http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20071210.index

70mm refractor  £50
10*50 bunocular £10
Starry Night DVD£12
@Professional' 8*56 Binocular £80

Cheers,
Jeff

Jeff Taylor wrote:
> http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20071210.index
> 
> 70mm refractor  £50
> 10*50 bunocular £10
> Starry Night DVD£12
> @Professional' 8*56 Binocular £80
> 
> Cheers,
> Jeff

Hmm, that little refractor looks like it might do the job for a short 
while. I'd like to test the waters to 'get back' into a hobby I had as a 
kid. And this 'scope comes with an equitorial mount which is nice.

Reckon it's worth the £50, until I scrape enough together for a decent 
reflector?

-- 
Abo

Abo <no@spam.thanks> wrote in news:fjo4q6$fcv$1@news.albasani.net:

> Jeff Taylor wrote:
> > http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20071210.index
> > 
> > 70mm refractor  £50
> > 10*50 bunocular £10
> > Starry Night DVD£12
> > @Professional' 8*56 Binocular £80
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Jeff
> 
> Hmm, that little refractor looks like it might do the job for a short 
> while. I'd like to test the waters to 'get back' into a hobby I had as
> a kid. And this 'scope comes with an equitorial mount which is nice.
> 
> Reckon it's worth the £50, until I scrape enough together for a decent
> reflector?

One of my scopes is a Lidl-supplied Refractor - either the same or a
similar Bresser model to the current offering - purchased a couple of
years ago. I didn't actually buy mine from Lidl, although I know that is
where it was originally bought - I picked mine up on eBay a few months
after Christmas, for just 35 quid! 

I bought it for the same reason as you - to reaquaint myself with the
hobby, after a break of many many years. I found the scope was far
better than anything we had had at school as a boy, and more than fine
as a starter scope - it became even better when I later purchased some
decent eyepieces to replace those originally supplied - not essential,
but probably your first recommended "upgrade". 

Since then I have bought a dobsonian reflector, but the refractor still
gets use, as I have fitted a simple motor drive, to allow me to
experiment with photography. The mount had a standard Bresser fitting
for this, and while I haven't seen this year's scope, it is likely to,
too. 

The following site shows you what *can* be done with this scope. This is
*not* my website, only one I found when originally researching the
scope. One day I hope to be able to do so well! 

http://www.astroman.fsnet.co.uk/skylux.htm


-- 
Chris
Minstrel's Hall of Filk  -  http://www.filklore.com/
Filklore Music Store     -  http://www.filklore.co.uk/
To contact me, please use form at http://www.filklore.com/contact.phtml

"Abo" <no@spam.thanks> wrote in message 
news:fjo4q6$fcv$1@news.albasani.net...
> Jeff Taylor wrote:
>> http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20071210.index
>>
>> 70mm refractor  £50
>> 10*50 bunocular £10
>> Starry Night DVD£12
>> @Professional' 8*56 Binocular £80
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Jeff
>
> Hmm, that little refractor looks like it might do the job for a short 
> while. I'd like to test the waters to 'get back' into a hobby I had as a 
> kid. And this 'scope comes with an equitorial mount which is nice.
>
Today's paper has an ad in it for this stuff, and the telescope is described 
as -

Magnification : 35X -175X
3 high quality oculars with 20, 12, and 4mm focal lengths.

70mm is not mentioned. Is this the same item?

If it's not the same item, is it better or worse?

TIA
Steve

"shazzbat"  wrote in message 
news:fk0f6o$u9v$1@news.datemas.de...
>
> "Abo" <no@spam.thanks> wrote in message 
> news:fjo4q6$fcv$1@news.albasani.net...
>> Jeff Taylor wrote:
>>> http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20071210.index
>>>
>>> 70mm refractor  £50
>>> 10*50 bunocular £10
>>> Starry Night DVD£12
>>> @Professional' 8*56 Binocular £80
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Jeff
>>
>> Hmm, that little refractor looks like it might do the job for a short 
>> while. I'd like to test the waters to 'get back' into a hobby I had as a 
>> kid. And this 'scope comes with an equitorial mount which is nice.
>>
> Today's paper has an ad in it for this stuff, and the telescope is 
> described as -
>
> Magnification : 35X -175X
> 3 high quality oculars with 20, 12, and 4mm focal lengths.
>
> 70mm is not mentioned. Is this the same item?
>

Yes, the aperture of the telescope is 70mm  (and the focal length is 700mm). 
The 4mm eyepiece is a complete waste of time on that size scope. With the 
best will in the world (and with the best skies) the best magnification 
you'll get is about 125X, with a 5.5 mm eyepiece.

