Part 1 Celestron CPC 1100 - Unboxing, Assembly and First Light

[AlistairHowie]

What follows is a story of researching and buying my first ever telescope, its unboxing and a first impressions review. My first light review will have to wait a little longer, as with Christmas looming there’s no apparent prospect of either clear skies or spare time to indulge myself in this new hobby. Perhaps in a week or so ... so if you’re interested, watch this space.

I’m hoping this post will be of interest to complete Newbies like me – there’s probably not much for others to learn from this. And apologies now if it’s a bit long – feel free to skip through the text and look at the pics if you want to – but I’ll try to give some rationale for my decisions. I’m not in any way saying that I am right, and that I’ve got all my facts straight, but whether I’m right or wrong, this is what I based my decisions on ... so now I have to live with my decisions!

So, off we go ...

After a couple of months getting help from SGL, friends and researching the heck out of the internet, I finally made my first telescope and accessories purchase ...

The ‘scope I bought is a Celestron CPC 1100 – I got aperture fever from the outset, having earlier decided on the 8” version! However, I wanted this to be a once in a lifetime purchase and am fortunate enough to be able to fund that, so I started looking for a little larger aperture. The 925 model beckoned until I realised that weight and OTA lengthwise, there was a big jump from the 800 to the 925, and the 1100 was basically only a further 7lbs heaver, pretty much the same length and only a few inches larger in diameter. I struggled to find any retailer with a 1100 in stock that I could actually see/touch/lift, and emails to local astronomy groups also turned up blanks. I contented myself with seeing a 925 though, and took the chance that the 1100 was indeed not much bigger ... which thankfully it wasn’t!

The alt/az mount was important to me so I can set it all up quickly, as my viewing time will be somewhat limited due to family and other commitments. I know an F/10 alt/az mounted scope will be next to useless for imaging anything other than planets, but if I decide to invest in a Hyperstar unit and automatic focuser, there’s the potential for unguided, short exposure F/2.0 imaging. I’m sure it’s not nearly as easy as the Starizona website makes it look, but the potential was a hook for me – check out this video ...

I also decided on the Baader Hyperion Clickstop Zoom. I’m lazy, so having a single zoom eyepiece appeals, and the Baader gets great reviews on the internet. So there was no more science with my decision than that!

I also purchased the Baader Sky Surfer V Red Dot Finder (RDF). The Telrad pretty much gets universally great reviews and appears to be the definitive finder, but as shallow as I am, I just didn’t like the boxy, plasticy look of it. I’m also intending to be an avid user of my scopes GOTO functionality, so the need to star hop with a calibrated reticle is not there for me. I was put off the Rigel because of dewing potential and I didn’t think the plastic lens looked very robust if I was going to have to give it a wipe clear. I was drawn to the Baader by some online reviews, it’s all metal construction, less likelihood of dewing and with completely clear lens caps that can actually be left on for all but the faintest of viewing, adjustable brightness, completely clear lens not interfering with use, etc.

Lastly, on Dex’s recommendation, I cancelled my order for the Celestron dew shield after a few exchanges on SGL, and replaced it with an Astrozap controller and dew shield with integrated heater strips. Seemed like a sensible thing to do and again I liked the potential neatness of an integrated solution rather than having a separate dew shield. I had seen the integrated Astrozap solution in my research before but then couldn’t find it again when I came to place the order, and then began doubting whether I’d even seen it in the first place until Dex led me down the right path!

365Astronomy had the best price at £2,645 for the scope, lens and RDF, and FLO supplied the Astrozap dew shield and controller. Despite it being the last week before Christmas, both companies provided great service. I placed my order with Zoltan at 365 on Monday night, the order was processed Tuesday and was with me Wednesday. Similarly, my Tuesday order with FLO was also delivered on the same Fedex truck on Wednesday!

I also ordered an £89 Stanley 50 gallon “pro-mobile” job chest from Branded Tools off eBay to store the scope and transport it from my garage to the garden. Again, that was delivered in 24hrs.

I came across this storage solution on the Cloudy Nights forum and am so glad that I did. The JMI case at around $400 was the only other storage solution that I found ... which is just a ridiculous price. I spent £16 today on two thin foam camping mats to line the case, one lying lengthways and the other crossways.

And finally, I ordered a £150 Tracer Power 12V 10Ah lithium ion battery pack to power everything. Full details here ... http://www.deben.com/user/instructions/Tracer_Li-Po_Battery.pdf Again, delivered within 24hrs, this time by UPS. I know, not cheap and it would have been better to have ordered the 17Ah pack, but that was a step up in size, weight and price from the 10Ah one, and I want to Velcro it to the fork arms so it rotates with the scope and eliminates cord wrap, hence my desire to keep it as small and light as possible. I had been holding out for the Starizona piggyback power supply but they are out of stock and at only 4.5Ah it would not have had sufficient capacity for the dew heater as well. As it is 10Ah might be pushing it a bit, but in the near future I’m not ever going to be out stargazing for many hours on end. I reckon a couple of hours will be about it. I was put off the typical Powertank option because they just seemed pretty poor pieces of kit. For me, and my usage, the most glaring issue with them is that they don’t have deep cycle batteries in them, so if they are ever run down too low, that’s likely the end of the Powertank. Also, non-LED lights on the Powertanks, bundled included radios, etc did nothing for me. Again, just my personal preferences.

