Probably just temporarily out of stock Dave. I once had to wait weeks from FLO for the other 32mm BCO of a bino pair. Bino's just aren't so hot with only one EP lol.

 

Wow- sorry to hear that, Dave! Guess I got one of the last 18s? Still, you should give that 14.5 a try before it flies back; I checked both mine in daylight and it was bright & clear & sharp to the edge. When they become available, I'll be going for the 6mm. BTW, I just checked them at TelescopesPlus and they indicate the 18 is in stock...

 

Yes - the site claims it's in-stock. But their shipping-notice tells another story altogether. I regards that as a form of 'bait & switch' - an illegal way to lure people into buying 'stuff.'

Bah!

Dave

 

Or the site webmaster isn't updating it much. Most of the sites I see have out of date pictures of their stuff, in or out of stock.

 

Playing 'The Devil's Advocate' are we? LOL!

I checked status and they confirmed. Their thin-thread of an excuse done snapped.

Phooey! I wonder what will arrive in my mailbox..... A fishtank of Piranhas, maybe?

Dave - Fish Grill-Chef

 

Nothing surprises me now with retail websites Dave. I take everything they claim with a dose of sodium chloride.

 

I just got a notice the "Last Item In Your Order Is Out-For-Delivery!" from the clowns. Clowns? Too harsh? Wait for it!

Here's what, it turns out, the Rats have done:

First they tell me the 14.5mm is "On The Way!" But there was no sign of the 18mm. Hence my anger. I'd paid the "Buy Two and Pay $42.98/each. Or pay $44.98 for one. I'd ordered TWO! It said they were both "In Stock" But IT APPEARED they were charging me the 2/1 lower-price rate - as any good business would - due to their error.

Now the "Out For Delivery" arrives. It's for the 18mm! They claim they split the order - with BOTH in stock - but are charging me the ONE price at $44.98! I'm calling my bank! I'll do a full charge-back on these RATS! When they have nice, little tantrum - I'll EVENTUALLY offer to mail them a check ('cheque' ala UK) for $85.96 IF I DECIDE TO KEEP THEM.

Now how do you wish to defend them, Mak? British Army? RAF? Vlad Putin NUDE in a vat of warm mayonnaise?

Oh La! La!

Wrong One To Mess With Today,

evad

PS - No sign of the 14.5mm since they said it shipped.

 

Perhaps you could ask the RAF if you can borrow one of these? They have one or two left in museums. It was the largest delta wing bomber ever built.



Or try the Royal Tank Regiment, they don't use Chieftain Tanks anymore so might lend you an old one. When it was introduced in the '60s it was the most advanced battle tank in the world.



I'm sure they'd get the point if you turned up outside the store in either of these.

 

Yes - one of those Vulcan's would look nice over Telescopes Plus..... Heads' up, boys!





THEN roll the tank!

General Irritation Dave

 

Bond villains love Vulcans.



I've seen one of these, they're a tad noisy.



Good low level performance though.

 

Last Straw!

Now FedEx has informed they're changing the status of my order. 'OUT-FOR-DELIVERY' has been stopped. They tell me I must call them to make new arrangements! I've had FedEx delivering here since I moved in back in 1996!

So if I didn't tell them to not to deliver here to me. And FexEx didn't tell themselves not to delivery to me - just who does that leave? Let's see..... The Easter-Bunny? Tooth-Fairy? Santa Claus? Galileo? So an email has been dispatched. This is my first contact with these rats since placing the order. Note - there are several hours before FexEx stops delivering for the day up here. They NEVER tell you to contact them to arrange... etc.
_____________________________________________________________________________
This Is Pathetic!
3:29 PM (0 minutes ago)

to info:

Now, if you track this, it says it can't be delivered "as planned." And that I must contact FedEx to arrange another delivery-date! I WILL NOT! FedEx has been making deliveries here without an issue since I arrived in 1996.

With the other 'incongruities' about this order and/or shipment - I'm ready to cancel the whole thing and contact my bank to do a full charge-back! What about the 14.5mm eyepiece? Where did that vanish to? Why are you now charging me the full single-eyepiece price on (at least) one of the eyepieces? From $42.98 up to $44.98?!

Just pathetic! You know - I'm a top-rated member in several, large & active astronomy-forums on the internet. Unless I get some answers - and fast - I'll be asking the membership for their opinions of what the answers might be.

It is now 3:26pm in Vermont. The clock is now running.

Mr. David XXXXXXXXXX
Burlington, Vermont

___________________________________________________________________________________

That tank & aircraft are looking better by the moment!

Raul (now)

 

It's not looking good Dave. If it helps, I have similar horror stories.



Perhaps the Royal Navy might let you test this. It's not quite finished, but when it is, it will be the most advanced and capable aircraft carrier in the world.

I think the navy are itching to test it on something.

 

'DING!' 'DING!' Rounds' II & III:

2 days ago, they claimed - again - they couldn't deliver. And they'd phone me. No call - but they had my number right.

Yesterday, they couldn't find me - again. And they called me - but I wasn't home. HA! They lied. No calls came in. I have Caller-ID and an answering-machine/voice-mail. Only call was one with a spoofed-number from Washington, DC claiming to be the FBI and demanding my credit-card number or I'm off to jail. Used my emergency boat-horn on 'em. Probably ISIS, doing some good, old Amerikan-style 'fund-raising.'

Now they claim they're trying again! I'm not holding my breath.....

