re: #49 EdDantes

My 50’s are Celestron and I bought them 29 years ago. If your 80’s are easy to collimate you might have just sold me. I’ll check Amazon. my 50’ cost 90.00$ back then.

Yeah. They use the prism-tilt method, employing 4 tiny setscrews accessible just under the rubber armor. My old B&Ls use eccentric mounts around the objectives. New optic tech makes even the Chinese Celestron much brighter than the old B&L (though decades of minor wear don’t help). You’re right about the tripod—the big glass is virtually unusable without it. They have an integral mount on the stiffening column.