Favourite bit of gear (not inc scope)

[+Stu]

Hi folks. I have to admit that I like things, I imagine a lot of astronomers are the same.  There's lots of well made things that do very specific jobs and do them well. Anyone else have a favourite astro thing? Any reasons are valid, even if it's just the colour 😄

I'm asking as I was packing away and thought my pocket power box advance V2 has to be my top bit of gear. It's well made and perfect for my small setup. It does everything I need, with a bit of room to add more bits later on if needs be. Also it's a really nice shade of blue 😁

 

[Bob Dobber]

Can't argue with the PPBA. I often talk about the EAF as the "game changers" in my astro *cough* journey, and it really was in terms of image quality and repeatability, but the PPBA represented almost the final piece in the jigsaw to pull everything together. When I got my first astro camera and realised "wait, I need a PSU for this as well??" and I got the PPB that was great. Can't actually remember how I powered dew bands before that (probably the cig lighter to mains) but that meant I could power dew bands AND all these increasingly numerous power-hungry elements. Then I realised I didn't need to have a laptop outdoors and attached a mini PC and it then felt like the additional USB hub was a sticking plaster, so enter the *dry ice and drum roll please* PPBA to replace both the PPB and USB hub (which in itself needed power!) and simplify the lot. So yeah, good call, EAF was an imaging game changer, but the PPBA is probably the key to the whole thing.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Bob Dobber

[+Stu]

@Bob Dobber Is EAF a relatively new thing to amateur astronomy?

[Bottletopburly]

Yes I use a deepskydad autofocuser well actually have about 4 different iterations wouldn’t be without an auto focuser tbh for astrophotography 

[Bob Dobber]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

@Bob Dobber Is EAF a relatively new thing to amateur astronomy?

 

Not sure when it came out, I got into AP in early 2020 and think it was around then. Auto focusers have clearly been around for a while before that. By game changer I mean for myself not AP in general.

[+Stu]

2 hours ago, Bottletopburly said:

Yes I use a deepskydad autofocuser well actually have about 4 different iterations wouldn’t be without an auto focuser tbh for astrophotography 

Definitely something I'd like but divorce papers will be served if I buy any more gear for a while 😄

Might save up all my birthdays and Christmases for a few years. 

[+Stu]

1 hour ago, Bob Dobber said:

 

Not sure when it came out, I got into AP in early 2020 and think it was around then. Auto focusers have clearly been around for a while before that. By game changer I mean for myself not AP in general.

Oh I see, is EAF the ZWO one?

[+Streetbob]

I’m going low tech here. Though every new piece of kit has made a big difference. I’m going to go with my adjustable observing chair. Sitting at a comfortable height when at the eyepiece is a must when visual observing.

[+Stu]

17 minutes ago, Streetbob said:

I’m going low tech here. Though every new piece of kit has made a big difference. I’m going to go with my adjustable observing chair. Sitting at a comfortable height when at the eyepiece is a must when visual observing.

They look like good bits of kit, back ache can ruin a good night. Are you sat behind a refractor?

[+Streetbob]

I am indeed. I do have a 200mm reflector but it rarely gets out these days.