(Sharpening Bali-Song)

Raul

 

Don't you just hate it when that happens.



The sky was full of stars & Jupiter this morning and as soon as I'd set up the clouds came, naturally. I wanted to test the Solomark on DSO's or asterisms but all I got was about three seconds of Jupiter and the Galileans. So, not really long enough to try it as an ersatz nebulae filter!

 

Wonder of all wonders - the moron from FedUps found my door! I'd resorted to a HUGE note about 1/2 the size of my front-door. HUGE black, block letters:

FED-EX. OPEN DOOR. SEE FLOOR? PUT BOX ON FLOOR. LEAVE!

Chim-Chim managed to read it and follow it. Left box on floor. And now it's snowing again - of course!

As for Telescopes Plus: They lied through their teeth. Charging me for the single-rate. claiming they split the order. All that crud. Well - BOTH the 14.5mm and the 18mm were in the same box that FedUps left.

Now about your Solomark: That's not a picture of it, is it? The lettering looks like Baader to me. Though more info and images of this Solomark would be most welcome to my 'Miles'-O-Files' filter-section!

So now I can go enjoy what I hope is the last snow-storm of the bloody season! April Fools' dumping of 2017. What a ghastly way to begin an April!

Snarl! Growl! Seethe.....

Dave & Raul

 

I'm guessing Telescope Plus have their wires crossed, or plugged directly into the mains or something. Either way, someone there's fried some brain cells.

Yes, that's a close up of the 'Solomark'. The writing on it is totally different to the photographs of it on Amazon and elsewhere. It doesn't even say Solomark on it! There is a 'crown' on one side of the housing which also isn't on the artwork photo's. The crown is very like on GSO filters, although different to Baader crowns. The crown helps determine where the thread is when in the dark.

 

I've got some literature - reviews - from Astromart over here on Solomark-Filters. Allow me to deposit same here:

SOLOMARK-FILTERS REVIEW.pdf

And -

Re - SOLOMARK-FILTERS REVIEW.pdf

And a picture of said -



And there claimed image of the Moon & Skyglow -


For what it's worth. Hope the Pdf's transfered here in Buggy Valley...

Dave


ps - both eyepieces actually arrived intact. The optics are clean and free of any viewable defects, hairs, fingerprints, etc. Multi-Coatings seem very nice - green-to-violet.

 

Cheers Dave, those PDF's were interesting. Yes, that's the Moon & Skyglow artwork photo on every site I've seen them on. Mine looks suspiciously like a Sky-Watcher Light Pollution Filter and I suspect they're all made in the same factory. The SW filter retails at anything from £19 ~ £30 here.



I did get to test the Solomark in a manner of sorts. At about 18:45 BST I could see a setting Moon in the west through an open window. Not ideal, but I used the 90mm Omegon on a small Dob' mount and threaded the filter into a GSO Amici prism diagonal. I used two eyepieces for 38.4 & 66.6x at 2.3 & 1.3mm exit pupils (26mm Meade Plossl, 15mm GSO Plossl). There was wispy cloud in between brief clear views and the Solomark did well at darkening the twilight background. Then too many clouds came and so stopped observing and watched 'Sanctuary' on the telly, probably as I have a thing for Amanda Tapping.



Then at around 21:00 I was surprised to see the Moon out for a bit and got the Omegon back out. It's been fairly warm so opening a window was no problem.



I didn't have time to directly compare it to the Baader Neodymium, but it did give a noticeably darker image. It was sharp and clear though and the contrast was quite reminiscent of looking through an orthoscopic eyepiece. I didn't think it would be particularly good as a Moon filter either. It's still not bad for under 10 quid!

Images from SkyPortal, VMA and IMDb.

 

Tis' dirt-cheap over here too. But the reviews on this Moon & Skyglow would seem to back-up your guess regards using it on the Moon - with most opinions being it doesn't do any good to dim-down La Luna when it's too bright for people's taste. And many remarks that 'skyglow' - if the term is supposed to infer the light in the sky the Moon is casting outward - remains un-phased by this filter.

But many people liked the way it increased contrast on other animals - notably the planets.

So it's a dysfunctional 'Moon & Skyglow Filter' for it's namesake! And that's just plain bizarre. Maybe that would be a better name for these: The 'Bizarre-Filter.'

I'm more curious about the UHC and the OIII from Solomark. I hunted a transmission-graph, to no avail though. But people had positive things to says on these. I'll be doing more research though. Not planning on 'pulling-the-trigger.'

Woof -

Dave

 

Well, to be honest, I thought it worked fairly well on the Moon with a 90mm scope, even though it's more aggressive than the Baader Neodymium IMO. As far as I can tell SOLOMARK is a trademark of Yuyao Qihang Optical Instrument Co., Ltd. Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, China.



Which is somewhere here I reckon. I have a feeling the Solomark filters are being traded directly from Yuyao Qihang Optical Instrument Co. where they're actually manufactured. I believe this entire area of China produces a lot of optics. It could just be that Synta acquire a lot of their filters from here and rebrand them, or more likely custom made and/or branded to order. In which case the Sky-Watcher Light Pollution Filter is very probably exactly the same as the Solomark Moon & Skyglow Filter. Yuyao Qihang can cut out the middle man and sell directly as 'Solomark' I presume, thus effectively halving the price. It wouldn't surprise me if the 'Solomark' UHC and OIII filters were exactly the same as the Sky-Watcher equivalents but cheaper.