Refractor Buying help

[stuffedhaggis]

Hi all

Earlier this year I damaged my arm. So due to this having issues with the finer tunes of a scope. So I have decided to go for a Big ass refractor.

I currently have a 200p on a EQ5 pro and Star traveller 102. I use the 102 more that then 200p due to the tuning up.

I was looking at getting a EvoStar 120 or 150. I know will fit the mount ok. I currently have £300 ish to blow on a scope.

Any idea or input guys would be great. ?

I have looked on ASTO Buy sell and Ebay but cant find any 6” . I can buy a new Evostar 120 for about £250 for the OTA. 

[ronin]

You can check out the Bresser website, they have a 127mm/1200mm achro for 300€ so that is about £240.

They do a 152mm/1200 at about £400 if you really wanted a 6".

With both being 1200mm FL I expect they are the "same" lens just different diameters so therefore the 152 would show more CA.

Not really familiar with any others doing large achro's unless you go for the Istar ones and they cost significantly more.

[nightfisher]

The 120 evostar is a pretty good scope, the 6" is hard to find used these days, but a very good scope is the TAL100rs......if you can find one

[stuffedhaggis]

I thought Bresser was on of the makes to avoid ? Sorry if i am being stupid on that one.

Tal 100RS i Have seen for about 240. Was looking for a bigger aperture so i was was thinking the 120 for the same price ,

[happy-kat]

Does it have to be a refractor what about a 127mm SCT

[John]

This is the same scope as the Skywatcher Evostar 150:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron-6-C6R-F8-Achromatic-Refractor-Telescope-/291258704335?pt=UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item43d05f21cf

Personally I prefer the black Celestron colour scheme. I've nothing to do with the advert by the way.

I've owned a number of the chinese 6" F/8 refractors and they are fun scopes though they do need quite a stout and tall mount. The EQ5 is a little on the small side for them to be honest.

A nice alternative is the Bresser 127L which is a 5" F/9.3. Less chromatic abberation than the 6" F/8's and a little easier to mount. They can be bought as optical tubes from around £280 new. The 127L is the same scope as the Meade AR5 5" refractor which Meade have now dropped.

[ollypenrice]

These Synta achros come under all sorts of names. I have a 6 inch Bresser. It's the same as the others. Pretty basic, rustic construction but not bad views at all and the CA is not unbearable. They're very cheap. Don't buy one for imaging, though.

Olly

[stuffedhaggis]

D

Does it have to be a refractor what about a 127mm SCT

It does not have to be. A Sct could be a good shout. I just want min maintenance ect 

[happy-kat]

Or the other similar is a mak. Though I guess it would be second hand re budget. They are narrower field of view to your refractor.

After reading this I retract my thought :-)

[stuffedhaggis]

Or the other similar is a mak. Though I guess it would be second hand re budget. They are narrower field of view to your refractor.

After reading this I retract my thought :-)

Thanks Kat

[nightfisher]

A 150mm f12 Maksutov is a really good scope, used for about £300

[A McEwan]

Lots of choices in that price bracket.

If going for an achro, as an all-rounder scope, get the longest focal length one you can to cut down on the CA. For deep sky it won't be an issue at all. For solar system, it will - but how much is variable.

Good CA filters will help.

A 6" Mak is a good scope too. I prefer the Skywatcher Maks as they seem to have very good optics and give nice bright views, due to their high f-ratios. Narrow field of view is a bigger downside on paper than in the field!

EQ5 would be happier with a Mak than a biggish refractor. 120mm frac is probably biggest usable on EQ5.

Good hunting!

Ant

[Dude_with_the_tube]

i am a bit concerned with the term: damaged arm and then the statement that you want a 6" refractor. I hope you do realize how damn big these things are? 150mm dia tube might not sound big,but when you see it in flesh you might want to sit down and scratch your head lol.

