2007 Saturn Sky Rear View Mirror

These radios are amazing. Installed in my Jeep above my rear view mirror and I am stoked about it. It’s small enough to not be in the way but is great for communicating with fellow Jeep’s. I used the ghost antenna so that it didn’t get wiped out by limbs on the trail. I’m thinking of purchasing the 6db antenna to help increase my range. I feel you can’t go wrong with this radio! Will be purchasing another for my sons Jeep.

Used it on Saturn last night. Clear view, and easily see space between rings and the planet itself.

I put this eyepiece on my Celestron EdgeHD 8. It is about the widest FOV that I could pull off the OTA. The view is really crisp with point stars to the edge. I can't see any edge brightening or vignetting. The resolution is enough to clearly see the four stars of M42 Trapezium, Jupiter bands, Saturn rings, and even, barely, Saturn cloud bands. The eye relief is comfortable to view the entire field, without glasses. This is a hefty piece. Not a problem on an 8 SCT, but may be awkward on a smaller OTA.

The binocs are all I hoped for. This is a particularly good time to view Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mars. Weather is clear and planets are close and bright. I can explore in my backyard and bip from one planet to another without lugging a telescope on a tripod around. Moon detail is outstanding! There is absolutely no substitute for image stabilization. 18 x 50 is the ideal magnification.

I've only used the X-Cel LX 9mm eyepiece to view Saturn and Jupiter so far using a Celestron Evolution 8 with the 90-Degree Mirror Diagonal attached. Both planets looked great and were very sharp. The eyepiece itself is well built and sturdy, huge improvement over any basic eyepiece that comes included with a new telescope.

This is exactly what is advertised. I almost couldn't believe the price, but I've used this to view planets and can make out the moons of Jupiter and Saturn's rings! The moon also looks stunning!! If you're looking for a good intro telescope or even if you're an amateur looking for a less expensive option that still has great quality, I would highly recommend this telescope.

In the mid-1980s I bought a Nikon 7.5mm f5.6 circular fisheye. Being an older design (1966) its rear elements protruded into the mirror box. Fortunately my F3 had a hard physical mirror lockup. The external viewfinder for this lens attached to the camera on the original Nikon F/F2’s proprietary flash shoe. I was able to buy an AS-3 flash adapter for the F3. With the F3s mirror locked up I also had to use an hand-held light meter. With amazing depth of foield focusing was never an issue. The old zoom lens had six filters on a wheel. One was a skylight and the other five were strongly colored for B&W film. While I liked the circular results, using the lens was a hassle. I often had my shoes or forehead in the picture. On a sunny day, my images suffered from solar flares. My new Nikon 8-15mm AF-S fisheye has none of those old problems. It fits on my DSLRs without any problem. It doesn’t need an external finder or separate light meter. At the 8mm setting (and lens hood off) I get a circular image very much like the vintage fisheye. The new lens is faster and focusable. Like my 14mm f2.8 Nikkor, this zoom uses gel filters inserted in the rear of the lens. I really don’t like this arrangement. This fisheye is similar in weight and size to the 14mm lens. I am also not fond of the electronic aperture control first seen on G lenses. Without an aperture ring one cannot use this zoom on older cameras. At the longer end of the zoom range (12-15mm) the image fills the (FX) frame and lens hood stays out of the way. This image is similar to my inexpensive Bower (Samyang?) 8mm fisheye with its fixed lens hood (and DX coverage). So far I haven’t used my new lens much but I think I will like it.

I have wanted a telescope since middle school, but procrastinated for over 60 years. Now I have a Sky-Watcher 4 Maksutov and life is good. This telescope is the largest size which will work with an iOptron SkyGuider mount, and altogether is portable enough to take out on a whim, or travel by air. The Sky-Watcher is made very well. The construction is solid but not too heavy. The optics are entirely enclosed, except for the opening for an eyepiece or camera. Focusing is by a small knob which moves the primary mirror. There is little or no evidence of wobble in the focusing process. The kit comes with a finder (red dot), star diagonal (mirror), and two eye pieces, 25 mm (52x) and 10 mm (130x), both reasonably good quality Ploessl lenses. The red dot finder (like a gunsight) makes it easy to find objects suitable for the magnification, and is simple to align on a bright object (e.g., Sirius or the moon). With the addition of an inexpensive camera adapter and T-mount, the Sky-Watcher becomes a 1300 mm lens, perfect fo sharing the moon and most Messier objects with friends. The FOV with a FF camera is about 1.2 arc-degrees. A 4 aperture can be used to view objects as dim as Magnitude 12 or 13. A larger scope and eyepiece (2 v 1.25) would be better for viewing or astrophotography, but much heavier and starting at 4x the cost (including mount). Im extremely happy for now, and its something to share with my grandchildren. Best of all, it arrived in time for the Blood Wolf Super Moon eclipse on 1-20-19.

So far it has been a great telescope to learn the basics and a few other things to view the night sky.

I do a good amount of dark sky photography and anything I can do to make my equipment easier to see is a plus. I have lost more than one rear and front lens caps and this one will be easier to find when in my bag or on the ground in the dark. The bright yellow is perfect! Good fit for my Nikon lens mounts. Excellent item.