joe aguiar

Hi I have the meade lxd75 mount and autostar hand controller. Itook the motors everything out to install just dual axis drives. Only cause being in hobby since 93 I can star hop and just align faster the alignment process. Anyway I know it works on any the cg5 or eq5 mounts as I done it before. It's the same procedure as putting dual axis drives. Let me know if your interest Joejaguar

Yep I can also agree everytime u start again to need to re align Joejaguar

I think the old way or regular way is 100x better a manual mount just with drives for tracking. But it's almost impossible to find none goto mounts after the cg4 or lx70 everything bigger is goto. I think it's a scam all the manufacturers are doing to make us spend more Joejaguar

I read an article like 20 years or abit more ago in either sky & telescope or astronomy magazine(cant remember which) as I used to get both mags every month. There was a young teen and he lived in big city with heavy LP and according to the story he was for a kid semi pro. he could just point to any of the stars that you could see and tell people which ones they were and could also point to any planets if they were up etc. The story went on to say the family finally went to dark county skies (that was before the Lp colour became popular, I didn't even hear of it yet). There was thousdands of stars in the sky that he didn't even know what was what, and he was lost. Even contellations seemed different ti him. The kid broke down and cried and left he couldn't do it. At this time since I didn't drive nor my wife all I have done was from worst of citys skies. few years later I also got invited to a friends cottage for a day and a half, so it would only be 1 night. I brought along my Celestron 80mmf/5 refractor on a eq1. I also did wonder would that same story play out the same for me (well except the crying part) but it didn't. Yes there were hundreds or thousdands stars but the constellations looked same to me just brighter. The stars that I could see were just brighter then the rest so it was easy for me to tell with no confusion of what to look for and where. I now know that was in a green zone which is good. (but not perfect like I got grey now) maybe cause by that time I was obsevering almost every clear night for few years that I was experienced enough to be dark adapted and was used to seeing dim constellations and stars. So when I got to dark skies it was easy to see what was going on. Now to the original poster here tho if you don't have a rigel or telrad then get one. The problem you will get in dark skies is yes theres hundreds of stars and if u use a regular finder scope you will see lots stars in the finderscopes since it magnifies the image even more. So that's when it all looks the same in a regular 6x30 8x50 or 9x50 finderscope. If you get the rigel or telrad you can just put the bullseye on the one u want and u don't have to worry. remember the constealltions are still the same BUT are brighter stars the medium stars ones and dimmer stars are the ones that get washed out in citys skys and those are the ones that will barely be seen or not at all. Joejaguar

I guess the mid point best of both worlds is a 102 refractor at f8 to f10 Even at f10 the fov is medium better than f13 compared to the mak. The f8 version is very common to find less colour than f5 but still semi wide fov. Joejaguar

ops for got to add depend on what 4 ich refractor the skywatcher evostar 100mmf9 is only 6 to 7 lbs joe

35 min depending where u live in city wont even get u out of the city. you will still be in the white zone . if your on the edge of the city u may get to red zone in 35 min but that's if you can get to a safe spot with no lights or cars zomming by, so u cant just go off the road. the closest I used to do was a 90 min one way to a park called fork on the credit but iam pretty sure that's on the edge od red/orange so its not the big of a difference and again that's only open 6 months a year from spring to fall. so doing that in summer is not reall doable since it get dark only by 1030pm even if u stay till 1230 then pack u may get home at 230am and if you work like most people up at 6am its not doable unless its fri or sat night AND if its clear. even the provences biggest star party (starfest) is the edge a yellow altho very close to green which kinda sucks for our biggest star party. You would think it be in a ble zone or grey zone. That's y I stopped going after year 2000 wasn't worth the 2 hr drive. joejaguar

is it Algonquin provincal park? if so its HUUUGE biggest one in provence. surface area is 7,653 km big a lot people camp there as well school and scouts altho its rough nature meaning like back packing. Its also only available 6 months a year. its a black zone or some call bortle zone1 but not so easy to get to. my trailer is about 45 min drive south of there from the bottom tip, and it takes me 3 hrs to get to my place for probally 4.5 hrs from Toronto. Altho im in a grey zone which is only 1 zone less.\ and 3 hrs is more then enough to tavel if I juet go for a 2days. joejaguar

