Optical quality vs portability : searching for the best travel telescope

[DRT]

An interesting thread.

I am off to the Caribbean in October and have been agonising over which scope to buy and take with me. I quickly worked out that the CPC1100, 12" Dob and Evostar 120 wouldn't fit in my hand luggage so have just bought a Celestron C6 SCT. I was planning on a Explorer 150P-DS but decided the hassle and risk of putting it in the hold just wasn't worth it.

For this holiday only the C6 will sit on an AstroMaster Tripod that will fit in my suitcase and was bought specifically for this trip. When it returns home it will go on my EQ5. The C6 will travel in my hand luggage, as will my TV Plossls.

For those who are happy to trust the ground staff at airports: I once bought a corporate gift of a crystal decanter and a 50yr old bottle of Vintage Port for a leaving gift for a customer in Dublin. The box, whch was about the size of a case of 12 bottles of wine, was wrapped in "FRAGILE" tape with bright orange "GLASS" labels on all sides. As I stood up on landing in Dublin I looked out of the window just in time to see one of the ground crew drop-kick the box about 15 yards to his mate who was loading the transport cart. You can guess the rest.

[Stu_2011]

The Altair Astro 60 mm triplet is very compact, well priced and a great visual scope. I would take this abroad as hand luggage over my Equinox 80 mm I reckon.

I also would never put anything delicate or fragile in the hold, I fly 2 or 3 times a month and have seen some horrible things with the baggage handlers.

The Caribbean should be good, isn't that where Damian Peach took one of his amazing Jupiter shots?

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[Captain Harlock]

This Altair Astro 60mm looks good. How does it compare with the Equinox 80 ?

I just found an old thread showing a picture of the Equinox 80 in its case. It is only 46cm long, which makes it perfect for taking as cabin luggage with any airline company.

I have to say I am now almost sold on the Equinox...

Doesn't the extra aperture and focal length give it more versatility over the Altair Astro 60mm ? 

[DRT]

The Caribbean should be good, isn't that where Damian Peach took one of his amazing Jupiter shots?

Not sure. All I know is that I'm going to a very quiet resort on Grenada with its own 1km long south-facing beach surrounded by woodland on the other three sides

There is also a national park in the centre of the island where you can drive close to the top of an extinct volvano. If that doesn't give me a dark sky I don't know what will !!

Hence why I want my optics to be inteact when I get there.

[Stu_2011]

This Altair Astro 60mm looks good. How does it compare with the Equinox 80 ?

I just found an old thread showing a picture of the Equinox 80 in its case. It is only 46cm long, which makes it perfect for taking as cabin luggage with any airline company.

I have to say I am now almost sold on the Equinox...

Doesn't the extra aperture and focal length give it more versatility over the Altair Astro 60mm ?

The Equinox is probably the more adaptable scope, you are hard pushed to find any bad reviews on it.

If you think you can manage with the size of the Equinox then it would be a good choice. The Altair 60 mm is a very good scope but the extra aperture of the Equinox helps.

I tend to use the Altair 60 more like a long telephoto camera lens or a really good wide field scope for scanning the Milky Way. The Equinox will do this as well but it can be pushed to give half decent planetary views as well.

Thanks

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[Chinapig]

I just found an old thread showing a picture of the Equinox 80 in its case. It is only 46cm long, which makes it perfect for taking as cabin luggage with any airline company.

I have to say I am now almost sold on the Equinox...

Hiya

Just checked my Equinox 80, and the case measures 46.5 x 32 x 19.5 cm. The case, plus scope, tripod/dovetail foot and finder shoe weigh 6kg. Room in the case for a couple of EPs & probably a 1.25" diagonal, but I haven't one here to try.

