Advice on accessories, please.

[Guest Ely Ellis]

Hi all,

Have a little money to spend on scope accessories, so would just like a few second opinions / advice.

I currently have:

Celestron, XLT 120mm Refractor with standard 25mm Celestron EP.

Omni CG-4 EQ mount, (with the steel tripod).

What I want for it are the following, prices are average:

Polar scope £35

CG4 Dual Axis motor drive £120

Baader Hyperion Clickstop Zoom 8-24mm Mark III EP £170

Baader Hyperion Zoom Barlow lens 2.25x £85

Skywatcher Dual Speed 2"/1.25" Crayford Focuser (if it fits the scope) £130

Dew Heater for the objective lens £20

Fringe filter £??

So, here is my thinking:

Polar scope:

Just because it would be nice!

Dual axis motor drive:

Will eventually do some imaging but for now it will assist with reach.

As the scope is quite long, I have trouble reaching the slow motion controls without keep changing which side I fit them to the mount.

I have heard that the EQ3-2 mount uses the same kit, yet is £30 cheaper. Is this correct? Adverts always seem to mention the “Precision drive correctors†on the Omni CG-4 kit, but never for the EQ3-2 kit, so could this be the difference, what is it and would it make much difference?

Baader Hyperion Clickstop Zoom 8-24mm Mark III EP:

Don’t think I can go wrong here, but any comments?

Baader Hyperion Zoom Barlow lens 2.25x:

Want a Barlow lens, but is this over the top or a good addition to the Hyperion Zoom?

Any other better suggestions or comments regarding Barlows?

Skywatcher Dual Speed 2"/1.25" Crayford Focuser:

The current focuser on my scope is appalling. When moving the focuser in/out the EP end moves up and down, in turn moving the view up/down, very annoying, but once in focus and tightened up, then don’t really need to re-focus. So, is it worth it to bother with a new focuser?

Fringe Filter:

No real idea what to look for here, so any advice on this would be useful.

Dew heater:

Will make this myself, buy the bits and power supply/controller for about £15 total.

So, sorry for the long winded message, but any comments or advice on any of the above will be appreciated.

Cheers

Martin

Ely_ellis