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Do You Have A Favorite Telescope

interstellaryeller

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Ben Ritchie

Ben Ritchie

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Not a specific 'scope, but a top quality 5" f/8 triplet apochromat does it for me. Happen to own an AP, but TMB, Tak, TEC etc. would all be fine too :) IMHO it's a real 'sweet spot' that does everything well, from lunar/planetary to deep sky, imaging and viewing.

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MartinB

MartinB

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I think we are very lucky now with the qualitly and range of telescopes available to us. We almost take optical quality for granted. My favourite telescope was my Celestron 8" Nexstar GPS. In alt az mode it was a lovely observing instrument, quick to set up, very comfortable for observing and had great optics. It got me into imaging using a modded web cam and gave me lots of pleasure. I put it on a wedge and the fork mount proved a superb tracker capable of been driven very accurately. It was a fantastic planetary imager.

I am lucky in now having a very fancy equatorial mount and a number of scopes including a lovely 12" dob, an excellent 10" SCT OTA and an ED120 which I love to bits but the NS8 seemed able to do everything and with a minimum of fuss.

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glennbech

glennbech

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WO Megrez 90. Love it. Even smells good. I've used it under excellent seeing and the double cluster took my breath away. Pinpoint stars got a new meaning. Never seen anything like it!

I have also got a romance going on with my "first love" (ehh.. first scope) the SW 8" f/5 newt. I'm spamming the imaging - deep sky thread at the moment :-)

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GazOC

GazOC

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I've rather fallen for my 8" inch dob - a fair amount of aperture, at F/6 not too hard on eyepieces and collimation, portable and simple to use. Oh, and a bit of a bargain as well :)

John

I agree John, for a visual observer a 8" f6 Dob takes a lot of beating. Easy on eyepieces, nice aperture, "one carry" set up. Great scope IMHO.

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Albireo380

Albireo380

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Well, I know this thread is tending towards the "fantasy 'scope" route, but I have had one of the old (pre-LNT/GPS) Meade 8" lx90s for about 5 years. It is well made, has reasonable aperture, travels well, holds its collimation and has given me years of pleasure. It is a compromise 'scope - it excels at nothing, but does most things reasonably well. It has never let me down yet - always fires up, always tracks well enough for visual work (or 30secs prime focus imaging) and seems pretty robust.

So, although I would love lots of other 'scopes (and have several) I keep coming back to my trusty LX90 (I am not sure that the build quality of the more modern ones is as good). I have a slight hankering for a Celestron CPC1100 though - but that is perhaps being silly £££££££.

Tom

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Ben Ritchie

Ben Ritchie

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If this is a "fantasy scope" thread, I'd go for a 10" AP Mak

Me too ... I thought it was out of the ones we own, but if not then i'd pick the AP 10" Mak.

I've been on 'the list' for an AP Mak for a while in case they ever did another run, and if the new prototype 12" becomes reality then i'm (possibly wishfully) thinking I might get notified for one. It's not the same as the 10" though, by all accounts that design's just too time consuming for Roland to make and the newer one is simplified somehow. I still think it might be a bit special though...!

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A McEwan

A McEwan

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Hard to decide. Trouble is, all my scopes continue to please me every time I use them! I think the ED100 for image aesthetic and design, but my GSO 680 Dob for light-gathering and ease of use.

I quite miss my TV85 too, even though my ED80 does 'nearly' as good a job!

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Nostromo

Nostromo

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I can't decide :)

1) Wide: TMB130 is my favourite. A little colour but it is an F6 after all and it's incredibly sharp and contrasty. :) But it weighs a ton :D unlike the AP130 hmm...

2) High power: Mewlon 250. Outperformed an (earlier) AP-7" Starfire no problem, and is incredibly light. :D But it isn't wide enough so need APO. :(

Funnily enough, although these are my favourite scopes, I have used the older "Gold" tube SkyWatcher ED100 Pro far more than both the above, although an AT102 has recently arrived which is looking like a strong contender because its shorter (but heavier) and has optics on a par but with a better focuser. So now I'm trying to decide which I prefer out of these two for a grab 'n go - the TMB130 is just way too heavy for grab 'n go and I don't want to drop it.

Nick

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NickH

NickH

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My vote goes to the PST for bringing HA to the masses 8)

Night-time...a good Refractor...do,nt do mirror,s any more :)

Brian

And for bringing the concept of rust and astigmatism too...

lol...

(seriously the PST is a groundbreaking product...just wish they had broken a little more ground with the prism assembly and the ITF contacting)

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