Astronomical Deals

[Brad Templeton]

Black Friday to Cyber Monday is the best time to get more stuff to clutter your astronomical cabinets.

Some stuff I've bought:

1. The SVBony sv605cc IMX533 camera.   I got it for $371 which is ridiculously low for an IMX533 camera.   It's more expensive now but still a pretty good price.
2. Also from SVbony, $39 for their power/USB distribution hub on Amazon.    And just $100 for their 3nm dual band H+O filter.  Yes, you read that right.   The filter works.  I have not measured the spectral bands both other people say it really is a very narrowband filter.    They only have a 7nm version for O+S, and I am not sure if I could really combine 3nm and 7nm O channels well, though I might try it, or wait for the other.
3. All filter wheels are discounted.  The ZWO EFW-mini is $160 for a 5 slot 1.25 filter wheel, but other larger wheels from ZWO, Touptek are all discounted.   If you are manually swapping filters, get a filter wheel.
4. There are discounts on OTAs and mounts, I didn't get one of those.
5. I bought a mini-PC (the Geekom A5 with Ryzen 7) but it wasn't a black friday deal.  But there are other deals
6. For $13 (or 2 for $20) the Vimtag 3210 security camera is a crazy buy.   It has a very sharp image, good infrared mode, does ONVIF and just needs USB power and is outdoor rated.  It's gong to go outside looking at my telescope, so I can see it directly when I control it from the warm indoors.
7. I also got a small portable display (They are as cheap as $40, I paid $110 to get a 2.5K high res touchscreen display to go on my telescope) and a $20 swing arm that clamps on my tripod.    Also various non-astronomical stuff like power converters, a waterproof electronics box.
8. Getting a new portable power station.  Lots of deals (though be wary, some of the deals are always there so no rush to buy now.)   I bought a small one that claimed 1200w peak as I figured it could run my house fridge in a power failure.  It could not -- while my meter says it surges to only 600w, the reality just be higher for a few milliseconds.

Pretty much all from Amazon but the ZWO EFW came from Woodland Hills but B&H also has it.

[Brad Templeton]

I also got some stuff from Aliexpress, from LittleLight which has been a good store for me, including this pier:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256809604515473.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.57621802T90R6E&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

And also a second Gemini EAF, which is only about $75 and is pretty much identical to the ZWO $200 EAF (though those are also on special today)

I am contemplating the Gemini motorized flat panels, which are  $160 shipped -- though looks like they sold out at LittleLight.    The temptation here is not so much for the flat panel (which I already have but fully manual) but for the ability to automatically cap my lens after a long night of shooting.  If rain comes, it's not great to have your telescope out in the rain but some amount of capping still seems like a good idea.  Plus you can automatically shoot darks if you need them.

I see some other interesting stuff like a motorized rotator for $125 shipped.    (As rotators drop in price, I expect more people to go to Alt-Az plus rotator and autoguiding as there is a lot to be said for that.)

If you are scared of buying from aliexpress, don't be.  The deals aren't as good as they used to be --- buy it locally if the price is similar -- but some things are way cheaper and it usually comes in about 7-10 days and there is lots of stuff you have never seen.

[Rajah]

I blame you guys for any cloudy nights all December!

But thanks for sharing all these good deals. I may get those security cameras.

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[Joel Lee]

The Gemini flat panels are pretty nice. I snagged a pair this cycle (300 and 100) and the 100mm is good for any Samyang 135s or in my case a new SQA55. The 300 is a little heavy and I’ll probably have to do some work to get it working without tilting too much. These being almost half the price of other panels is nice. You unfortunately do sacrifice full sealing that you would get from a Deepskydad panel. 

The Gemini EAF has done well so far for the one night I’ve done some testing on it but man it keeps beeping. If you figure out how to turn it off please let me know. I’ve been asking around and it might be linked to the drivers but even installing older drivers it still beeps. I do really appreciate that it costs a fraction of the other EAFs I have. 

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[Peter Santangeli]

Randomly, I have found Aliexpress to be an outstanding source for ATM supplies.  In my recent build I purchased:

• Carbon fiber tubes
• Stainless steel balls (for ball joints)
• A lightened aluminum Losmandy style rail

For another project I purchased a very nice 80mm acromat I was using as a focal reducer.

all from Aliexpress and prices that just could not be found anywhere else.

I've also seen gear on it that soon became equipment sold under different names by retailers here, such as this odd thing, that was available previously (and at I recall a lower price) on Aliexpress. https://agenaastro.com/catalog/product/view/id/13457/s/skywatcher-hac125dx-minigraph-s11250/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21904687380&gbraid=0AAAAAD_aP9IGCVrZM5EpO-2tUOJif401i&gclid=CjwKCAiAlrXJBhBAEiwA-5pgwpcxnP-RjGlyjAz28N7cG-KYqCJckXXfMq9FGh-yWweTnwWYgFGlWxoCmqMQAvD_BwE

Worth an often amusing browse.

