June 25, 2008 - The "Other" Scope

So I've been trying to put this new scope (so to speak) through it's paces, but the weather doesn't seem to cooperate. It's cloudy in the earlier evening (9-ish), and it's not until 10 or 10:30 that the clouds seem to depart. By that time, I don't feel like bringing the scope outside.

So this is what I have been doing:

1)I do have it on it's tripod.
2)I have brought it outside, but only to the extent to Calibrate the motors and train the drives.

But here is my overall opinion of the ETX 125 PE vs. the ETX 125 AT:

The Smartfinder will take some getting use to. It's not as user friendly as your traditional finderscope, in that you need to "squat" down to look through it for things at higher elevations, and you need to ensure that the laser dot is centered on the "screen" to know what you are pointed at.
Otherwise, hey.....it's pretty cool. It has a laser!!

The LNT (Level North Technology) seems to be a good addition to the scope. But again, given the chances to use it, I haven't really put that to the test with regard to alignments. So I will comment on this later.

The drives appear to be much better than the ETX 125 AT (AT going forward). They seem to be tighter and much less lag time in slewing. However, I do appear to have back lash when trying to slew left/right, and have been trying to work that out. I have even gone to the extent of changing the Alt/RA ratio, but I feel I shouldn't have to have it set to 99% to compensate for this.

I mounted my new JMI Moto Focus today. Sweet! I like it! You can certainly see a difference in the fact that there is little or no distrubance when focusing. However, I did notice that when the motors engage, the whole view sometimes shifts. I think I know what the problem is, so I'll try working that out later. I'm just content with the fact that I can focus without that "vibration" that can make focusing an irritation.

Oh, another good point. You no longer have to re-enter the date. Seems the PE will save that info. Not sure about time yet, because I forgot to check that. I would like to assume that it does, but who knows.

Well, that's it for now. Overall, I'm liking the scope. But my final opinion will come when I can get it out in the dark and really try it out. Particularly while imaging.

Stay Tuned and Clear Skies all!