Thanks for the advice, I will do that. I will say, though, that the way these are constructed, the battery pack (two AA) are external to the camera, a little container on the side strap your hand goes through. I think if a battery leaked in there, I could McGyver a repaired one on my own.
I didn't know if that was a good feature or not, but now, hearing you say that...I wonder if that wasn't deliberate.
Gotta say, I have been using them extensively, but last night...here is what Jupiter looked like before and what it looked like afterwards (this is just how I perceive it, a Photoshop I created):
I am trying to figure out a way to get these on a tripod and hook a camera or smart phone up...I did a proof of concept (and have been riveting and bending pieces of aluminum stock) and I think if I succeed I could see the bands on Jupiter with no problem. I love my tripod, but...it isn't made for this kind of thing, sadly. It is made to be light and portable.
Anyway, thank you for that advice!
SWEET! You’re welcome, and I agree, they got sick of the one-star reviews on Amazon with batteries going south in their units. And I don’t really blame them for not fixing the units after a battery meltdown - while $2000 seems like a lot of money to us, it’s not much more than one full worker shift-day for them, plus the overhead involved in processing the repair...and it would probably take a full day of work to repair the units.
The Lithium batteries are great. I’m using them in everything with a low duty cycle (i.e., where they may sit for years), and the price has been steadily dropping, close to $1.00 per cell now, started out at twice that price. No more having to remove the batteries after each use, or worse, forgetting to remove the batteries. I also sharpie (i.e., label) my stuff using the Lithium batteries, so I don’t have to keep checking to see what’s inside. Finally, they’re good for at least 10 years with virtually no self-discharge, and probably are decent at 20 years.