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[John Pierce]

RE power stations...   I recently got the Anker/Solix C2000.   2400W sustained output, 4000W peak, and 2048 WH capacity.  Using it as the UPS for my home office computers, with an average load of 300-350 watts, it will run something like 6-7 hours.  $650 from either Anker or Amazon directly.   Another $600 for an additional 2048 battery pack.    This is, of course, LFP.

RE security cameras, I prefer ones that are Power over Ethernet.  And, ones that do not have an overly bright IR illuminator as those attract spiderwebs.   Cameras with fewer pixels and larger sensors have the best night vision.

[Catherine Modjeski]

Thank you Brad for all this research, also the endorsement for AliExpress, which I’ve always been very hesitant to use (Amazon girl here, Prime and returns no hassle, no problem).

Cathy Modjeski

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On Dec 1, 2025, at 4:02 PM, Brad Templeton <bra...@gmail.com> wrote:

I also got some stuff from Aliexpress, from LittleLight which has been a good store for me, including this pier:

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[Joel Lee]

@John that’s an awesome deal for a 2kWh! I kinda wish I was looking for it now instead of earlier in the year. One of the deals I found had the battery and the solar panels on AliExpress for the same price as the battery alone! 

@Peter are the carbon fiber tubes good enough for scope structures? 

An interesting tidbit about the HAC125, Kevin on the Skywatcher Friday podcast had mentioned that those other versions were overseas versions and earlier iterations. They eventually came here only after they were iterated on and became the DX versions. Interesting little mini RASA astrographs. It seems like Skywatcher has stuff out earlier for outside of the US like the new version of the venerable Esprits. You can get them (new versions are called DX) from FLO but for us we have to wait till next year for the local retailers to have them. I’ve recently been seeing that Celestron has small refractors on AliExpress as well. They might be trying to join in on that lucrative market. 

Also a random side note. Has anyone tried the CYCK focusers? I tried to get a set off teseek but they were out of stock and now I have to debate it again. I’m looking to upgrade/fixing up my dob (XT8) to breath life into it again and put it to use.

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[Peter Santangeli]

On carbon fiber tubes - absolutely. My 13" is built with them and they are great.

pete

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[Richard Navarrete]

Is this a direct replacement focuser for an XT8? I just picked an XT8 up yesterday and wouldn’t mind a two-speed focuser at a bargain price.

Thanks,

Richard

“ Also a random side note. Has anyone tried the CYCK focusers? I tried to get a set off teseek but they were out of stock and now I have to debate it again. I’m looking to upgrade/fixing up my dob (XT8) to breath life into it again and put it to use.”

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[Joel Lee]

Hi Richard,

It’s seems like a replacement for my Quattro 250P’s focuser. I had that focuser lying around cause I put a moonlite on my Quattro but I find the Quattro focuser bad (it’s marginally better than the XT8’s original). The hole spacing for the OTA plate is the same between the two. I think if you find the CYCK with the mounting plate to the OTA then it seems like it will work. 

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[Brad Templeton]

Oh, make no mistake that aliexpress is not going to match Amazon, particularly when you want to do a return.    However, I have done returns to China, and it's worked out fine, but of course not as easy or fast or free.     You factor that in to the variety of products and the prices.  The prices were a lot lower before Trump, and hopefully will be again.        The way I would describe aliexpress is that while you can't stop the issues of returns being hard (at least for now) the companies seem to work hard on customer service, so while it seems like a "no way I would order gear from China" situation this is not the case, you will be frequently highly satisfied.

[Richard Navarrete]

Let me know if you get one. I’ll let you be the guinea pig.😊

It’s surprising to me, given all the Orion XT’s in the world, that I haven’t seen a direct replacement upgrade for that focuser.

