Celestron C6 SGT vs C6 R refractor

[Sam Bo]

Hey all

Ok...forget about the C8 N reflector for the min..in the blue corner is Celestrons C6 SGT..in the red corner is Celestrons C6R..both have 6 inches of aperture...will the refractor win on observation and astrophotography?? Who would you bet on??

[GordonCopestake]

They are two different animals dispite identical apertures and similar f/ratios. The 6" Refractor is massive, a real yard canon. The 6" SCT uses a folded design to make it compact and portable, and this has it's drawbacks. The refractor will always win optically but the mounting requirements, the storage and portabilty all suffer because of this.

It all comes down to what you want in a 'scope and if portability is important.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Either one, it depends on the mount really. I'd go for the green corner, the C8N for photography as its much faster. For visual, I'd go for the C8N as it has more aperture, for carting the things about, the C6 SGT and for optical contrast, the C6R.

None of these 'scopes is a redundant / seperceded / better than / worse than type of 'scope, they all do different things well. You need to give us a clue what you intend to do with it then its easier to form an opinion or offer a suggestion.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Sam Bo]

Thanks for your comments

Well ive been interested in the C6 SGT for a while now as i am willing to spend about £800 on a second scope. Ive been using a Bresser Skylux for about a year now and im looking to get into deep sky observing and hopefully astrophotography. Portability is an issue as i would like to take the scope to dark sites plus i think i would probably not use a large scope as much. Ive read up on most of the issues relating to Refractors, Reflectors and CATS (such as aperture, focal lengths, weights, GOTO noise..etc). At one point i was tempted by the C8 N over the C6 SGT as it is cheaper and will give better observing/photos though others have suggested its size and weight can make it harder to use for AP. Now ive realised that there is the 6" refractor which i know will give quality observing compared to the CAT and its around the same price.

I really am tempted by the C6 SGT due to its size and its potential ease of use for AP. The question is would i be wishing i purchased a 6" refractor or the C8 N if i could stand them side by side and look down the eyepiece. Would the extra effort setting up the scopes and getting used to their setups in comparison to the C6 SGT be worthy of their performance? Is this a personal question or is this something that everyone would agree on? I reckon it seems to be about 50/50 between the C8 N and the C6SGT?

[Whippy]

As the old saying goes: 'aparture is king'. I'd go for the bigger scope everytime. If you're going for astrophotography, I'm sure most people would say go for the Skywatcher 8" reflector and an HEQ5 mount and the scope is almost the same as the Celestron (same manufacturer) but the mount is better. You might even be able to squeeze GOTO in there to boot if that's your fancy. If imaging isn't on your agenda, get the C8N and save yourself a few quid. Remember the 8" is only 1 metere long, so it'll go easily along the back seat of your car if you're carting it about.

Tony..

[GordonCopestake]

What Tony said