borderfin Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hi,I'm a new member and asked a question yesterday about that scope and mount to buy for casual observing, mainly lunar and planetary with some deep sky, nebula etc. I can't find my topic, though, and am not sure where to ask questions and how they appear.Anyway, I'm looking at either a Skymax 150 or a second hand 180 - what would be an alternative scope to look at?In terms of a mount the Celestron CG5 has been recommended. I want a go to function that's really easy to use.Any advice on what scopes and mounts to consider would be very welcome - also how to post questions on this site.Thanks,borderfin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjedi Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Hi!!How much are you looking to spend?The SKymax is a beautifull scope and will serve you well. Just a note of caution though the bigger Maks do take longer to cool down before viewing sessions. Most owners of big Maks keep their scope in a shed or garage so that it is always close to ambient temp.As alternative the Skywatcher Newtonians are cheaper per inch of aperture - for example you can get the Skywatcher 150p newt on a goto EQ mount for similar money to the Skymax 150 OTA only. Plus the newts cool down quicker.On the subject of easy to use goto mounts I unfortunately don't have experience of such gizmos and so cannot advise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.h.f.wilkinson Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 The Skymax scopes are really nice. An alternative to the Skymax 180 is the Celestron C8. It is considerably lighter than the Skymax 180 (4.7kg vs 7.8kg: the C8 is even 2 lb lighter than the Skymax 150). They come up secondhand quite frequently compared to Skymax 180. The SCTs are faster than the Maksutovs (F/10 vs F/15), meaning they can see a 50% wider field of view (in diameter, 125% more in terms of surface area on the sky), and their thinner corrector plates ensure slightly faster cool down. The C8 OTA cost about the same as a Skymax 180 and has almost an inch of extra aperture. On deep sky the C8 is the winner, on planets they are quite closely matched.Mount-wise the CG5, EQ5 or the Vixen GP series will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borderfin Posted March 9, 2013 Author Share Posted March 9, 2013 Thanks for the responses. After looking around a bit I'm now thinking of a Celestron 8 SE rather than the Skymax Mak. Any thoughts anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjedi Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 The 8 SE is a very good scope indeed. .. How much did you want to spend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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