C11 edge review

[jeffmar]

Fifteen years ago I bought a late 80's version C11 from a fellow teacher. Complete with tripod, wedge and fork cost me 200 dollars. He told my the scope was too heavy for him and there was something wrong with it. He said it would not focus and had poor images. For 200 dollars I thought I could fix it with some new parts and still come out ahead financially. I did a little research on SCT's and learned how to collimate that type of scope scopes. Apparently all it needed was to be collimated and it gave very sharp views. My first serious scope for astronomy was an eleven inch scope with great optics and a huge impressive looking mount.

I have been thinking for the last few years it might be nice to get something a little more up to date than my old C11. Last month I ordered a new C11 xlt from High Point Scientific. Within a day they let me know they were out of that scope and had to wait for Celestron to send them more. They told me it could take a month or more. The Sales guy I talked to convinced me to get a C9.25 edge Which was still in my price range but not exactly what I initially wanted. They had a demo C11 edge for a few hundred dollars more. The next day I called and changed my order to the C11 edge.

It has a very nice paint job and looks far more modern than my old C11 but that is the biggest difference so far. The more subtle differences are the brighter optics and the round stars in the corners of my photos. Visually it seems to be the same sharp optics I was used to. The first night out looking at Jupiter was amazing. The seeing was very good and I could see all kinds of details on the planet I had not seen Since looking through a 16 inch Dob on a good night. I knew it was mostly the great atmospheric conditions which made the most difference but The optics looked brighter and I really could see more details and contrast on Jupiter than I had seen ever on any scope this size. I was excited about my new scope.

Two nights later it was a very clear night and I decided to do some imaging. I started on the Orion nebula with a filter and using the scopes native f/10 focal length. Of course I could not get all of the nebula in my picture but the images were not too bad except for the stars. They were much larger than they should of been. It made more sense to me when I started taking pictures of Saturn. While using a barlow and my sony dslr camera I noticed Jupiter was expanding and contracting like a water balloon in flight. I was shooting about ten frames per second and had had to delete nine out of ten pictures because Jupiter was unrecognizable. Most of the pictures looked like cotton balls. In three nights I had experienced one of the best seeing conditions and one of the worst I have experienced.

If there is a moral to this little story a guess it would be that astronomy is more about seeing conditions and skill than having the best scope. Do I still really like this scope? Yes, I am impressed so far. It just isn't quite as much of an improvement than I thought it would be after the first night.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

you got the moral spot on

Enjoy your new toy!

[jeffmar]

I forgot to put a picture into my post. My old and new C11,s

[dweller25]

Yes seeing conditions can make any sized scope perform like a 40mm !!!

[knobby]

Very nice ... If only they sold good seeing

[Tim99]

Nice!  I am currently considering the Edge 9.25.  I thought it would be a little more manageable to move and set-up etc.  I have heard people call the C11 "The Beast."  What is your opinion on the weight and set-up?  I may jump up to the C11 if I thought it would fit in my car and not give me a hernia to set it up.  Haha

[rolion]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing.

More or less,same question:how is the cg5 mount performing under the "size" of the C11 please !?

With the eye pieces and / or with a DSLR.

Regards