I do think so a cg4 can hold 15 lbs I have mine with takahasi 102 tsa with a large format moonlight focuser its 15 lbs it holds it fine u may have small vibrations at high power on semi-windy or windy days but noem we are not suppose to view fine detail on those days anyway. It all comes come to stabililty and portabililty the cg4 can work it may not be rock solid but the az4 is not rock solid either.A eq5 or az5 would be more rock stable but both are heavier even a tad more more for the eq5 cause of the weight mainly. Also depends on what u want or need joejaguar

he said hes gonna live in an apt so I don't think will work if u have balcony it wont even go highter then the 4 ft wall condos and apt have to have. and the dob cause the base is not light its kinda bulky unless you are talking about the 6" size. for me have a eq mount is still better its much smaller then a dob base once u polar align u only have to use 1 slow manual motion control and not 2. later u can add a drive to it. And I know at high powerspushing pulling a dob is not easy when the object leaves your view in 20 to 30 seconds. then trying to knudge it as that powers its very easy to over knudge it and u must start all over again by putting low power ep then med then high. most of the mass produced dobs are not as smooth as the expensive ones. The Teflon has friction so the tube doesn't slip which is good but its not accurate enough to move one millimeter at a time. last 6 ich or 8" dob is 48" inch from the ground almost every adult will be bending down already, then put mid way up and you wil be on your knees. Some of you will say put it on a rock steady table BUT remember he has to carry everything how can someone do that? the eq3-2 is semi portable and a 6 inch reflector again is light and 1/3 the length of the dob version at f/8 joejaguar

so I think it may be better to re start this doesn't mean do a whole new thread tho. I now see the original topic has been edited to include something about a monthy payment which I wondered where that came from since iam not now going to topic but just replying. also since now we have much more info to what he is looking for. At the start we didn't have much besides 500 and visual and imaging. now we kinda know hes been in hobby about a year his scope was a 3" on AZ1 mount. some of us said 80mmed I think cause he said he was not new and he wanted imaging, now we kinda know SW 80mmed scope is too much since its $1300 cdn then we talked about few mounts cause again we heard imaging. Again I think we need to scrap that idea my opnion is visual for now and going from a basic starter to a serious start of the intermediate level. the 5 inch reflector is a very good serious start scope and the 6 inch is an intermediate level so if you can get to this level better for you. I don't think going any bigger will help since he said he will live in an apt. the 8" will be too big. so on the mount I think a eq3-2 or cg4 is big enough with the 6" reflector this will be pretty heavy enough if you have to carry everything downstairs. Even if you have a south facing balacony you will still have a limited sky to obsever from. I know from this setup can be the limit for most people doing it in one shot as most of us cant leave our stuff outside alone. anyway this is my suggestion forget imaging get a 6" reflector eq3-2 or cg4 is 100x times better and bigger then u had. Don't look at it as only going 3 inch onlu up as that's only diameter by circumference that's a BIG difference. You will also see this setup is a lot bigger then the 3" on az1 mount which is a light scope. joejaguar

ohh ok weird I read last week it didn't maybe they were talking about something else but could have sworn was about the atz4 atz5 was the topic joejaguar

I had the az3 before but ya had sloop so it was portable and light but ended selling it. just wondering would a cg4 not do? it can track better u can add a clock drive and by the time you add weights it will be as heavy as acg4. If you upgrade to az5 I heard there are no slow motion controls and what if you have the same issues once u add the binoviwer and eps will it have balance issues too? my thought a cg4 will hold a 4" easy and u wont have to worry about balance issue just lower the weight. joejaguar

I thought he was talking about euro tho since hes in Greece right now. using $ is used by both countries tho so its not exclusive to them, we use it to you can also look at where they posting from. before joining this site most people are using UK money since its a UK site I just googled what CDN to UK just to get an idea whats the difference. which is about 1.60% or 60% as a general rule. I always put cdn in my prices cause some think it should always be usa prices which I disagree. I don't follow the usa money exchange I have enough to worry about with my own countries currency lol also since I don't live there no point. joejaguar

when are you moving to Toronto? since I live here I can help when u get here and look on the used market for u? joejaguar

https://focusscientific.com/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/14/products_id/212 this is whata 8" dob cost in Canada that's BEFORE taxes so $609 before shipping too. joe

Jason if you are moving to Canada there's no point looking at the American market or prices. we Canadians pay least 30% on top of these us prices. and if you oder from there thers always customs duties and breakage fees on top the 30%. So there are store in Canada to look. also these scopes are ok good size but are all manual meaning u push and pull them. there are NO slow motion controls u CANT do imaging either. if visual is what you want then its ok. me personally I would get a 6" reflector on eq4 typr over 8" dob but that's me. joejaguar

