That sucks, I hope it is a simple solution, or they send a replacement, I'd hate to have contributed to encouraging you to buy a huge lemon
The most likely outcome is it will get sorted and you will have so much fun and be so delighted with the views that your rocky start will become a distant hazy memory
Looks like it will take some time till I am able to use the scope because of this issue with mount.
Keith from BinoCentral sent the pics to Tasco yesterday morning. Someone from Tasco is supposed to call me to discuss about the issue with mount. But today is second day waiting and no call
Did you pick up your 14” yet?
Cheers
Bob
Hi Bob. No, I haven't bought my 14 inch yet, still saving up me last pennies At this stage I'll be ready to purchase it in early December. Really looking forward to it
You couldn’t have known this is going to happen. It’s one of those things, you buy something and expect it to work as described before you buy it and then this happen. Imagine you buy a car and found out you can’t drive it because the gearbox it faulty.
Keith from BinoCentral is onto it. He said Tasco was closed on Monday and Tuesday because of Melbourne cup. That means they had 3 business days to respond.
I don’t like waiting, nobody does. As soon as I know more I will let you guys know here.
Often grub screws fix to a flat surface rather than the barrel itself. With a bit of over zooming, it looks like the pully wheels may be incorrectly rotated and hence the grubs protruding. Rotate them around so that the grubs align with the surfaces marked with an x. Maybe.....
Thanks mate, I thought the same when I first time looked at it. But no, bolts are concentric, it doesn’t matter which way you turn them the small pulleys with grub screws remain the same height.
The issue here are those 4 grub screws, they are in the way when altitude is operated. Why are they there?
According to other members here who have the same scope or 18”, those small pulleys clearly do not touch cradle! There is a clearance between them and cradle.
One of them lost all 4 screws and it doesn’t affect operation of the scope!?
Why are they there then, if scope operates normally without them?
Hopefully it’s nothing serious.
Those 2 small pulleys can not be adjusted. The bigger pulleys at the ends also can not be adjusted. In both cases there is simple threaded hole, not adjustable in any way.
BinoCentral, place where I bought scope from, asked me to bring the scope to them to have a look. After long examination they couldn’t find out what is the purpose of those grub screws, so they removed them. Then operated the scope without them and it seems it’s working fine.
I am yet to take scope for real test, at least now it’s not jamming and jumping up every time altitude is operated.
BinoCentral, place where I bought scope from, asked me to bring the scope to them to have a look. After long examination they couldn’t find out what is the purpose of those grub screws, so they removed them. Then operated the scope without them and it seems it’s working fine.
I am yet to take scope for real test, at least now it’s not jamming and jumping up every time altitude is operated.
Location: '34 South' Young Hilltops LGA, Australia
Posts: 1,482
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobson
I wish it is mate, but wait there is more
While I was occupied with mount I just realised they packed wrong eyepieces in the box. This is not BinoCentral fault but Skywatchers.
I am supposed to get: 1.25" Plossl 10mm, 2" LET 28mm
I got 12.5mm and 20mm, both 1.25”
I called BinoCentral and they are investigating.
Cheers
Bob
If the optics in your 20" scope are decent, and SW optics usually are, they deserve better eyepieces than the crap starter eyepieces they throw in the box. A 28mm eyepiece will have a 7mm exit pupil. Unless you are 20 years old, your eye won't be able to accept the light from the telescope and you are unwittingly converting your scope to the equivalent of a much smaller scope.
If you are in your 50's, you'll only get the equivalent light of a 14" scope. If you are 50+, a good quality eyepiece around 20mm with a wide apparent field 70-84 degrees will give you maximum light transmission to your eye.
I should have mentioned that eyepieces that came with the scope are actually 12.5mm and 20mm, both 1.25” and both 70°
I already have Nagler 17mm and Pentax 10mm XW
Last night I finally took my new scope to dark sky. Unfortunately I never was there before and arrived when it was already a bit dark. Well, dark enough that I had to use my laser collimator. Usually my laser collimator gets it within 1mm accuracy and then collimation eyepiece or long Cheshire for final collimation.
One of the guys who was there looked through my 17mm Nagler and was really impressed with the view of Orion Nebula. He asked me do I have anything bigger than 17mm Nagler? I said; yea but it’s very cheap 31mm Bintel eyepiece that I bought long time ago or it came with Bintel 12” Dob I bought from them long time ago.
It was good in centre but everything else was a mess. He offered me to try his “Astromania” 30mm 80° eyepiece he got from Amazon for $200
WOW! I am 60 years old and he is 64 years old. I told him what I was told about exit pupil at my age and how my Nagler 17mm will be maximum I could use, he just laughed and said yes, I heard that too.
It’s like saying we all should have 120/80 blood pressure but do we?
I guess, it all depends what object you are looking at.
With my 17mm Nagler I simply can not see whole Orion or Eta Carinae nebula. With his 30mm 80° I could, and the view, which is of course personal thing is more pleasing for me for those two objects.
