u/ThatRedditGuy2025

I'm going with my black GA2100

I've had my AD8 for probably a little over a month now and I just now decided today to do the performance upgrade kit. I'm still fairly new to the telescope stuff so I have been kind of afraid to mess with anything because it worked just fine out of the box. Trying to understand the whole collimation process has been such a stressor for me but I think I nailed it, if not then pretty damn close. I can't get the pictures to line up perfectly but to my eye the Cheshire tool crosshairs line up perfectly with the spider vein. And everything is absolutely dead center to my eye. Here are some pictures. Please let me know what you think. There are two photos through my Cheshire eyepiece. And one photo through my focuser.

So I live in the Midwest where it gets pretty humid and I'm dealing with dew during my viewing sessions in the evenings. I did a bunch of research and ended up buying these items. The dew strips work just fine. But the battery will not run them all at the same time even at low setting. I would like to just keep the straps and find a different power solution if anyone has any suggestions or experience with these please let me know. The dew strips are USB A powered. I'm not against having to plug something into an outlet but I really would like something portable so I'm not having to rely on an outlet. I have an 8-in dovsonian the two larger straps are to connect together for my secondary mirror, The other three small straps are for my finder scope objective and eyepiece, and one for my the main eye piece. I'm still somewhat new to the telescope thing and maybe I should have just come here to ask questions in the first place lol. I would really just like to make what I have work for me and I know dew shields are an option but my OCD just won't let me go that route.

Somewhere under there is ground beef, refried beans and rice lol

I finally finished my bottle after almost 2 years, and I can confidently say I won't be buying it again.

Performance is absolutely ridiculous. It lasts for days on clothes, the projection is nuclear, and the sillage is insane. If all you care about is getting noticed, this stuff delivers.

The problem is... I just don't like how it smells. To my nose it's basically burnt lemons. Like someone charred a bag of lemon peels over a campfire and bottled the smoke. I kept hoping it'd grow on me because everyone raves about it, but it never did.

Amazing performance, awful scent (for me). Glad I tried it, even happier it's finally empty.

The is the premium version of the finderscope that comes stock with the AD8. You can tell immediately it's a huge upgrade. Tons more features and over all way better build quality it's a bit heavier than the stock version and also has illuminated crosshairs with adjustable brightness. I also picked up a telrad and a cheshire colimation tool. Both my laser colimation tools are completely out of alignment and I just wanted something that actually does what it's supposed to do out of the box. I have a dual dovetail mount on the way plus a dovetail adapter from ScopeStuff on the way too.

Managed to grab a few shots through the eyepiece using my Galaxy S24 Ultra and a Gosky Universal Spotting Scope Phone Adapter.

Equipment:

Apertura AD8 8" Dobsonian

30mm 68° Super View Eyepiece

Apertura 9mm 52° Plössl Eyepiece

Apertura 7mm Panorama 82° Eyepiece

Gosky Universal Spotting Scope Phone Adapter

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (standard camera, no filters, no zoom)

It's amazing how much detail you can see once the clouds finally decide to cooperate. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Finally got a break in the weather after what felt like a couple weeks of nonstop rain and clouds. As soon as I saw a clear patch of sky, I rolled the AD8 out and spent some time on the Moon.

Managed to grab a few shots through the eyepiece using my Galaxy S24 Ultra and a Gosky Universal Spotting Scope Phone Adapter. Still learning the photography side of the hobby, but I was pretty happy with how these turned out.

Equipment:

- Apertura AD8 8" Dobsonian

- 30mm 68° Super View Eyepiece

- Apertura 9mm 52° Plössl Eyepiece

- Apertura 7mm Panorama 82° Eyepiece

- Gosky Universal Spotting Scope Phone Adapter

- Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (standard camera, no filters, no zoom)

It's amazing how much detail you can see once the clouds finally decide to cooperate. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Finally got a break in the weather after what felt like a couple weeks of nonstop rain and clouds. As soon as I saw a clear patch of sky, I rolled the AD8 out and spent some time on the Moon.

Managed to grab a few shots through the eyepiece using my Galaxy S24 Ultra and a Gosky Universal Spotting Scope Phone Adapter. Still learning the photography side of the hobby, but I was pretty happy with how these turned out.

Equipment:

- Apertura AD8 8" Dobsonian

- 30mm 68° Super View Eyepiece

- Apertura 9mm 52° Plössl Eyepiece

- Apertura 7mm Panorama 82° Eyepiece

- Gosky Universal Spotting Scope Phone Adapter

- Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (standard camera, no filters, no zoom)

It's amazing how much detail you can see once the clouds finally decide to cooperate. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Just landed yesterday and assembled today

Any advice, tips or tricks are absolutely welcome.

Any viewing recommendations are also welcome.