Am I crazy or simply out of my mind..?!

[emadmoussa]

As you might've noticed I have my C11 up for sale - for many reasons really one of which is transportability and not being able to get an observatory any time soon. I also offered the telescope for a swap with a 115mm plus doublet/triplet refractor with difference made in cash if necessary. My aim is visual and would like to take the path of medium power refractors exclusively for DSOs. which means of course I'll probably end up finding a new home to the ED80.

So, someone offered a swap with a William Optics 110 FLT with TEC optics...I like such a telescope, but I don't see that as a fair trade even though the price is similar if not slightly higher than the C11. The other thing is, I'm assuming for visual an ED doublet and triplet apo won't show much difference, would they?

Will I be insane to accept the offer?

[cotterless45]

You've to find someone equally sane or insane.

[foundaplanet]

If someone offered me a 110 triplet for a C11 I would think they were being very generous and I would snap their hand off. But then I know what I want to do with astronomy and don't do anything on impulse in the first place..

[ronin]

Don't put yourself down, both crazy and out of your mind. :grin:

Think the FLT is around f/7 so would not expect visually to see much difference between doublet and triplet.

The FLT is (should be) a triplet, air spaced triplet.

I know what I would do but I like refractors, and that makes it a bit irrelevant.

Think I read similar choice previously, it was between the FLT 110 and the FLT 98.

If I recall the 110 used FPL-51 and the 98 used FPL-53. However WO seem to make their scopes more around f/7 so the glass of either type is more then capable of controlling any CA.

Is there a difference between the TEC optics and WO optics? Were they the same source anyway.

The FLT 110 still weighs 13.3 lbs, so with athe odd bit or 2 close to 14lbs,

[andrew63]

If the telescope is to be used mainly for visual DSO viewing - it's barely over 4" - the results will be hugely disappointing in comparison to the C11. A small faint smudge given good skies for the majority of objects.

Saying that - i love my 4" refractor !

andrew

[Scott]

I think, from a purely financial aspect (i don't know either scope), it seems a straight swap would be the only fair outcome althought the frac fella wants to make sure he keeps his finder.

[emadmoussa]

Don't put yourself down, both crazy and out of your mind. :grin:

Think the FLT is around f/7 so would not expect visually to see much difference between doublet and triplet.

The FLT is (should be) a triplet, air spaced triplet.

I know what I would do but I like refractors, and that makes it a bit irrelevant.

Think I read similar choice previously, it was between the FLT 110 and the FLT 98.

If I recall the 110 used FPL-51 and the 98 used FPL-53. However WO seem to make their scopes more around f/7 so the glass of either type is more then capable of controlling any CA.

Is there a difference between the TEC optics and WO optics? Were they the same source anyway.

The FLT 110 still weighs 13.3 lbs, so with athe odd bit or 2 close to 14lbs,

IT's actually f/6.5

TEC optics are supposedly a US company that produced superb optics for William optics..

[emadmoussa]

If the telescope is to be used mainly for visual DSO viewing - it's barely over 4" - the results will be hugely disappointing in comparison to the C11. A small faint smudge given good skies for the majority of objects.

Saying that - i love my 4" refractor !

andrew

I'm not expecting equal results same as the C11 - but it seems that the best scope is the one that gets used the most, and the C11 is not one unfortunately.

[John]

The blunt truth is that the best optics in the world are not going to make up for a loss of 7" of aperture either for planetary or DSO viewing. Having owned 30+ scopes over the years I've learned the hard way sometimes not to make knee jerk changes. Try and think about what you want to get from a scope and the hobby and then whether there is a way to tick the boxes without the disadvantages of your current setup.

[emadmoussa]

The blunt truth is that the best optics in the world are not going to make up for a loss of 7" of aperture either for planetary or DSO viewing. Having owned 30+ scopes over the years I've learned the hard way sometimes not to make knee jerk changes. Try and think about what you want to get from a scope and the hobby and then whether there is a way to tick the boxes without the disadvantages of your current setup.

That's fair, John. I was thinking if I have the WO 110mm, I won't need the 80ED and by selling it I could finance a 250mm Dob to keep in case of aperture fever. I'm not a reflector person, but heard so much about Dobs and probably I gave one a shot

[Naemeth]

If the telescope is to be used mainly for visual DSO viewing - it's barely over 4" - the results will be hugely disappointing in comparison to the C11. A small faint smudge given good skies for the majority of objects.

Saying that - i love my 4" refractor !

andrew

The blunt truth is that the best optics in the world are not going to make up for a loss of 7" of aperture either for planetary or DSO viewing. Having owned 30+ scopes over the years I've learned the hard way sometimes not to make knee jerk changes. Try and think about what you want to get from a scope and the hobby and then whether there is a way to tick the boxes without the disadvantages of your current setup.

Totally agree with these two posts. No matter how good the triplet will be for colour correction, you're still losing a huge amount of aperture.

The 250PX would be a good idea, it's not heavy (13kg for the OTA, 15kg for the base) and it would give great views.

I don't think this hobby benefits from impulse really, decisions are better made with lots of thought.

[Stargazer_00]

I'd sell it and get a 300P flextube personally. Pretty portable, and compacts down to save itself in size.

Probably about the same portability in truth as trhe C11. I can't imagine mount a C11 is very fun if you take it on and off the mount each time you move it. Dobs are alot easier to set up.

[emadmoussa]

I appreciate the thoughts, guys. I'm honestly in two minds about my C11...I know for sure if I sell I'll definitely miss it - probably right away. I have to say I'm not as keen about selling it today as I was yesterday. Transportability aside, I noticed that DSOs in this SCT tend to be less sharp and bright than in a refractor - I understand there's some loss of light due to obstruction in the middle - bu shouldn't aperture make up the difference...?!. I will actually start a new thread on this subject.

[YKSE]

..... don't do anything on impulse in the first place..

The blunt truth is that the best optics in the world are not going to make up for a loss of 7" of aperture either for planetary or DSO viewing. Having owned 30+ scopes over the years I've learned the hard way sometimes not to make knee jerk changes. Try and think about what you want to get from a scope and the hobby and then whether there is a way to tick the boxes without the disadvantages of your current setup.

Can't agree more with these coments.

Emad, please take your time, think over the whole setup and consequences, make a detailed list of what you want to do with your scopes, a pro/con list of each setup means, weight, size, portability, cost,etc, etc.It's just like life, we can't get perfect solution to everything, most of the time, we just try to make a best compromise that we know we are content with.

[rowan46]

you are not going to get anything like the views on a c11 from any refractor that you can carry. To quote the famous Scottish Engineer "ya cannae change the laws of physics". as to sharpness its not so surprising that a wide field scope seems sharper but take it up to the same magnification on both scopes and you will see a difference if you don't. either the c11 isn't cooled, collimated or there's something wrong with your optics on the c11.

I had a c5 and to be honest on many dso's it was much better than my 80mm apo triplet but I like wide field observing and that was one of the reasons for the swap.

Do the test stick a 24mm in your c11 and a 5-6mm in your ed 80 then point them at some globs and then see how sharp the refractor is compared to the c11

[HD-AP]

Hi

I would wait a couple of weeks before making an impulse decission you may regret .

I have sold some rare equipment in the past and regretted my decission to do so ever since .

why not keep the c11 sell the refractor to fund a larger refractor new or secondhand ?