1500 is the heq5 mount only and that's before taxes. iam not even talking about scope and all the other stuff for imaging. in my other suggestion I added since u said apt maybe the avx or lxd85 is best bet BUT even these 2 mounts is 1250 with taxes new. U sometimes find the avx used for sale on Canada astro buy and sell for $799 but this is probally the min mount u want for imaging. iam not sure a reglar eq5 will do for imaging unless you try a used lxd75 or used asgt but iam 100% sure how these are for imaging. these being close to 10 to 15 years old you can find these cheap sometimes on the used market. I found a used working Meade LXD75 mount tripod and weight of course with goto for $300 cash on astro buy and sell but u don't see them come up too often since they are older and not too many left out there working. I don't want to put anyone down but if you are planning on doing visual and imaging here in Canada even the skywatcher 80mm evostar apo is $1100 BEFORE taxes I don't think even the ota falls in your budjet tho. The only way it can work if if u find the old gold SW pro which is same scope just older like 10 to 12 years old. that one used probally be $500 to $600 used. then a used mount after that. I think your gonna have to do it 1 thing at a time 1-80mm apo then mount then if you want visal 8" sct or 6 or 8" reflector then the imaging gear I cant see doing everything, even 500 UK is about $800 cdn which helpes if you only do visual you can get a 6'f/5 reflector on eq3 for $475 or so and up if its new joejaguar

ok gotch u say Toronto funny I live here I agree to start with a skywatcher 80mmf7.5 apo is a good start with a heq5 seems to be what most get as a mount but you probally can do it with a avx or lxd85 mount since the scope is so small and light. the heq5 is 1500 cdn before taxes ($1700) where the avx and lxd85 is about $1100 ($1250 with taxes) for visual tho the 80mm is abit small cept for the sun moon and few bright planets. If you want to see more you may need a bigger ota, the good news is you can use the same mount. Since Toronto is a huge white zone (4 million pop) not to mention all the surrounding citys makes the LP worse. Anyway maybe get a used 8"sct or a 6 or 8" f/5 reflector will help you see more stuff, while the 80mm apo will be your imaging scopes and maybe quick grab and go scope. Just saw u said you will be living in an apt then I think the heq5 is too big so it may have to be the other 2 BUT I have the lxd85 and with a scope auto guilder laptop for imaging you will need a cart or something I cant see anyone doing all that in one shot. I also live in apt but im just just visual and just taking a eq3 with a scope tripod /mount and weights with a backpack with some accessiors is hard carrying it outside and about 100 metters away from all the building lights. I cant imagine anything better like the lx70 or lxd85 with all the gear. I guess that's y iam thinking of selling and moving out by spring to a townhouse with a backyard I just cant do observing from an apt anymore. joejaguar

ok so if this is your first scope forget imaging for now as imaging becomes expensive the mount alone will be more then the 500 not to mention camera guilder or auto guilder scope. just do visual for a 1 or 2 get to know how scopes work slow motion controls eq mounts. learn how the sky moves and maybe the constantallions stars etc before jumping to AP joejaguar

well this is too vague tho some pople best means most expensive some it will mean most portable scope others best image quailty some best for deep sky others best for the planets some will say best for imaging others will say visual first tell us if your new to hibby or not we know your bujet what do you want to see?where do u live city, big city small town country? is portabililtyan issue if you live in condo apy or multi-plex house where u have to carry it down and out?

john explained good I can agree with his post so I guess ill add then it becomes portabililty then. here are example: you can get a 4" f/5 refractor will have lots colour but its small light and portable or u can get a 4"f/10 which is a lot longer bit heavy BUt will have much better colour. so whats important to you better quality image and colour correction or being portable. Now since Ed/apo are much cheaper compared to 15 to 25 years ago u have other options now. you can also get a 4"f/8 ed with 51 glass and its shorter over the f/10 but gives same colour correction maybe even a tad better but th ed is bit shorter. if you get a 4" with 53 glass you can probably get better colour correction of it being f/7, even smaller package. then you can also get a triplet apo and make it f6 and it will have better colour then the f/10 version and be 40% smaller so you can have small package with good colour and sharp images like a ST tube BUt it will cost more something a lot more depending which one . if you cant afford the new ed/apo cause of the price then the old way was to get a acro but longer like f/10 to f/12 sometimes even more but its becomes too long which is why we are going other way smaller packages better glass BUT cost more. joejaguar

Norm u should use the scope without the focal reducer and put it on when you look at a big object like double cluster or see m81 and m82 in the same frame etc. Most times like u should leave it off. The ring nebula could use more power. Is that your only ep? 25mm? If so you need to get another 3 or 4 nighter power and I would also get a 2 inch low power one too. Joejaguar

Esprit is a imaging scope with its 2 extra lens in it, u dont need that part for visual. And your paying alot more for it. For visual only just get a doublet 53. I bet for same money u can probably get the sky watcher 120 evostar Joejaguar

Remember to budget for u may need auto guilder camera focal reducer compater(laptop)software, powertanks etc. AP is alot more complex and expensive Joejaguar