Also for that beast you will need a good mount.There are very good pictures in this forum under topic:Scope Selfies,i strongly suggest to browse through it.When I saw John`s 6" F12 i was honestly shocked to see the share size of it.

for 300 quid i would possibly go for Skywatcher 100ED. By doing so,you could still keep your current EQ5 mount and utilize it for the 100ED,this scope will show you superb planetary and reasonable DSO,depending on your skies and will be very well colour corrected.Can be picked up s/h for about 300 quid.Obviously as mentioned earlier,Mak will do it too,or if you still want a "big ass" frac,go for the 150 evostar.There will be CA on planets,but not that you cant live with it.Get a good filter and it will be fun to use.However,i would think you will need to upgrade your mount for Evostar.

[happy-kat]

This is the selfie post here and some of those are huge in length and are refractors.

[Moonshane]

I agree about the damaged arm and weight etc. what problems does the arm cause? I cannot quite understand "So due to this having issues with the finer tunes of a scope".

[Jim Steele]

I'd also recommend the tal 100rs, I really do feel it punches above is weight and shows superb contrasty views. It's reasonably light so far as I can lug it one handedly down the stairs from the bed room. I wouldn't have liked to have gone much bigger since my storage options are limited.

[Peter Drew]

I would stick with the 200P, a better all round telescope than any of the others mentioned in a similar price bracket IMHO.   

[perfrej]

I make a very clear distinction between a refractor and a reflector; they are not the same. Just take collimation as an example... Neither can you cannot compare an f/12 scope to an f/5-f/8.

Personally, I am pretty much done for now with reflectors. I like refractor images better, dislike spikes and hate collimation Then again, in the future I may want to go long focal length and will resort to a reflector...

/per

[perfrej]

This is the same scope as the Skywatcher Evostar 150:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Celestron-6-C6R-F8-Achromatic-Refractor-Telescope-/291258704335?pt=UK_Photography_Telescopes&hash=item43d05f21cf

Personally I prefer the black Celestron colour scheme. I've nothing to do with the advert by the way.

I've owned a number of the chinese 6" F/8 refractors and they are fun scopes though they do need quite a stout and tall mount. The EQ5 is a little on the small side for them to be honest.

A nice alternative is the Bresser 127L which is a 5" F/9.3. Less chromatic abberation than the 6" F/8's and a little easier to mount. They can be bought as optical tubes from around £280 new. The 127L is the same scope as the Meade AR5 5" refractor which Meade have now dropped.

Black scopes dew up more than white ones as they radiate much more and thus become cooler, in turn decreasing the temperature distance between the scope and the dew-point. So even though they look nice, white ones are much preferred. I would guess this is an issue in the U.K. as you tend to handle the Atlantic lows so that we, here in the North, can enjoy both the weather and the clear, reasonably dew-free, nights

/per

[stuffedhaggis]

Thanks for all the advice. My damaged arm is a my matter. Just now I struggle with fine tunning a scope. So this is why I want a refractor.

I am keeping my 200p as its a nice scope. In time I may use it again but not just now.

I am more shifted towards the evostar 120 as my budget just does not stretch to the 150 just yet. Also looking to have it up and running for Galloway this year in November

[John]

Black scopes dew up more than white ones as they radiate much more and thus become cooler, in turn decreasing the temperature distance between the scope and the dew-point. So even though they look nice, white ones are much preferred. I would guess this is an issue in the U.K. as you tend to handle the Atlantic lows so that we, here in the North, can enjoy both the weather and the clear, reasonably dew-free, nights

/per

Interesting but I've owned a number of black ones over the years including my current Istar and dewing has never been an issue with any of them to any extent more than my other colour ones. You may be correct in theory but I've not seen it happen in practice

[John]

On the size / handling issue, here is a (not great) photo of the Meade AR6 6" F/8 that I used to have which weighed around 12kg with the diagonal, finder etc. I'm 6 foot tall and not a small chap as you can see

[John]

Here is my Istar 6" F/12 with the Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 and Skywatcher ED120 F/7/5 for scale. Six inch refractors get big !

[pete_l]

Black scopes dew up more than white ones as they radiate much more and thus become cooler, in turn decreasing the temperature distance between the scope and the dew-point. 

You might have just hit on the next astro-accessory: leg warmers for OTA's? I know what I want for christmas

[perfrej]

Ah, but my SW250P was magically cured of all dew problems when I wrapped it in camping mat - the whole thing was wrapped. There is a thread on SGL about it...