The Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i

After years of owning the 'now defunct' Meade ETX-90 Tabletop Mount Maksutov telescope with GoTo electronics, I decided to sell it and upgrade my gear. I never really used the electronics of the ETX-90 much. Mostly used the OTA which is great on shooting the Sun and Moon during eclipses. It's effective FL being 1250mm. Aperture is f/13.

This year 2025, a lot of comets sprung up. Most of them are faint and fuzzy and given the chance, my current setup will not be able to image them properly. Hence I decided to dispose the ETX and move to the Adventure 2i which is a very good entry level celestial tracking head.

My unit ordered from abroad arrived today. Consequently it started raining :D

It is a wi-fi enabled gear and will connect to the SkyWatcher app. Can't wait to try the features specially the Time Lapse function which can operate an attached DSLR via shutter cable.

Hope to post another update soon... while i'm in this new rabbit hole :D

iso12800

impromptu night shot

fibiboi on the car outside chilling looking up on me

sony a58 iso12800 min100-300/5.6 1/10s manual setting/focus. stfc

surprisingly a usable image. look at those eyes

some say the a58's hi iso can compete w the a99... will know soon 

the ebay madness

this seller (thegoldcruz) listed the sony mdr-xb1000 for a good price and i paid for it when suddenly he cancelled it and listed it back for another USD99! 👎

i wanted to add to the negative feedback of the seller which is 'already' at a 'low' 96.7% so i reported the matter to ebay but ebay said they can't find fault in it

yeah i gambled with his rating and 'suffered' the consequence :D

you can check my test tracks in spotify

dogears' test tracks in spotify

 The SONY XDR-S3HD Digital Radio with the REL Q50 Subwoofer

Recently got really curious what else can a 15in FR driver improve on my current Betsy 8in and was ready to order a pair but the staff are having their Chinese New Year holidays so I have to wait...

Then the next morning being a weekend I usually listen to the Sony Radio with its pair of 2.6in (2.8W) drivers. Bass is supported by the REL subwoofer and this combo amazes me everytime. Not so much treble extension but the sound is very satisfying. (Then realized I can use the Japan tweeters on this).

Intrigued on going smaller than 8in, I then got a pair of old Coral 6inchers. I set them up on another room. Haven't really compared with the Betsy OB yet. They sounded nice in their stock cabinets. There's a bit of bass but still needs bass support to sound fuller. They were plugged on a solid-state amp. Still have to try with low wattage tube amp.

After having the 6in Coral, I get to learn about another vintage drivers that are smaller than 6in but they are hard to find (expensive on ebay already). I really want to try these drivers and will see if there will be a part 2 to this entry nyahahaha.

the Sony and REL combo