It's a very versatile little scope - nicely made, and a pleasure to use. Whether mounted on my AZ EQ6, or a Manfrotto tripod, it's the scope I use most often. Lovely views for widefield visual, or AP, and latterly I've been using it to try out some video astronomy, with a Meade f6.3 FR to bring the ratio down a tad further. For grab & go, I sometimes use it on the Manfrotto, with its central column in horizontal mode, which makes it easier to reach the zenith. For extra stability, I discovered that a SW counterweight from the main mount slips on the tripod's central column a treat! But there are a number of ways to get extra stability - bag of pebbles, a piece of rock and a velcro strap or two, etc.

Best of luck with your final choice.

Cheers

Simon

[ollypenrice]

OK, regarding the use of the hold for scope transport I wouldn't pack a reflector. Even when they are well protected on the outside the insides are not as firmly attached the the tube as is the case with refractors. Loosely attached mirrors (the only way to attach them) have high inertia once moving and don't like being stopped suddently. Fair enough.

There will be horror stories but if I'd listened to all of them I wouldn't have been able to ride around all over the world on my bike. No tours of Mexico, the USA, Ecuador, Thailand, Cyprus,  etc etc. I could have stayed safely at home and ridden round the Derbyshire dales - again. I've put a 5 inch refractor in the hold four times without issue. That doesn't prove anything in itself, nor does the odd destroyed scope. That is going to happen from time to time, but so is smashing your scope up in a banal car accident on the way to a star party.

Parcel Farce smashed something through the Takahshi metal and plywood flightcase of the FSQ I bought second hand...

But the telescope is fine. They paid me £480 for the box so I ended up smiling!

The cabin baggage is best for a scope, obviously, but I would still put a slightly too large rafractor in the hold. It would need to be in its own flight case and in something to allow that case to slow down slowly if dropped. ie lots of clothing and other shock absorption. I know that baggage handling is awful and this does need sorting at the airports. It can't go on being as bad as it is. But there is a near hysteria in some circles regarding the level of care and it is exaggerated. As I say, sixty flights, many long haul, with two to four bikes per party. Call that about 150 'bicycle flights' in my personal experience. That is a non-zero level of experience, at least.

Olly

[Earl]

I know my FSQ has gone, Japan to New Zealand to japan to New Zealand to the UK, no problems, in nothing but its official packaging.

[Captain Harlock]

Hiya

Just checked my Equinox 80, and the case measures 46.5 x 32 x 19.5 cm. The case, plus scope, tripod/dovetail foot and finder shoe weigh 6kg. Room in the case for a couple of EPs & probably a 1.25" diagonal, but I haven't one here to try.

It's a very versatile little scope - nicely made, and a pleasure to use. Whether mounted on my AZ EQ6, or a Manfrotto tripod, it's the scope I use most often. Lovely views for widefield visual, or AP, and latterly I've been using it to try out some video astronomy, with a Meade f6.3 FR to bring the ratio down a tad further. For grab & go, I sometimes use it on the Manfrotto, with its central column in horizontal mode, which makes it easier to reach the zenith. For extra stability, I discovered that a SW counterweight from the main mount slips on the tripod's central column a treat! But there are a number of ways to get extra stability - bag of pebbles, a piece of rock and a velcro strap or two, etc.

Best of luck with your final choice.

Cheers

Simon

Thank you all for your output, some very interesting comments in here.

I just placed the order for an Equinox 80, which seems to offer the best size/quality/price ratio. Unfortunately, it comes without star diagonal...

I understand that the obvious choice would be to get a 1.25 inch, to keep things small and light, and because the focal length of the Equinox 80 should offer enough FOV to stick to my 1.25 EPs.

However, if I go the 2 inch route, I could also use it on my SW 200P Dobsonian...

I have an eye on the William Optics Dielectric model, and the weight of the 2" version is more than twice the weight of the 1.25". Is it also twice bigger in terms of size ?

I have no idea on how they compare in terms of footprint.

Simon, if you say that a 1.25" diagonal would probably fit in the case of the Equinox 80, does it imply that a 2" diagonal would be too big ?

Many thanks,

Hugo

[Earl]

These diagonals are good:

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

Not very expensive at all, I have one and have no complaints

[rowan46]

Thank you all for your output, some very interesting comments in here.

