What is the most useless Astro device you've come across?

[Outcast (Carlton)]

With inspiration from another thread & a conversation I had with someone the other day, I thought I'd start a (hopefully) lighthearted thread about the most useless bit of Astronomy kit you have ever had the displeasure of purchasing or owning... Not everyone will agree with the opinion someone has on an item but, that's okay... we're all different & have different needs... so, what's useful for one is useless to another...

Would also be invaluable if you could briefly state why you thought it was useless & potentially, save others from spending hard earned on a potentially useless product... oh, & probably best we don't mention the brand publicly I spose...

Anyways, I'll get it rolling...

Straight through finderscopes... I have binned or onsold pretty much every single one that ever came with a scope I bought or whatever... Why: because I simply cannot contort my neck into the ridiculous positions necessary to actually be able to look squarely through one.. irrespective of what sort of mount I was using...

Anyways... hopefully a bit of fun... fire away... tell us what you found to be useless in your astronomy journey...

[sn1987a (Barry)]

Meade Lightbridge 16 pos 💩

[Oddity (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Outcast

Straight through finderscopes... I have binned or onsold pretty much every single one that ever came with a scope I bought or whatever... Why: because I simply cannot contort my neck into the ridiculous positions necessary to actually be able to look squarely through one.. irrespective of what sort of mount I was using...

- agree with straightthrough finders, I think you hit the nail on the head with that one!

- Also, handset replacement phone apps (for wifi dongles). While you are looking through the the scope trying to align or center a target, you have no idea where the arrow keys are under your fingers.

One major brand of wifi device's control app in particular, on iPhone and iPad won't run in background and won't let you use useful apps such as SkySafari on the same device. Meaning, unless you buy a 2nd phone or tablet, then in the end all you have is a substandard handset replacement that has no physical feedback and drops connections when the phone goes to sleep.

[LewisM]

Flip mirror diagonal

Skywatcher EQ3 mount

WO Zenithstar

North Group ED127

[raymo]

Peephole for polar alignment on star trackers when used in the southern hemisphere.
raymo

[RB (Andrew)]

Eyepieces (with the exception of the Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece).

[Startrek (Martin)]

HEQ5 mount alt and az bolts
Pain in the butt !!

[astro744]

Reverse image right angle (not Right Angle Corrected Image - RACI) finders. They don't match a star chart and at low powers a chart is exactly what you want to match. Just as useless is reverse image star charts to match your reverse image finder because these charts do match the real sky above you.

I find straight through finders are only a problem on low to the ground Dobs as you have to twist your back to get that low just to look up. I used one for many years though on my 6" f5.5 Newtonian mounted on a Vixen Polaris because it was much higher and in this case a right angle (even RACI) is a pain unless you can rotate the rear (eyepiece/diagonal) end without upsetting the alignment as is the case with my Stellarvue F80M (RACI) that I now use on my C9.25.

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by Oddity

- agree with straightthrough finders, I think you hit the nail on the head with that one!

- Also, handset replacement phone apps (for wifi dongles). While you are looking through the the scope trying to align or center a target, you have no idea where the arrow keys are under your fingers.

One major brand of wifi device's control app in particular, on iPhone and iPad won't run in background and won't let you use useful apps such as SkySafari on the same device. Meaning, unless you buy a 2nd phone or tablet, then in the end all you have is a substandard handset replacement that has no physical feedback and drops connections when the phone goes to sleep.

That's really interesting to hear Andrew because, I have been considering for sometime getting a wifi dongle for my Meade LX90, mainly because my current handset is getting a little old & I have to keep pulling the rubber mat out & running over the contacts with a lead pencil but, also because I don't carry around catalogue numbers in my head so, use skysafari on my phone to decide what I'm gonna look for then punch the catalogue number in... I had thought using a wifi dongle might make that whole process a little easier & save me the cost of a new handset.... now I'm not so sure...

Originally Posted by RB

Eyepieces (with the exception of the Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece).

Let me guess... you're an AP guy only?? I get the attraction of AP but.... & it's a big but... what the hell do you do once you've got it all rolling...? I've watched another member do this & thought... hell, I'd be bored feckless once it's all running hence, I'm buying a large aperture 'portable' dob so I can do visual in a simplified way whilst the AP rig does it's thing...

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by astro744

Reverse image right angle (not Right Angle Corrected Image - RACI) finders. They don't match a star chart and at low powers a chart is exactly what you want to match. Just as useless is reverse image star charts to match your reverse image finder because these charts do match the real sky above you.

I find straight through finders are only a problem on low to the ground Dobs as you have to twist your back to get that low just to look up. I used one for many years though on my 6" f5.5 Newtonian mounted on a Vixen Polaris because it was much higher and in this case a right angle (even RACI) is a pain unless you can rotate the rear (eyepiece/diagonal) end without upsetting the alignment as is the case with my Stellarvue F80M (RACI) that I now use on my C9.25.

