Focuser for Askar 130PHQ Refractor

If I'm being 100% honest. I've owned nearly 50 high quality telescopes in the past, and the Askar 120APO and 130PHQ have what I would consider to be one of the best focusers I've ever used.
I had a moonlite on a couple of scopes I had back in the day, and a feathertouch on a couple too… Baader steeltrack etc… None of them were better than the Askar large focusers, and to be honest - I would say the tech at the observatory is trying to blame the equipment, rather than accept responsibility for the fact that the equipment is not being well looked after, and dust/sand is covering the telescopes not being regularly cleaned… 

No matter how much money you spend on a focuser, if it has moving mechanical parts, it will have grease or lubricant of some form on it. If dust and sand touch grease or lubricants, it's going to stick and cause poor operation of the focuers. 

I would not change the focuser on my Askar PHQ or APO scopes, they are as close to flawless as you're going to get. 

Some people run Takahashi focusers in remote observatories for decades without issue - and those focusers are notoriously garbage.

Alex Nicholas:
If I'm being 100% honest. I've owned nearly 50 high quality telescopes in the past, and the Askar 120APO and 130PHQ have what I would consider to be one of the best focusers I've ever used.
I had a moonlite on a couple of scopes I had back in the day, and a feathertouch on a couple too... Baader steeltrack etc... None of them were better than the Askar large focusers, and to be honest - I would say the tech at the observatory is trying to blame the equipment, rather than accept responsibility for the fact that the equipment is not being well looked after, and dust/sand is covering the telescopes not being regularly cleaned... 

No matter how much money you spend on a focuser, if it has moving mechanical parts, it will have grease or lubricant of some form on it. If dust and sand touch grease or lubricants, it's going to stick and cause poor operation of the focuers. 

I would not change the focuser on my Askar PHQ or APO scopes, they are as close to flawless as you're going to get. 

Some people run Takahashi focusers in remote observatories for decades without issue - and those focusers are notoriously garbage.

I am afraid I might have to agree with you.  I have a 2nd Askar 130PHQ at home and the focuser is fairly heavy duty and I never had issue with it.  I have the same concern, if the observatory is dusty, what's to prevent a $1500 focuser from getting messed up too?

I'll talk to the tech and owner soon about this.

Thank you for the honest opinion.

Jerry

Oscar:

Jerry Gerber:
it wasn't working well.

what was the problem?

Drawtube became sluggish and not moving smoothly, probably because of the dusty environment..

Gleb Polyakov:
Ah dang, how dusty is it down there in Animas? I was just looking to send a scope over to there.

Every dark sky site has issues.  I can't tell you exactly how dusty as I haven't been there yet, my telescope has been there for 6 months.  I've read of other dark sky sites having issues with spiders, heavy dew and other problems.  There's a dark sky site in California that's in a high fire zone; there's no perfect dark sky site unless you can hitch a ride with NASA and get your scope beyond the atmosphere.

If the gear is high quality and sealed well, the dust won't get on the filters or the sensor.   I use a flip-flat panel that gives the main objective lens some protection.   I think the stock focuser that came with my scope probably isn't cutting it, but it might not be due to the dust.  I am replacing it anyway.

Jerry Gerber:
I may have to replace the stock focuser that came with the Askar 130PHQ refractor.

I am looking at Starlight Instruments focusers but not sure why I would choose a 2", 3" or 3.5" focuser.  The stock focuser is 3.4". 

What is the difference and why would I choose one over the other?  The scope is in a dusty desert dark sky observatory which is probably why I am had to have the stock focuser removed, cleaned and lubricated as it wasn't working well.  Tech at observatory suggests I invest in a higher quality focuser. 

Thanks,
Jerry

Well if it’s at Starfront I would understand as the dust on the equipment there is ridiculous, I watched a video he did and you could see the layer of dust in all the scopes, put me off completely..

Alex Nicholas:
If I'm being 100% honest. I've owned nearly 50 high quality telescopes in the past, and the Askar 120APO and 130PHQ have what I would consider to be one of the best focusers I've ever used.
I had a moonlite on a couple of scopes I had back in the day, and a feathertouch on a couple too... Baader steeltrack etc... None of them were better than the Askar large focusers, and to be honest - I would say the tech at the observatory is trying to blame the equipment, rather than accept responsibility for the fact that the equipment is not being well looked after, and dust/sand is covering the telescopes not being regularly cleaned... 

No matter how much money you spend on a focuser, if it has moving mechanical parts, it will have grease or lubricant of some form on it. If dust and sand touch grease or lubricants, it's going to stick and cause poor operation of the focuers. 

I would not change the focuser on my Askar PHQ or APO scopes, they are as close to flawless as you're going to get. 

Some people run Takahashi focusers in remote observatories for decades without issue - and those focusers are notoriously garbage.

I'll add about the Askar 120 APO, I have a pretty heavy imaging train (reducer, auto-rotator, 7x filter wheel w/ 2" full set LRGBSHO, ASI2600MM Pro)...and the focuser has never given me any problems, it's a beast.