So, on to unboxing ...

The obvious comment is that these are two big boxes ... one for the tripod and accessories, the other for the combined OTA/fork mount ...

But the contents are well packed and protected by double boxing, which explains at least in part their size ...

Here’s the tripod and accessories box ...

First impressions of the tripod is that it is a very well made, sturdy piece of kit. Two inch legs, I believe, and with an 11” combined fork/OTA on top, I can’t see stability being an issue ... but we will see.

Setup was straightforward, and the integrated spirit level on the top plate confirmed my garage floor is level! I double checked with a separate spirit level, and I’m pleased that the two concur.

Here you can see the spirit level, the locating centre pin and the three captive bolts which are used to secure to the scope/mount combo. Captive bolts are great – they’re not going to get lost in the dark

From the same box, here’s my zoom EP ...

... dew shield and controller ...

... and RDF ...

Zoltan also included a free book – a nice touch ...

OK, on to the main event, box #2 ...

How the hell do I get THAT out??? It weighs 65lbs ...

Oh well, a bit of brute force and here we go ...

That was quite difficult, which has got me worried, but I was reaching over into a box and only able to use one of the handles. Let’s try lifting it up and placing it into my Stanley toolbox ...

Whew, that was much easier! Okay, there’s no denying the weight of the scope, I wouldn’t want to be carrying this across my garden or more than a few feet to the tripod, but the placement of the handles (both of them, one is recessed and generally not visible in the promotional photos), really do make it seem much lighter than it is. It is at the limits of portability, but it IS completely doable/liftable for a grown man!

As you can see, it fits snugly into the case, although the visual back and diagonal will have to come off to get it in. I don’t yet know for certain, but it’s looking like the finder bracket will be able to stay on the scope when in storage, so I won’t need to keep realigning each time. The RDF unit itself will probably need to come off, but perhaps if I mount it on the side it will be able to stay on. We’ll see.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

[Dellis]

Alistair,

Firstly congratulations on the purchase of an excellent scope, I have one and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. I have a specific interest in two of your new items and I would appreciate a bit of feedback when you have an idea of how you're getting along with them. Firstly the Hyperion zoom which I've been considering for a while and secondly on the Stanley box again I've pondered one of these for a while now.

Thanks

Dave

[Cjg]

Congrats on your new scope Alistair, that sure looks a beast. Looking forward to reading your first light report. Where will you do most of your observing from?

Chris

[AlistairHowie]

Alistair,

Firstly congratulations on the purchase of an excellent scope, I have one and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. I have a specific interest in two of your new items and I would appreciate a bit of feedback when you have an idea of how you're getting along with them. Firstly the Hyperion zoom which I've been considering for a while and secondly on the Stanley box again I've pondered one of these for a while now.

Thanks

Dave

Hi Dave - re the Stanely box, I can give you my feedback now. From what I can see (and I did LOTS of research), unless you're willing to shell out $400 plus with shipping, tax, etc for the JMI case, there is no alternative, commercially available storage solution.

You can go for a soft case like the Geoptik Quilt Bag - Geoptik Quilt Bag for Celestron & Meade fork mounted 9' - 11' SC Telescopes - but 1) a soft sided back won't afford much protection, and 2) I could never carry that bag on my own. If it were a backpack, that might be a solution but carrying handles like a holdall would be a no-no for me. I did look for a back pack type solution, as I figured that would be a good way to get it into the boot of my car (reverse myself up to the lip of the back of the car, place the backpack in it, and then ease myself out of the straps. But I never did find such a backpack solution.

The scope fits fine in the Stanley per my photos, there's no issue with leaving mounting brackets for finders, etc on the OTA, although the finder itself and the star diagonal do have to come off. A price worth paying in my book for a £90 solid storage and transport case.

The only real downside that I can see is the difficult I'm going to have getting this into the back of my car. The case itself is about 10kg, so combined with the weight of the scope/fork combo, lifting into the car will not be aone man job ... although I've seen on the Cloudy Nights CPC forum that some people have developed a technique for doing this, and others have considered ramp systems (presumably two planks of wodd = such a system!).

For travelling, I'll simply put the scope in the boot on an old duvet, and return it to it's protective Stanely case when I return from viewing.

As you can imaging with putting a tube in a rectangular case, there's also plenty space for storing accessories as well - you would just have to probably take them all out before removing the scope, and you would need to be careful not to tip the box up on it's end, for example. The scope would be completely secure because it's a nice snug fit, but the accessories would risk rattling about inside. I'm sure you could fashion some way of retaining them though - velcro'd to the side sounds pretty straightforward to do.

Hope this helps. Cheers

[AlistairHowie]

Congrats on your new scope Alistair, that sure looks a beast. Looking forward to reading your first light report. Where will you do most of your observing from?

Chris

Thanks, Chris. Hoping to do much viewing from my garden, but it's fairly obscured as my house is tall the garden ain't long, and there's a great big tree in the middle of the lawn!

That said, viewing nearer the zenith will be fine and I'm sure this will suffice for my first few months as I try to get used to the beast. Once I've got the hang of things, I'm guessing I'll want to decamp to a local field or somewhere. If anyone has any suggestions for sites near to Harpenden, I'll gratefully receive them!

Cheers