Just snagged a bargain (or did I?)

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Have a lookie at what I just bought for $100.
Its a 6 inch f5 and comes with an EQ head but no tripod.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....129751616&rd=1

I'm hoping that the optical quality is ok.
My intention is for this to be my "travel scope" as my work sometimes takes me to lovely dark skies and the 250mm GS dob takes up too much room with the work equipment I have to carry.

Does anyone recognise this scope ?

http://gar.customer.netspace.net.au/scope/mirror.jpg
http://gar.customer.netspace.net.au/scope/focus.jpg

Any ideas for a cheap tripod? . Perhaps if the optics are any good I'll try to build a dob base for it.

[rumples riot]

You could make a dob mount for it. Easy to make and cheap.

Paul

[Starkler (Geoff)]

I just won the ebay auction today and havent picked it up yet so the photos are all that I have.
It looks to be about f5 so it damn well better be a paraboliod mirror.
I have a straight through 8x50 finder that came with my other scope that got replaced with a RACI, but not the mounting foot on the scope. Hopefully he left that.

I wont know until I get it how the eq head mounts onto a tripod.

[iceman (Mike)]

Not bad for $100! I spose it can't be too bad as a grab n go travel scope.. even if the optics aren't 100%.

Too bad there's no tripod, you could get an RA motor ($99 at andrews I think) and piggyback a camera on the OTA

[iceman (Mike)]

On a related ebay note, i'm soooo sick of seeing pages and pages of those cheap ripoff ebay scopes.. There's so rarely anything (astronomy related) worth even looking at on Australian ebay.

[mch62 (Mark)]

Good bargin for a grab and go at $100 but the first thing I would do with thoses spider vanes is get rid of them and get something a little thinner. They must give massive difraction spikes in an image.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Update.

The scope is optical trash. Despite my best efforts at collimation I cant even get the moon to focus sharply and the light scattering is horrible.

Would anyone be interested in a legless EQ head ?
It appears to be fine but with a bit of backlash in the cable adjusters. It also has a built in polar scope.

[iceman (Mike)]

Legless?

If it had legs and an RA drive, I would be..

[Saturn%5 (Graeme)]

Originally posted by Starkler
Update.


Would anyone be interested in a legless EQ head ?
It appears to be fine but with a bit of backlash in the cable adjusters. It also has a built in polar scope.

G'day How much do you want for the head i could use it to finish a small scope for my son

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Graeme , I should have stated that im in Melbourne.

I have no idea what the shipping costs would be considering the unit is quite heavy with the counterweights ( or even without ).
Im just hoping to recover some ofthe costs from my ebay misfortunes ....say $60 + shipping ?

If you still want it or have any other questions maybe best to contact me offline.

Geoff

[ving (David)]

seen those before. yeah the spider vien thingys are pretty thick hey.

oh well, was only $100