Quatrro or 200 pds

[maub]

Having a Skywatcher ST80 for two years now I have reached the point where an upgrade is required. After much though I came to the conclusion that a Skywatcher 200 PDS and an NEQ6 would be a good choice. I am keen to get into astro photography and the PDS seemed to be the best option. However having spent that last few weeks working overseas I log on and see that Skywatcher have brought out a new scope, the Quattro.

I have read the thread on the Quattro but I am unable to determine if this would be a better choice for a scope. Ignoring the obvious benefits of carbon-fibre can anyone give me some guidance on the differences and which scope would be the better choice for both visual and photo use?

[Rossco72]

It's faster at f4 but that also means more demanding on collimation and focussing.

If you have a less sensitive camera like a DSLR then the extra speed could be worthwhile but with an astro CCD you would need to weigh up the benefits.

The carbon fibre ones should hold collimation and focus better as there isn't any expansion of the steel tube.

In a perfect world the f4 would be the way to go. If you don't want the additional hassle then at f5 the "standard" newts are hardly slow....

[maub]

Thanks Stuart, I'll give this a bit more thought but I'll probably stick with my original selection of the 200 pds. No point in spending an extra £200+ for something that may be of no benefit at my current level of expertise.

Maurice