Richard

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[Brad Templeton]

Having spent good money on focusers, I think we go about them all wrong today.     I would prefer they make a small, very nice focuser which is motorized, battery powered with bluetooth LE but only capable of a few mm of travel.       That would slot into a more basic focusing tube which is a bit larger than your 2" tubes, but which has no gears.    You just slide it out by hand and lock it when close in coarse focus, then use the short-range focuser.    (You don't have to use the motorized one, you could have mechanical ones or ones that do both, or non-rotating helical or any other design you like.)        But that's for eyepieces, and could be for cameras, but instead the cameras should have 3 short-travel servos holding the main sensor (and heat sink.)     These servos could then do fine focus for you with very quick movement, and they could also correct sensor tilt automatically.   They could even do more, which I will describe in an article I am working on.   DSLR sensors are all actuated these days, typically with 5 degrees of freedom, and this approach would be superb for not just focus and tilt, but for fine guide corrections (use the mount only for coarse guide corrections.)   They could also do small rotation, which would allow poor polar align or even alt-az shooting (the ultimate bad polar align) of multi-minute subs.   Because they only move the sensor and heat sink they do not need to move a lot of weight.  We spend a fortune for focusers and rotators and tilt plates and accurate mounts in order to move large weights with precision.   I think it's a mistake.

A bit off topic!

[Joel Lee]

@Richard Sounds good. I’ll let you know if I manage to get my hands on one and test it out. 

@Brad. I agree. Moving the smaller components around makes the most sense. Unfortunately due to the large plethora of reducers and specific backfocus requirements in imaging it makes more sense to have it mount on the focuser instead of reducers/cameras. It seems like a two birds with one stone thing or it’s cheaper to have that over sensor actuators. I’m honestly kinda surprised ZWO hasn’t tried it yet considering they are working on getting everything into their camera body. There’s a bunch of petzvals that aren’t strict with backspacing like their own (or Askar’s) PHQ/FF line. 

For quick focus adjustments and microscopic guiding theres ONAG which I don’t realize back when I was getting the moonlites but they actually only cost a little more than the moonlite. However, you get guiding and on the fly focus correction. 

For rotation I think that’s what Planewave does for nonequatorially mounted larger scopes? Rotators mainly lose out on diffraction spikes since those can’t rotate Alt-Az without the whole OTA rotating. 

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[Brad Templeton]

Backfocus can be an issue, though of course if your world moves to this approach, then OTAs are designed to leave the backfocus for it.  However, it doesn't need much, in particular because the simple coarse focus can be made small and simple and large enough that the fine focusing equipment fits inside it but can still take a 2" eyepiece nested inside.      And of course if the actuators are in the camera they don't take backfocus.

In fact, for people making a near dedicated astrograph, the common approach would be to just get an extension tube with the right coarse focus setting for your camera, and then fine focus would be done with actuators or some other device.    

I am surprised no actuators yet.  They can do adaptive optics tricks for you.    But more to the point, if you are taking a sensor that's used for DSLRs, they are *free* in that most DSLR sensors ship with actuators with 5 degrees of freedom already.    In fact, it would be great if DSLR vendors were to give us new firmware that would let you control the actuators over USB.  If so, an astro-modded DSLR would suddenly become a better astro camera than any of the dedicated ones due to its ability to do micro guiding and adaptive optics.    Also because they have shutters.    I wish we had shutters, so that if you have a guiding failure, or an airplane crosses the view or other such problems, close the shutter while it's happening and re-open it.    Yes, you now have a 10 minute dark current exposure with only 8 minutes of exposure in it, but I suspect that can be dealt with.    Better to only record the photons that came when were guiding within your margin.   Electronic shutters might actually be better than physical ones.

Yes, diffraction spikes will look different if rotated.   Less of an issue on refractors of course.   They are artifacts, so there is no "right" way for them to look.   But the cost and convenience of alt-az is no minor thing.      With an actuated sensor including rotation, I think you could take superb photos from a giant dob, and that would be worth putting up with funny spikes.

[Alex]

Good stuff! Thank you Brad. Though 1200W might not be enough for a typical home fridge. I recall seeing 1800W figure typically needed for the reliable compressor "boot-up" (much less after that). Though check your fridge specs. My personal solution for the same is to leverage the fact that my "EnergyStar" labeled fridge is actually sporting the DC powered compressor. Thus, instead of using the inverter, I would hook it up to a DC/DC converter.

Myself, I've snached a 300W folding solar panel for just $174: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VL4LVF1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
These seems to be finally approaching the honest price of $0.5 per watt. 

[John Pierce]

typical home fridge is around 500 watts, give or take.  sure, there's more on startup but not over 1200 watt.

typical LFP power center has peak output of about double its sustained output.   Mine can sustain 2400 watt, and peak 4000 watt.   thats enough electricity to run a MIG welder.

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[Peter Santangeli]

FWIW, that depends a LOT on how old the fridge is.

I've had home fridges that would not start up on a 1500w inverter.

pete

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[Brad Templeton]

Well, I put a kill-a-watt type device on the fridge to record peak power, and it said 590w.  But my 300 (surge 600) box would not start it, so I bought the 600 (surge 1200) unit.   It did something far worse -- it would display it was drawing a constant 600w, but it was actually putting out 600 on the killawatt, then 0, then back to 600, quickly cycling trying to start the compressor, failing and starting again.     Lucky I didn't damage the fridge I think.