I have a TS Optics RACI 60mm, not only can you rotate the amici prism diagonal but, it accepts any 1.25" EP & has a helical focuser... Still messes with my head occasionally though when the movement of stars through it is slightly different to the movement through my SCT with a regular star diagonal... still find myself going the wrong way in one or the other...

[RB (Andrew)]

I was only kidding Carlton.
Yes I’m an AP but I love observing too.
Especially with friends or at Star Parties and I might add, I love my huge EP collection.
Wouldn’t part with any of my EPs.

RB

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by RB

I was only kidding Carlton.
Yes I’m an AP but I love observing too.
Especially with friends or at Star Parties and I might add, I love my huge EP collection.
Wouldn’t part with any of my EPs.

RB

Cool but, I do know guys who literally own pretty much no EPs coz all they do is AP... I mean, not for me to judge but....

EP Collections... yep.. mine is growing & I'm undecided if that is a good thing or not... to rationalise or not... I have moved a couple of EP's on in the past couple of years, good ones too, they'd just been replaced with something better...

I have a little seller's remorse at present for moving on my Meade S5000 80mm APO.... would have been perfect for the AP habit I'm forming but, alas it went & in came a solar scope & now... I'm on the lookout for another APO when I can afford it... sigh...

[RB (Andrew)]

I'm terrified of seller's remorse.
That's the most useless Astro 'device'.

[Wavytone]

Hmm...

The Celestron 8 I traded my old-school f/7 Newtonian for, decades ago, the Newtonian was vastly superior but big and heavy at a time when I had to live rather frugally in student digs;
The 130mm APO I bought during a bought of refractoritis... nice scope for a refractor - but an (excellent) SW 180 Mak duly outshone it in every way possible;
The push-to rig.. Losmandy AZ8, Wild Heerbrugge tripod... encoders and Nexus II; should have bitten the bullet and bought an AZEQ6 from the outset...

Two altaz mounts I bought out of curiosity - looked like an interesting idea - but never used. Didn't have the heart to sucker someone else to recover some of the cost, and trashed them.

After 5 years of buying and selling I've stopped, having reached the best scope I can usefully manage. The SW Mak was good but the MK91 is in a league of its own.

[astro744]

Originally Posted by Outcast

I have a TS Optics RACI 60mm, not only can you rotate the amici prism diagonal but, it accepts any 1.25" EP & has a helical focuser... Still messes with my head occasionally though when the movement of stars through it is slightly different to the movement through my SCT with a regular star diagonal... still find myself going the wrong way in one or the other...

Yes my Stellarvue F80M has the same arrangement, I use a 16mm Nagler or 19mm Panoptic in mine for a 4deg field at 19x and 16x respectively. I'm still not used to reversed images in refractors and SCTs when using a standard diagonal but at higher powers it's not so much a problem. I still prefer the views through a Newtonian though because at worst they are only upside down (usually sideways) and not reversed so it's just a matter of tilting the head or rotating the star chart.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Make the HEQ5 bolts like mini EQ6-R bolts
A no brainer !!

[doppler (Rick)]

Meade cardboard tube dobs, with their plastic focusers.

[Oddity (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Outcast

That's really interesting to hear Andrew because, I have been considering for sometime getting a wifi dongle for my Meade LX90, mainly because my current handset is getting a little old & I have to keep pulling the rubber mat out & running over the contacts with a lead pencil but, also because I don't carry around catalogue numbers in my head so, use skysafari on my phone to decide what I'm gonna look for then punch the catalogue number in... I had thought using a wifi dongle might make that whole process a little easier & save me the cost of a new handset.... now I'm not so sure...

I don’t know about the Meade, this is for the Skywatcher wifi. If SkySafari can connect directly to the Meade wifi then you’re all good.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

A red plastic see through cover for a laptop used out doors outside at night ! ,, you struggled to see mag 3 stars on the screen , don't try to see the milky way or read any script !. Optically inferior at 1x .

It's only saving grace was I cut it up and made red torch filters for my friends ,,, and I still have and use mine , it was Y2K so we have come a long way since ,,, hopefully . .

Thanks for this light heart'd romp down memory lane .

Brian

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Cheers

I'm actually looking at a wifi dongle made by a chap in the Ukraine (yep.. sounds dodgy I know) but, general reports on other forums such as Cloudy Nights, etc... are extremely positive plus, he's charging USD$49 posted anywhere in the world...

As far as I know, you still need to use a handset for alignments but, after that... connect to skysafari, sync the scope posn to the reticule on skysafari & you're off & running... or so folk claim...

At USD$49, verse $199 for a new handset.. this still might just be worth the gamble...

Originally Posted by Oddity

I don’t know about the Meade, this is for the Skywatcher wifi. If SkySafari can connect directly to the Meade wifi then you’re all good.