I just placed the order for an Equinox 80, which seems to offer the best size/quality/price ratio. Unfortunately, it comes without star diagonal...

I understand that the obvious choice would be to get a 1.25 inch, to keep things small and light, and because the focal length of the Equinox 80 should offer enough FOV to stick to my 1.25 EPs.

However, if I go the 2 inch route, I could also use it on my SW 200P Dobsonian...

I have an eye on the William Optics Dielectric model, and the weight of the 2" version is more than twice the weight of the 1.25". Is it also twice bigger in terms of size ?

I have no idea on how they compare in terms of footprint.

Simon, if you say that a 1.25" diagonal would probably fit in the case of the Equinox 80, does it imply that a 2" diagonal would be too big ?

Many thanks,

Hugo

Why would you want a diagonal on a dob? If its portability you want and you are using 1 1/4" eyepieces get the 1 1/4" diagonal it is a fair bit smaller and thus easier to pack  the trick with ultimate portability is as small and light as possible

[Chinapig]

Simon, if you say that a 1.25" diagonal would probably fit in the case of the Equinox 80, does it imply that a 2" diagonal would be too big ?

Many thanks,

Hugo

Hugo - just checked my Equinox 80 case, and my 2" diagonal is a tight fit, but squeezes into the foam cut-out ok, so a 1.25" diagonal would be an easy fit. Room for two or three eyepieces as well.

Cheers

Simon

[Captain Harlock]

Perfect, thanks !

PS: Rowan, I got your point, it wouldn't make any sense on a dob, my bad 

[Astrodob]

If u want a big apature and portabillity the lightbridge series wins...

[Captain Harlock]

Ideally, I want something which fits in a small suitcase (cabin size).

Regarding the diagonal, my only 2" eyepiece is the Nirvana 28mm, a 1 kg beast (but stellar performer).

Wouldn't such a big EP upset the balance of a small 80mm telescope, especially on a light photo tripod ?

[nmoushon]

I'll give another shout out to the Equinox ED80. Its a small compact scope and the hard case fits inside one of my large backpacks. It takes up the whole backback but that helps give you a bit more sense of size. I mainly use mine for imaging and absolutely love it. The focuser isnt quite up for the task of my heavy CCD but for visual you'll have absolutely no problems. I've used my visually several times and even from my LP backyard it give god crispy views. I do find that the max EP I can use and still give good contrast and achieves good focus is 5mm. That's even pushing it I think but with my LP and poor seeing conditions its about the same as a 7-9mm in perfect seeing. Even the planets and moon have good detail and contrast. Can easily pick up the  2 main bands on Jupiter and plenty of moons on Jupiter and Saturn. I think you'd be very happy with for a travel scope. And if you ever decide to venture into AP, IMHO, I think its the best affordable doublet out there.

[Crebles]

+1 for the idea of a little 'cheap' SkyWatcher StarTravel ST-80. I love mine. £125 all in, including an EQ1 mount and tripod (though there is an Alt-Az mount available). 

I bought it specifically for taking to a dark sky site in Spain last summer. Not too precious if it gets knocked about; even bubble-wrapped it fitted easily into a cabin-allowable sized suitcase with room for camera and eyepieces. The tripod, mount and counterweight went in a big case in the aeroplane's hold. My Canon 600D DSLR goes on the little end easily with enough travel in the focusser to reach focus. Added a little £30 battery-powered clock drive and I got some nice astro-holiday-snaps (they're not going to worry Nik Szymanek or Damien Peach but I'm proud of them!). Usable one day as a guidescope maybe, and I'm happy enough keeping it in the car, letting the kids use it etc. Not used it yet for solar, but it'll lend itself to that well enough.

I gather the Evostar ED80-DS PRO will give better images, and I know a guy in the local astronomy shop who loves his Equinox 80 APO PRO for purely visual use; I'm considering one of these two myself.

Enjoy whatever you choose - and keep us posted.