Today, it would be nice if devices with high surge power like compressors would install a big capacitor, then charge it before turning on the surge load to greatly reduce their peak power.   Fridges and RV air conditioners could then run on smaller circuits or generators or inverters.  I know most RVs come with a 4,000w generator which serves only one purpose -- starting the air conditioner compressor for 1/10th of a second.    

Alek, let us know how that solar panel does.  A lot of those portable solar panels lie about their ratings.  Yes, panels are down to 50 cents/watt, but that's more for fixed panels in bulk.

[Brad Templeton]

BTW, here's the view from that $10 security camera -- I bought two more.     For the price the image and capabilities are great.    It may not be possible to turn the IR light off in software, so tape it over if desired, as you can see it's fairly bright, so be sure to have your IR cut filter on if using this.    But it picks out the rest of the yard fine and even clouds in the sky so I may want to disable the IR.    You can see my new camera (which I have discovered generates too much noise on the power line so it may go back -- I can give it its own power supply at home, but on the road I want to run everything from one battery.)
  You can also see the Chinese pier extender, and clamped to the tripod leg is the touchscreen 2880x1600 monitor (Just $115) though I may move it to another stand as I don't want to touch the tripod leg during exposures.   Being on the leg will be good for public star nights to do EAA etc.     The mount routes USB and 12v power through the mount into the saddle, so none of the wires are pulled when the telescope slews (except for the ethernet cable that drives the old feathertouch, as I leave its controller in the ground box.)

You can watch live video from the camera on your phone, but that has a second or two of delay, so I am watching it with an ONVIF viewer on my desktop and it's near live. I like to watch my telescope when it slews to know all is good.

On Monday, December 1, 2025 at 12:41:28 PM UTC-8 Brad Templeton wrote:

[Brad Templeton]

It seems a pasted photo doesn't show except in google groups, so here is an attached one..

[Richard Navarrete]

Nice set-up ! Have you ever fallen in to the water at night? I probably would.

Richard

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[Brad Templeton]

Nope.  when doing visual observing, I will move a little further from the pool so I can stand there for targets in the south.  But visual observing here in Bortle 7 isn't great, this rig is doing narrowband imaging.  Which works even tonight with near full moon and light clouds and light pollution.

I keep meaning to remove the pool, I don't use it any more really.    When I do, I will install a pier where it used to be.    That pier extender has a quick release for ZWO/Wave mounts so it will be easy to take the mount from the pier to the field tripod.

[Richard Navarrete]

That’s awesome! I’d never been much for backyard observing in the past (is there a Bortle 12?) but I’ve been enjoying lunar observing and double stars over the past year, and now Saturn is high in the sky early evening. 

I wonder how many TACo’s do backyard observing.

Richard

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[Brad Templeton]

Backyard narrowband photography is doable in full moon, with light pollution.    In the backyard you can just set it up -- once you get the hang of it which takes time -- and you are in your house as it records.  But you need to record many, many hours of data for each object, both because that's good and it's the only way to be rid of that light pollution.  But at home you can just leave it running all night, for several nights while you do stuff at home.   With this security camera when I am at my computer or phone I can watch to make sure all is OK, and I am also watching the NINA screen too, of course.

Dark skies are fabulous but you need to pack up after not too long unless you have an RV.   Both are good to do.

[Joel Lee]

Brad that's an awesome result for a 10$ camera! I might want to get these to free up my current All-Sky camera (I bought a wrong spec Neptune 664C) and that monitor stand as well.  

@Richard, I've had some friends over and we did some visual and was able to see some objects but mostly showpiece items and whatever I could find from my backyard (Bortle 7-8). It's quite fun to not tell them what the object is and ask what they think it looks like. I still find ways for it to be fun because I have no expectations on what I can find. I grew up here and could never find anything for years. Instead, I almost entirely image from the backyard both broadband, narrowband, and recently some planetary.

On Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 8:12:00 PM UTC-8 richa...@aol.com wrote:

[Richard Navarrete]

Joel,

That’s great. There’s lots of ways to enjoy astronomy and the backyard is sure convenient. For people with no experience with telescopes showing them almost anything can be new and exciting.

Richard

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[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

The Beastmaster was all -

"I wonder how many TACo’s do backyard observing."

For a long long time, with binoculars and then even more when we got Felix in '99.

And Joel, showing somebody to the eyepiece and just saying, 'what do you see' is a favorite move.

And Richard, Bortle 12? Como tú no hay dos.