As Joe suggested above: Televue Ethos 21mm 100 deg would most likely be perfect eyepiece for me. But I don’t have it
I might look into it to get one, preferably I would like to look through one before I spend $1,769.00 for it!!
The views for other objects last night were very good and I was assured from those two gentlemen that optics are good. That was my main concerns considering other things about this scope that I had issues with.
GOTO was hit and miss. Sometimes you select an object and it’s within field of view in wide eyepiece and sometimes I had to look through finder and adjust a lot till I could see it. And then some objects are dead in the centre right away?!
All up, I am happy with the scope and finally can relax and start enjoying it more and think how the hell am I going to convince my wife that I need 21mm Ethos.
I should have mentioned that eyepieces that came with the scope are actually 12.5mm and 20mm, both 1.25” and both 70°
I already have Nagler 17mm and Pentax 10mm XW
Last night I finally took my new scope to dark sky. Unfortunately I never was there before and arrived when it was already a bit dark. Well, dark enough that I had to use my laser collimator. Usually my laser collimator gets it within 1mm accuracy and then collimation eyepiece or long Cheshire for final collimation.
One of the guys who was there looked through my 17mm Nagler and was really impressed with the view of Orion Nebula. He asked me do I have anything bigger than 17mm Nagler? I said; yea but it’s very cheap 31mm Bintel eyepiece that I bought long time ago or it came with Bintel 12” Dob I bought from them long time ago.
It was good in centre but everything else was a mess. He offered me to try his “Astromania” 30mm 80° eyepiece he got from Amazon for $200
WOW! I am 60 years old and he is 64 years old. I told him what I was told about exit pupil at my age and how my Nagler 17mm will be maximum I could use, he just laughed and said yes, I heard that too.
It’s like saying we all should have 120/80 blood pressure but do we?
I guess, it all depends what object you are looking at.
With my 17mm Nagler I simply can not see whole Orion or Eta Carinae nebula. With his 30mm 80° I could, and the view, which is of course personal thing is more pleasing for me for those two objects.
As Joe suggested above: Televue Ethos 21mm 100 deg would most likely be perfect eyepiece for me. But I don’t have it
I might look into it to get one, preferably I would like to look through one before I spend $1,769.00 for it!!
The views for other objects last night were very good and I was assured from those two gentlemen that optics are good. That was my main concerns considering other things about this scope that I had issues with.
GOTO was hit and miss. Sometimes you select an object and it’s within field of view in wide eyepiece and sometimes I had to look through finder and adjust a lot till I could see it. And then some objects are dead in the centre right away?!
All up, I am happy with the scope and finally can relax and start enjoying it more and think how the hell am I going to convince my wife that I need 21mm Ethos.
Thanks everyone!
Cheers
Bob
G'day Bob, what a nice first light report for your 20"!
I'm glad everything is sorted now and you can finally get some observing done. Gee Orion Nebula through a 20" from a dark site must have looked spectacular! Yeah those Ethos eyepieces are mighty tempting, I just purchased a 17mm Ethos, can't wait for it to arrive. Enjoy your beast
Bob, I'm pleased to hear that your teething issues have been resolved and you can finally get some proper time at the eyepiece! As far as your eyepieces go, yes the exit pupil for someone your age is probably not going to elicit maximum illumination value from a 28-31mm eyepiece. Same for me, but my 31mm Nagler with an exit pupil somewhere north of 7.8mm (maybe closer to 7mm with the GSO coma corrector) spends an awful lot of time in my Stargate for the expansive views it produces. Am I losing photons? Undoubtedly. Do I give a rat's? Not one. You mention having a bit of a mess around the periphery of your views - have you got a coma corrector? I found even the really good eyepieces suffer at f3.94 without a coma corrector. And while a 21mm Ethos is on a lot of people's Christmas list, the price is pretty daunting. I bought a 20mm 100° APM eyepiece a few years ago on the advice of Don from Eyepieces Etc, and it's a cracker. Don advised that it's similar/the same as the Stellarvue Optimus, but quite a bit cheaper (and about 70% cheaper than the Ethos). I also note that there is a range called "Skyrover" available on Aliexpress which look identical to the APM model and if you can get free shipping and one of the current discounts, you could pick one up for less than $350 including GST.
I used GSO comma corrector, it improved views slightly. I couldn’t reach focus with my 17mm Nagler so I had to pull comma corrector a bit out.
I was really impressed with Astromania 30mm 80° eyepiece. Currently $162.99 plus $15 postage. I might buy this one until I try some better quality eyepiece.
I had a 20" F5 and the 17mm Nagler was used 90% of the time. I had the Holy Hand grenade (31mm Nagler) too, but I would quickly swap back to the extra reach of the 17 to bask in all the detail. I used a 4x powermate for planetary etc.
You may wish to consider a paracorr to fully correct the FoV which wasn't strictly needed in my F5 but it did make a noticeable difference and would also bump up the magnification of the 17mm by 10% which may also be better in your f4 configuration.
At this stage I'll be ready to purchase it in early December. Really looking forward to it 
Crazy stuff.
