longer and had to tell someone...

Since I will be doing this "renovation" I just need to figure out how best to flock my scope...I figure I might as well do them both at the same time seeing how I'll have the thing apart...

Cheers!

[iceman]

Nice Scott! You'll love it, I've got one myself (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/?moonlite) that I got 2nd hand from Vermin.

You don't necessarily need to flock your scope right now, I didn't take the secondary out when I installed mine. I just laid the tube flat to ensure that the shavings from drilling the holes didn't fall onto the mirror.

But of course if you're planning a weekend without your scope you may as well do as many mods as possible :D Need to clean your mirrors?

Congrats on a great purchase!

[ving]

good on ya scott :)
shoul;d be nice to use!

[dhumpie]

You lucky dog. Currently trying to get the "boss" to approve a more substantial photo tripod for my Orion 80ST ;)

Darren

[ballaratdragons]

Ah Hah! Another member into the Crayford Club.

Onya Scott.

Smooooooooooth ain't they!

[gbeal]

They are THE best

[atalas]

I love the look of them too!very cool.


Louie :)

[ausastronomer]

Nice Choice I think the same thing could be my Fathers day present :)


CS-John B

[iceman]

You gotta get one John, you just have to get rid of that R'n'P you're using :D

[Starkler]

I thought John had a RnP for sale some time back ?

FWIW, the GS crayford is a nice alternative for about half the cost of the moonlight job.

[iceman]

I don't believe he's sold it yet, and I don't remember him getting a new focuser yet either. John?

Also i agree with Geoff.. if you're on a budget and don't need/want the dual rate, the GS crayfords are really nice and smooth, with nice big knobs for easy focus adjustment. And for $100 you can't go wrong. I believe they also fit straight into the existing mounting holes, so no need to drill into your tube.

[ausastronomer]

Geoff,

I haven't sold the old one nor bought the new one yet. I regreased and cleaned the old one again recently and its working well within its limitations so it will be fine in the short/medium term. I have decided not to sell the old focuser because if I ever sell this scope I will need a focuser to sell with it.

Not really interested in the GS Crayford, I thought a little about it, but ultimately the poor man pays twice so I figured why not just buy the best from the outset. I may even buy the Feathertouch with the collimateable mounting plate actually with the moonlite as option #2. The Moonlite lands for about $450 and the Feathertouch about $550, whats $100 between husband and wife :)

CS-John B

[Starkler]

I guess if you plan on keeping the focuser forever and selling the GS dob later it makes sense. For the $170 I paid for the GS crayford Im totally satisfied and not wanting for anything else.
It has a superior feel to a jmi crayford I sampled on an obsession dob :shrug:

[ausastronomer]

Geoff,

FWIW I don't rate JMI focusers very high at all, in fact I have used a few that I would rate as downright crappy. I have also used a few that were pretty good, I think their QC leaves something to be desired. This has been confirmed by some other machined parts that I had supplied by JMI that left something to be desired. There are certainly better focusers out there for less money than JMI IMHO.

CS- John B