Diagonal upgrade

[Steve_meg]

I have been thinking of upgrading my diagonal on me 8se for the standard celestron to a dielectric diagonal.

Firstly is this considered a worthwhile upgrade, will it make a noticeably difference when viewing?

Also my two options are ;

1- the Williams optics carbon fibre 1.25" diagonal. This would be a straight swap but have seen mixed reviews.

2- the Opticron 2" from flo. I assume I will need a different visual back or adaptor, but not sure which one?

Also I imagine this diagonal will be bigger than the standard, so I'm worried it might foul on the mount.

Any ideas and advice welcome

[alan potts]

Steve,

It is my opinion that the 2 inch upgrade is about the best you can make to a scope of this type, mine is just a bigger model. The larger diagonal should not foul the back, it will not on the Meade and I guess the Celestron is the same, though there are people on site with diagonals on these scope so I hope one of them joins in.

You will need a 2 inch visual back for the standard type diagonal but you can also buy a special SC diagonal that connects direct without the need for the back. I have a visual back myself but I know others have the special diagonals.

I have used the WO diagonal but the larger one and I think it is very good, I don't know about Opticron, I have only used their binos.

Once you have this you can then start buying 2 inch eyepieces and watch you wallet empty.

Alan.

[rob0971]

The 2" opticron is a bargain at flo at the moment. Optically very good & 2" is very good especially if you want to start hanging cameras off the back of your scope. Dont forget you can still use 1.25" eyepieces with the 2" diagonal as it is supplied with an adaptor.

[Russko13]

I've been shopping around for an upgrade to the stock 1.25 myself id recommend checking out the skywatcher dielectric £69.99 (all great reviews), William optics carbon fibre £64.99 (again great reviews but one review about vignetting on wide eyepieces put me off), revelation dielectric £52.00 although I've not read anything on this and decided with the skywatcher

[rob0971]

The opticron is under £60.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/clearance/opticron-dielectric-diagonal.html

It is also better made than the 2" skywatcher diagonal I have.