In a blatant attempt to stop the sunny weather clear in its tracks I recently ordered a 72mm TS Photoline OTA with the intention of being able to take it on holiday flights in my hand luggage.
I was therefore a little concerned when this arrived after the careful ministrations of DPD:
Fortunately the box contained two more cardboard boxes, well padded against interventions from the outside world, so I’m pleased to say that what actually arrived was this:
And with the dew shield extended:
Initial impressions are that for a small scope it feels quite heavy and very solidly made. The tube contains a quite astonishing number of baffles for such a short scope:
and the dual speed rack and pinion focuser is beautifully smooth:
The focuser knobs are perhaps not quite on a par with the quality of the rest of the OTA, but I think I can live with that. The tube rings help to make up for it, being machined rather than cast.
The intention is to sit the OTA on a Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount with a flattener and my 450D DSLR. I probably also need to consider a finder of some sort. I’m hoping they should all (with a tripod) fit into a suitably-sized rucksack that I can take as cabin luggage.