Couldn't contrast and compare to well, I 'volunteered' to run the observatory on friday nights when I was a grad student. So I was spoiled by that and then I was in the service and just used our equipment, the M22 bino is pretty good, so's the M24 but it's meant more as a compact thing, loved using NVG's for stargazing, you can see around a hundred thousand stars. Up here in Ohio, especially near the lake where there's a lot of ambient light, you just don't get good viewing conditions compared to my last spot, Iraq, which is every amateur astronomers dream come true. I really should get a new telescope though, especially if the prices are down. They looked normal to me but I haven't really paid much attention in nearly a decade.



I'd guess the mynock connection is likely just a BS story made up by Han Solo. Yeah, the tripods help a lot for moongazing or cometwatching, obviously not ideal for meteor showers. Anyone wanting to look at Mars, this is the ideal time, it's at it's closest right now for the next two years, definetly more of a tripod sort of thing.



I have wads of software for it, all way out of date, theres a lot of freeware and shareware around too, but yeah, a good hard copy is always handy, always want to make sure it's one that's still readable in redlight, preferably with laminated pages, I just printed out the current night sky last time I went stargazing and I always have a thermos and I always rest my drink on the map so it doesn't blow away... coffee rings can definetly interfere with proper navigation.