Good Travelscope.

[Jon Sales]

Well I and the Mrs have decided we're gonna get a 10" Dob for home but we'd like a nice short tube frac as a travel scope.

This needs to be portable with a mount for airline travel as we'll be taking it abroad quite a bit with us.

I've been reading up about the Ioptron Mini Cube Pro mount as they state it's ideal for airline travel and it's a GoTo GPS mount.

Anyone able to suggest a decent short tube to go on this and does anyone have any experience with this mount? Or is there a good alternative?

Clear skies

[garethmob]

Just wondering but what kind of objects would you like to see?

Iv got the william optics megrez 72 and I really like it but it is a wide field scope it does show slight colouring but only on really bright targets but iv never tried really good eye pieces in it

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jon Sales]

It will just be for wide field and the odd nebula and fuzzy that we come across.

We go to Africa and the canaries once a year so it will be going with us.

I'm sure the local kiss would like to look through it too.

[cathalferris]

Why not check out Sumerian Optics travel scopes for the best of both?

They're taking new orders for the new designs of travelscopes in about June or so.

A 10" dob that completely collapses into a very small space and a handful of 'tent poles' - you could easily fly with it to the Canaries.

If you're set on a grab'n'go refractor, pretty much any of the ED80 doublets will fit the bill. Skywatcher, Stellarvue, Celestron, Orion, William Optics all make or made ED doublet scopes that would fit the bill.

I've picked up a Celestron Onyx 80ED and it's been great for both a bit of quick deepsky peeking and getting a nice view of Jupiter or Saturn as well. I also picked up a rebadged Stellarvue ED70SV for widefield photos but it's not too shabby for it's aperture when used for visual stuff.

The ED doublets are generally light, very fast to cool down, with enough chromatic control to be able to use them up to the 50x per inch limit on most objects. Add a solar film filter and a good diagonal and it's a versatile daytime scope as well. Most of the ED doublets are also fairly lightweight so shouldn't screw up the luggage restrictions for the holiday flights.

You'll need a half-decent mount for the 80mm scopes to get the best out of them. I've tried the onyx on a €50 camera tripod, and while it was usable it was a little frustrating as it was wobbly and hard to focus cleanly. I've also got a Manfrotto tripod head on an ETX70 tripod and that's stable but without slow motions. The last mount that would be in the grab'n'go category for me is the Skywatcher AZ-3, and that's plenty good for the little refractors. I'm setup and looking in under 2 min from arriving home.

[Jon Sales]

Thanks for the input.

The mount I've been looking at is the iOptron cube pro.

[E621Keith]

Have you consider the Vixen GP2 photoguider mount or Astrotrac. They are very light and good for travelling if you don't need GOTO.

If you are not doing any imaging, you should consider ED spotting scopes as well. Often they are lighter than the standard ED80 and can be used up to 60x without much problem. Celestron Regal weights 2kg and Pentax PF80 weights only 1.4 kg compared to a ED80 OTA which weights 2.6kg. This additional weight saving can be important if you want to keep your carry on luggage under the 6kg limit.

Other portable scopes to consider includes the Borg 71FL (1.2kg), 77ED (1.7kg), the mini Borg series and William optics Megrez 72 (1.8kg)

[Jon Sales]

Thanks Keith, was looking at the William Optics Megrez half an hour ago lol.

Just need to find a decent mount for it for travelling.

I'll also invest in a mount for it next year for AP at home

[Jon Sales]

Are Starwave any good our should I avoid it like the plague?

also been looking at Skywatcher 80ED's.

[garethmob]

how good are you at finding stuff jon? because im just wondering if GOTO is really needed, you can get a EQ1 with clock drive (the table mount) that will handle somthing like the megrez

otherwise theres also the Astrotrac the holiday packege is really worth while (as long as you have the money) im using my kson foor it atm, and it also is really fantastic for AP, it also has solar and luna sidereel rates the astrotrac can hold 15kg, decent tripod or even the piller and it all should fit in aircraft weight / hand baggage

[garethmob]

starwave scopes are copys of i think the skywatcherED's (i think but may be wrong) but i think they are more designed for AP as they have a 3" eyepeice focuser (but have adapters i think)

[E621Keith]

The Starwave scope are suppose to be very good, but weight may be an issue.

[Jon Sales]

@ Gaz - I have Sky Safari Plus and a host of others on my phone and also a GCSE in Astronomy. I'm good with the sky here but of course don't know Kenyan skies that well.

Goto is just an option i'm looking at. If I went for the basic mount what do you think I'd get away with bearing in mind I'd rather it have at least setting circles?

Thanks for the info Keith, thought they may be some cheap rip off because of their price tag.

[garethmob]

i know what you mean, when i ever go to a dark site i find it difficult picking out constilations let alone any obvious objects:P

what basic mount do you mean (eq1?) Orion Mini EQ Mount its sold out but might be else ware, looks like it has setting circles and optional motor, and in the diy thread theres one where a few members have put guiding into it for cheap AP i would imagine somthing short in the megrez 70 - 72 range, theres a reveleation version, the skywatcher 80 but check weight of the scope (not for the mount but for the trip)

[Jon Sales]

Thanks Gaz will check the weight.

Preferably an eq of some kind would be better I think. I could always have the mount in Tyre suitcase and the OTA with me as hand luggage.

[ollypenrice]

In visual use most of the huge range of small doublets are good. I'd go for the biggest aperture you feel you could get away with. Since you'll have a wide field, making finding things easy if you have good charts, it might be advantageous to put more into the optics and just go for a manual alt-az mount.

Before moving to live in a dark place I used to fly with a 100mm TeleVue Genesis which would (just) go on as hand luggage in a case I made for it. They go second hand for £800 or so. You'll always get your money back as well.

Olly

[cs1cjc]

I covered my setup here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/discussions-scopes-whole-setups/161891-aircraft-cabin-baggage-compatible-astronomy.html

[Jon Sales]

Thanks for that Chris.

Think I might go for the William Optics Megrez or an 80ED of some sort.

Just need to check the carry on weight with the airline. We fly premium to Kenya and I think it's about 10kg.

[cs1cjc]

Hi,

There is an objective review of 70mm to 72mm refractors here:

Google Translate

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have put together a setup with the APM 80mm F/6 Triplet (same as the TS), and a collection of EPs that can be put in the hand luggage (5.8 kg with stout camera bag), and I put the tripod in the luggage in the hold. I just need to upgrade the mount to a mini-giro (just 1 kg) manual alt-az. That should keep me happy. Some airlines allow 6 kg + a laptop as carry-on allowance. Furthermore, if you contact the airline in advance, you can often get a slightly bigger allowance (free of charge). Remind them of this at check in, and they stick an "approved cabin luggage" label on your bag.

[E621Keith]

Hi,

There is an objective review of 70mm to 72mm refractors here:

Google Translate

Interesting review for 60mm-72mm travel scopes, I have not seen Strehl numbers tested at multiple wave length in a scope review.

[Jon Sales]

Thanks Michael. I'll start looking at weights with a Megrez 72 and see what I can get away with:)

[TheMightyKong]

These are really spendy but have often drooled over them:

Portable telescopes, airline portable, digital setting circles, computerized telescopes

I really like the self contained cabin baggage unit and claimed no tool setup.

[Jon Sales]

Now there's another option lol