905 arrives — or does it?

The delivery from Scopes'n'Skies turned up this morning, before I was even out of bed! Pretty good going I think, less than 24 hours from placing an order to getting the delivery.

A short while later I take the parcel over to the office. I open the end of the outer box and, inside, see a box for a Bresser 700. My heart sinks. They've sent me the wrong bloody 'scope!

Arrrggghhhh!

At that point I decide to give them a call. I can't see much point in unpacking anything because it's all going to have to go back and you never manage to pack things up the same as the supplier does. I call but just get their recorded message that suggests you call back later or send them an email.

Bugger!

Now what? Keep calling? Send them an email? Do both? At that point I decide I'll call back again in around 5mins and, in the mean time, I'll slide the 700 box out of the packing and have a quick look inside anyway, being careful not to remove much so I'll get it all back in.

Sure enough, the only thing in the main box is the box for the 700. I open it and, right away, find an envelope with instructions and extras — all of which relate to the 700.

Nuts!

Thinking that they might have recycled the box and perhaps left some bits in I have a look inside the biggest box in the 700 box. A tripod, but exactly the sort of tripod that is shown with the 700. Next I find the mount, same mount as the 700. Finally I find the OTA.

It's an Antares 905!

Lots of swearing at myself follows.

It's only then that I notice a handful of little stickers on the outside of the 700 box that say "Antares 905".

So, there we go, I do have my Antares 905 but it didn't come with the mount and tripod that appear on the S'n'S website, instead it came with the mount and tripod from a Bresser 700. To be honest, at the moment, I'm not really sure if that's a good, bad or neutral thing. I've put the tripod and mount together and it seems reasonable enough, at least reasonable enough to carry the weight of something like the 905. I really wish they'd warned me to expect this though, if only to avoid the "oh crap" moment when I opened the main packaging.

As for everything else, it's all there. The swapped eyepiece and the red-dot finder I ordered to replace the finder that comes with the 905 (which looks pretty rubbish and, in all fairness, S'n'S did warn me that it was pretty bad and I'd probably want an upgrade for it) were both in there. On top of that I found what's got to be the worst lunar map I've ever seen (which appears to be in German, I think) and also the smallest planisphere I've ever seen — although, to be fair, the planisphere is quite a handy size).

No sign of the free copy of Robin's book that they advertise as coming with the setup but I'm really not going to complain about that, partly because I think I'm a bit beyond needing that particular book but mostly because they did me a nice favour in swapping the eyepieces.

The good news is that the forecast at the moment is for clear skies tonight. So, fingers crossed, I might actually get to give the 905 a try. Of course, nothing is that simple is it? For the past few days I've had what can best be described as an annoying feeling in my right eye and, this morning, I woke up with a swollen eyelid. Yes, in the eye I use most at the eyepiece.

Grrrrrr!

File Under: Antares 905, Scopes'n'Skies.