Astrofest 07 Report

WOW, what a weekend, talk about hectic !
That 20" RCX400 is absolutely huge, the mount is just massive!, the 14" looked small and the 8" looked like a finder scope next to the 20". I was seriously tempted by the Televue NP 101 and 102, but the prices ere pretty high, then again there were bargains to be had there if you were dead certain that you were not going to get the equipment in from the US. Most shops were selling below normal price there, so if you knew what you wanted and was willing to wait, then it would be a good opportunity to get it.
I was surprisingly very impressed by the 16" Meade Lightbridge, it was well put together and looked like it had a good solid build to it, the 12" was a steal at 600 pounds.
The new UWA 5000 series Meade eyepieces looked and weighed like Televue impersonators. The amount of other eyepieces. CCD cameras, scopes, and other bits'n pieces on offer was fantastic, 3 floors of it !
The talks were also great, the one thing I would do differently is go over on the Thursday night, we were absolutely exhausted by Friday afternoon as I had gotton up at 4.30 in the morning for the flight over.
The highlight for me was meeting Patrick Moore, Chris Lintot and Brian May, that was something special which I will never forget.

Overall a great weekend, one i hope to repeat going to next year.

Now the big question...Hows the credit cards?

Kieran

A very dangerous place to be if you are an impulse buyer (Dave!?!? :lol: )
Obviously there are the 'lotto winners only' items, but realistically you could
go overboard.

Most of the items were 'show prices' and some had up to 20% off.
There were bargans to be had if you worked the stands.
I picked up an excellent quality binoviewer which came in its own padded flight box
with 2 WA 17mm65deg. FOV eyepieces for 50 sterling.

Now that I know the range available next year I'll be more prepared
and may make larger purchases.

Impulsive?, me!, nahh, more like determined :lol:

Well done lads. Looks like you could gorge yourself there with all that's on offer :!: