wow, thanks very much for the interest and support everyone!
now as we head into galaxy season I'm curious to see what a short tube achromart -with nylon gears-
- can make of the Virgo cluster
as an aside, no names no pack drill but some years ago when I set out to buy the ETX 70 as my grab and go scope, one leading astro retailer said to me that they didn't stock anything so basic and prided themselves on only being able to sell me the ETX 90 upword. (..No say it couldn't be so.. there couldn't be elitism in the ranks of amateur astronomers could there?
...)