Compact replacement for skywatcher 200p

[astromartian]

Hi folks,

Selling my scope to make space for addition to family but keeping HEQ 5. I started dabbling in photography and need to find a replacement in the £500 range. Considered Quattro but doesn't seem much smaller so it's either refractor or cassegrain. Cassegrains seem to be not great for DSO due to large focal length so I think the best choose is 80ed. Am I right in my assessment? Will 80ed be ok for visual too?

Over to you.

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[Alkaid]

Not an imager, but always seem to hear good things about the ED80 and HEQ5 combo when used as an imaging platform. 80mm will be good for imaging, but may be a bit small if using visually? Would be a good grab and go for Lunar though.

[Hertford Stargazer]

I've just got an 80ed for my birthday, tried it last night for a few minutes on Jupiter using up to 120 x magnification and was seriously impressed. I wasn't expecting to much compared to my other scopes 200p, evo 150, 120 but as I say I was impressed, I'm just waiting for a clear night so I can really put it through it's paces   

[astromartian]

I've just got an 80ed for my birthday, tried it last night for a few minutes on Jupiter using up to 120 x magnification and was seriously impressed. I wasn't expecting to much compared to my other scopes 200p, evo 150, 120 but as I say I was impressed, I'm just waiting for a clear night so I can really put it through it's paces

Ok cool, let me know how you get on. Very keen to find out how it compares vs. 200p in visual observing.

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[Hertford Stargazer]

Judging by my local forecast it may well be some time before I get to play with 80ed again   I always thought the theory of a new scope causing mass cloud cover was rubbish, I'm not so sure now 

[astromartian]

Sold mount and OTA so now looking at whole new setup. Thinking about a used Celestron 6 SE.

[JG777]

I use a 80mm Equinox for grab n go visual and some solar and moon AP. For visual it is really nice for planets, moon and wide field. DSO less so, the brighter ones OK but nothing like a 200 newt can offer. If you want 200 newt performance in a smaller scope then a C8 would be a good choice but do remember it has a narrower field of view, probably takes longer to cool down and would definitely need some dew control kit.

Always some kind of trade off with scopes!

[happy-kat]

What about the 130p-ds?

[russ.will]

An 8" SCT is a pretty good balance between aperture (DSO) and focal length (planets, globs etc). You can always jam an F6.3 reducer/corrector on it (£50-60 second hand) to get down to a manageable 1260mm FL which is shorter than a 12" Dob. It will be short enough to get the Double Cluster, or M31 in a 32mm SWA EP, so unless you want to get all but the largest nebula in, it's got it covered.

Also, with it's F10 focal ratio, it's remarkable un-fussy about EPs. Things like a SW Panaview 32mm that a sub F6 Newt will tend to test somewhat at the edges, really start to shine in an SCT. Don't think a premium EP won't give a better view, but budget items are certainly less ham-strung.

On the note about dew, I've just been through my first winter with an SCT and nought but a decent long dew shield and have still yet to have a session cut short by dew. Other's mileage clearly varies, as the Fen Edge is somewhat drier than the norm in this country.

Russell