Despite this however, it could still be worth getting.

12 December 2007 11:10 Chris Malme broadcast thus:

> Since then I have bought a dobsonian reflector, but the refractor still
> gets use, as I have fitted a simple motor drive, to allow me to
> experiment with photography. The mount had a standard Bresser fitting
> for this, and while I haven't seen this year's scope, it is likely to,
> too.

This makes it worth it for the mount alone which someone else mentioned.
Most of the small refractors I've looked at come with an el-cheapo
non-equatorial (sorry - don't know the terminology) mount which don't look
very sturdy.

> The following site shows you what *can* be done with this scope. This is
> *not* my website, only one I found when originally researching the
> scope. One day I hope to be able to do so well!

Good examples - thanks for the link.

> http://www.astroman.fsnet.co.uk/skylux.htm

Regards,
Jamin

In message , Chris Malme 
 writes
>
>Since then I have bought a dobsonian reflector, but the refractor still
>gets use, as I have fitted a simple motor drive, to allow me to
>experiment with photography. The mount had a standard Bresser fitting
>for this, and while I haven't seen this year's scope, it is likely to,
>too.
Was this a handmade drive or bought somewhere?
I always thought that LIDL had missed a trick not offering drives as 
they
are always in demand. Even at near the full price they might still sell 
for astro-photography, with or without a scope. I tried to contact LIDL 
but was told they don't have an office in the UK.
-- 
John

John  wrote in news:B+Hx4HC6SuZHFwNT@ham.g0wll:

> In message , Chris Malme 
>  writes
> >
> >Since then I have bought a dobsonian reflector, but the refractor still
> >gets use, as I have fitted a simple motor drive, to allow me to
> >experiment with photography. The mount had a standard Bresser fitting
> >for this, and while I haven't seen this year's scope, it is likely to,
> >too.
> Was this a handmade drive or bought somewhere?

After a little bit of online research, I picked up something suitable on 
eBay.

Chris Malme  wrote:

> I bought it for the same reason as you - to reaquaint myself with the
> hobby, after a break of many many years. I found the scope was far
> better than anything we had had at school as a boy, and more than fine
> as a starter scope - it became even better when I later purchased some
> decent eyepieces to replace those originally supplied - not essential,
> but probably your first recommended "upgrade". 

> Since then I have bought a dobsonian reflector, but the refractor still
> gets use, as I have fitted a simple motor drive, to allow me to
> experiment with photography. The mount had a standard Bresser fitting
> for this, and while I haven't seen this year's scope, it is likely to,
> too. 

So there's a standard Bresser drive which could be fitted to this?
I nipped out to buy one. I guess the first issue will be to make it
easily portable by putting it into a flight case or something. Any tips
on that?

M Holmes  wrote in news:fk8dvg$nhq$1
@scotsman.ed.ac.uk:

> So there's a standard Bresser drive which could be fitted to this?

Yes, but two things to note:

1) Buying new, you will probably pay more for the drive than the telescope 
- I have seen prices on online stores in the area of 60 quid. However, they 
also sometimes come up on eBay, which is where I got mine.

2) Although my mount is fine, I have seen reports that at least on batch of 
mounts seemed to be set up to advance the wrong way when connected to a 
motor drive. However, it is usually possible to switch the drive into 
reverse (presumably for use in the Southern Hemisphere?), so that should 
not be a problem.

> I nipped out to buy one. I guess the first issue will be to make it
> easily portable by putting it into a flight case or something. Any tips
> on that?

I never went to the bother. I have a large wheeled plastic box, bought for 
10 quid from Homebase. I simply put the scope in there, and cover/pad with 
a blanket, to stop it rattling. The blanket sometimes doubles as a personal 
warming device. <g>

-- 
Chris
Minstrel's Hall of Filk  -  http://www.filklore.com/
Filklore Music Store     -  http://www.filklore.co.uk/
To contact me, please use form at http://www.filklore.com/contact.phtml

M Holmes  wrote in news:fk8dvg$nhq$1
@scotsman.ed.ac.uk:

> So there's a standard Bresser drive which could be fitted to this?

Just so you know what you are looking for:

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/bresser/700-and-900/accessories/RA-
drive.html

-- 
Chris
Minstrel's Hall of Filk  -  http://www.filklore.com/
Filklore Music Store     -  http://www.filklore.co.uk/
To contact me, please use form at http://www.filklore.com/contact.phtml