Jerry Gerber:

Dark Matters Astrophotography:
Animas is extremely dusty. It’s like a giant dust bowl with winds and dust storms that occur from time to time that are so impacting there’s signs on I10 about pulling over if the dust storms get too bad. 

i moved to Pie Town NM (HCRO) and it’s much cleaner. My gear was messy as hell and my shroud will likely never recover. We’re actually afraid to remove it due to the amount of dust and stuff embedded in it. Eventually I’ll have to carefully cut it off and install a fresh one.

OK, so what are the downsides of HCRO?  Every site has its downsides.   

As so long as the dust doesn't prevent me from getting the quality images I am going for I don't care.  No one else at DSPR is having an issue with their focusers, but they all replaced them with Moonlight, Esatto, Optec or Starlight focusers, which is what I am about to do.  

I was planning on putting a scope at SRO, which is only a 5 hour drive from where I live in California, but when I did the research and found out how extreme the fire danger is there I decided I'll take my chances with dust rather than fire.  A few years ago SRO was deeply covered in ash due to the fires near Lake Tahoe.   And due to climate change, it's going to get much worse.   If our scopes don't melt due to heat, then dust, ash or fire will get to them.   No perfect place, particularly with the climate getting hotter and hotter.  What's happening now in Southern California is just the beginning of what's coming...

Oh dear another climate change conspiracy theorist… Blah, Blah, Blah….

Jerry Gerber:

AstroShed:

Jerry Gerber:

Dark Matters Astrophotography:
Animas is extremely dusty. It’s like a giant dust bowl with winds and dust storms that occur from time to time that are so impacting there’s signs on I10 about pulling over if the dust storms get too bad. 

i moved to Pie Town NM (HCRO) and it’s much cleaner. My gear was messy as hell and my shroud will likely never recover. We’re actually afraid to remove it due to the amount of dust and stuff embedded in it. Eventually I’ll have to carefully cut it off and install a fresh one.

OK, so what are the downsides of HCRO?  Every site has its downsides.   

As so long as the dust doesn't prevent me from getting the quality images I am going for I don't care.  No one else at DSPR is having an issue with their focusers, but they all replaced them with Moonlight, Esatto, Optec or Starlight focusers, which is what I am about to do.  

I was planning on putting a scope at SRO, which is only a 5 hour drive from where I live in California, but when I did the research and found out how extreme the fire danger is there I decided I'll take my chances with dust rather than fire.  A few years ago SRO was deeply covered in ash due to the fires near Lake Tahoe.   And due to climate change, it's going to get much worse.   If our scopes don't melt due to heat, then dust, ash or fire will get to them.   No perfect place, particularly with the climate getting hotter and hotter.  What's happening now in Southern California is just the beginning of what's coming...

Oh dear another climate change conspiracy theorist… Blah, Blah, Blah….

Oh dear, another delusional person drowning in misinformation,  fossil fuel propaganda and oligarchy lies... Blah, Blah, Blah....

😂😂😂 No, just a realist.. that can make my own mind up based on scientific facts..

Fascinating, I've never encountered a climate change denier and didn't expect it on an astrophotography website! 😂

Anyway, yes, no place is perfect. I personally am doing DSPRemote for a year then moving over to HCRO.

Jerry, I'm going with the Moonlite WR35 myself, sounds like that shouldn't have as many dust issues.

Yeah! The WR35 seemingly comes with any adapters you can dream up, very solid company.

Thinking of moving in 2026 not due to Animas or anything wrong with DSPremote itself. I got my mount from Ed and he really hooked me up with a solid price and good service on the mount+hosting combo. No complaints.

That said, I've visited HCRO, and it's just a better product. Slightly darker skies and Greg there is extremely responsive in a way thats slightly more thorough and helpful than Ed/Chris. Only downside I can see to HRCO is that their internet is Starlink and so uploads are slower.

Gleb Polyakov:
Yeah! The WR35 seemingly comes with any adapters you can dream up, very solid company.

Thinking of moving in 2026 not due to Animas or anything wrong with DSPremote itself. I got my mount from Ed and he really hooked me up with a solid price and good service on the mount+hosting combo. No complaints.

That said, I've visited HCRO, and it's just a better product. Slightly darker skies and Greg there is extremely responsive in a way thats slightly more thorough and helpful than Ed/Chris. Only downside I can see to HRCO is that their internet is Starlink and so uploads are slower.

Ed uses Starlink as well unless that has changed recently. They used to use a cellular based solution which was really slow.

The seeing is better at HCRO and significantly less wind and dust. If there’s any drawback so far it does actually get extremely cold at times and snowed a few times this season which I don’t recall seeing in Animas. Not to the same degree anyhow.

The observatory buildings at HCRO are a step up for sure.

Jerry Gerber:
DSPR internet is also Starlink, so I'd assume they'd both be about the same in terms of speed..

Seems like a major hassle to move gear from one place to another.  Will you drive there, take everything apart and then take it to HCRO?

It’s 4.5 hours away so not really that bad to pack up, drive and set back up.