Any Skywatcher Quattro 8S opinions?

[Thalestris24]

Hi Louise,

It has now taken me over 6 months to get the beast working @ F3.6, far from perfect but it is now workable. Some are useable out of the box but this one had all sorts of issues. The adjustments needed to the get the rotation and the tilt of the secondary are minute as you get closer to collimation but if it starts working then it is a phton sucker. I am already giving it its second running tonight and I am hoping  that it will workout. Getting the focus right with this scope is also a right Royal Pain.

Regards,

A.G

Hiya

I won't be getting one! I just couldn't justify it knowing that I could only use it from my living room whilst pointing at light polluted skies! As soon as I get a trolley and a laptop I'll venture outside but I'll be seriously limited by portability. There are some potentially good spots in a nearby park but about 10mins walk away. It will be enough to transport the mount and a small scope. I'll also have to think about things like dew heaters  and other bits and pieces. Until I try it I won't know practical my plan will be. Looking forward to your first Quattro images!

Cheers

Louise

[lensman57]

Hiya

I won't be getting one! I just couldn't justify it knowing that I could only use it from my living room whilst pointing at light polluted skies! As soon as I get a trolley and a laptop I'll venture outside but I'll be seriously limited by portability. There are some potentially good spots in a nearby park but about 10mins walk away. It will be enough to transport the mount and a small scope. I'll also have to think about things like dew heaters  and other bits and pieces. Until I try it I won't know practical my plan will be. Looking forward to your first Quattro images!

Cheers

Louise

Hi Louise,

I know this sounds a bit daft but if you need to move the stuff to set up for imaging I'd stay away from Newtonians. They just don't like to be moved. I just examined the flats that I took a few minutes ago and the damn thing has shifted again, the stars don't look too bad but it is not as good as a few nights ago. Just cut your losses and if possible save up for a decent short and fast ED scope. The equinox 80 is quite a nice scope for the price if you want my opinion.

Regards,

A.G

[Thalestris24]

Hi Louise,

I know this sounds a bit daft but if you need to move the stuff to set up for imaging I'd stay away from Newtonians. They just don't like to be moved. I just examined the flats that I took a few minutes ago and the damn thing has shifted again, the stars don't look too bad but it is not as good as a few nights ago. Just cut your losses and if possible save up for a decent short and fast ED scope. The equinox 80 is quite a nice scope for the price if you want my opinion.

Regards,

A.G

Hiya

Oh dear, sorry for your woes I'm gonna start with the ST80... See how I get on with transporting and setting up. If everything goes well I might get an ED80. One step at a time.. As I say I've yet to get a laptop and other stuff. I'm sitting here with my small living room window open (shiver!) and checking out the ST80 with 1100d on the AVX. Would probably be ok if it wasn't for the coma, the poor visibility and the bloomin Moon! My 150pds is staying where it is!

Hope you can get the Quattro stable. I've seen some awesome images from it and I know others on here have them.

All the best

Louise

[lensman57]

Hiya

Oh dear, sorry for your woes I'm gonna start with the ST80... See how I get on with transporting and setting up. If everything goes well I might get an ED80. One step at a time.. As I say I've yet to get a laptop and other stuff. I'm sitting here with my small living room window open (shiver!) and checking out the ST80 with 1100d on the AVX. Would probably be ok if it wasn't for the coma, the poor visibility and the bloomin Moon! My 150pds is staying where it is!

Hope you can get the Quattro stable. I've seen some awesome images from it and I know others on here have them.

All the best

Louise

You have my sympathy Louise, right now I am  batteling the clouds and Mr Moon to do a LRGB on NGC 7822. I have been imaging since 9 pm and I have not even got enough L data yet due to the clouds ruinning the subs and the start stop nonsense. Sometimes  I think that there are  very good reasons just to stick to my QHY8 and forget all this  RGB and NB nonsense.

Regards,

A.G

[Thalestris24]

You have my sympathy Louise, right now I am  batteling the clouds and Mr Moon to do a LRGB on NGC 7822. I have been imaging since 9 pm and I have not even got enough L data yet due to the clouds ruinning the subs and the start stop nonsense. Sometimes  I think that there are  very good reasons just to stick to my QHY8 and forget all this  RGB and NB nonsense.

Regards,

A.G

Yeah tonight was always a write-off for imaging here but it's so rare to get a glimpse of the stars I thought I'd have a go anyway. The 150pds/qhy8l has stayed asleep, poor thing! One good thing about a dslr is that there's no faffing about with the camera cooling. Can just switch on and go Mind you, even with the cold air the 1100d is clocking at 25 deg C. But I'm only doing 90s subs on account of the fact that anything longer is a white out. It's all the water in the atmosphere, I think, reflecting back the city lp. Not too mention the Moon, of course. Sigh.

Louise

[lensman57]

Yeah tonight was always a write-off for imaging here but it's so rare to get a glimpse of the stars I thought I'd have a go anyway. The 150pds/qhy8l has stayed asleep, poor thing! One good thing about a dslr is that there's no faffing about with the camera cooling. Can just switch on and go Mind you, even with the cold air the 1100d is clocking at 25 deg C. But I'm only doing 90s subs on account of the fact that anything longer is a white out. It's all the water in the atmosphere, I think, reflecting back the city lp. Not too mention the Moon, of course. Sigh.

Louise

I gave up, thick clouds all over.

A.G

[Thalestris24]

Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be better. I think I'm packing up too now - visibility is much too poor. On the plus side, the guiding has been excellent!

I'm looking forward to watching the Russian GP in the morning

Cheers

Louise