Transportable goto scope advice please

[alfingido]

I have an 8" Meade LX90 ACF kept at home and am looking for something decent that is easily transportable. It needs to be taken apart and stored in a motorhome for trips abroad, so nothing too big and heavy.

I have been looking at Celestron Nexstar 6se or going a bit smaller, Skywatcher and Celestron 127 Goto setups.

I have no idea about the performance of any of these scopes but it seems the 127's are quite long in the FL dept, but I really fancy more of a wider field scope.

Any suggestions or ideas please? £700 would be my absolute maximum.

Allan

[sungrazer]

£700 is just within 6SE range (I own one myself), but it's relatively slow like the 127 at f10 so probably not a viable alternative.  Maybe a collapsible (flextube) dob on a goto mount?

[kalasinman]

http://www.astroshop.eu/skywatcher-telescope-n-150-750-pds-explorer-bd-neq-3/p,19165

[happy-kat]

Secondhand ED refractor for wider field on a goto mount perhaps.

Check out FLO and others clearance sections.

[rowan46]

maybe this one https://www.altairastro.com/product.php?productid=16769&cat=327&page=1

[kalasinman]

Thank you. I will be more careful.

[alfingido]

Thanks all, not heard of the cube mount before, I'll have to do some reading, but that looks the sort of thing I want

Allan

[alfingido]

Had a look at the Cube mount specs, looks ok, but then I saw the Skywatcher Allview. Looks pretty versatile, I quite fancy mounting a dslr on it to do some time lapse stuff now and again.

I assume the mount would be substantial enough to support something like an Evostar 80ED. That looks a pretty interesting combination

Allan

[happy-kat]

Removed my comment it didn't add any value.

[russ.will]

I've just been through the 'which portable mount' process. I ruled out the Allview as although it's clever, it's sailing rather close to it's payload limit with most 80 fracs, before you add finders, Diagonals, EP's etc.

I had decided on the Cube Pro as it seems to tick all the boxes as well as being very compact. The SW/Celestron Alt/Az GOTOs are quite large lumps to stash in a van, because of their odd shape, but will work just fine. In the end, a Minitower v2.0 cropped up second hand and I bust my budget; I could see the ES 80 hanging off one side with a Lunt something or other on the other side as a counter weight!

FWIW, I think the Altair package suggested above would be a great way to spend £700 and it would be a great basis for a white light solar setup too - The Cubes can use The Sun for their one star alignment.

Russell

[alfingido]

Thanks Russell. The mini tower is a tad too expensive for me new, I haven't seen any used ones about. I quite like the cube pro, but I think the 1" legs look a little feeble and like the Allview, payload is quite low.

I had my heart set on an 80 or 100mm apo, these are going to be a little heavy on either mount, a specially the 100mm, then I thought about a Nexstar mount, but again, payload is low, even though they can carry an 8" sct.

Anyway, I managed a small budget increase and saw the Nexstar Evolution range. Much beefier mount and in 6" form, quite ( relatively) affordable now at around £870 and maybe use it as it is, even though it's an f10 scope, then in the future, get a frac to put on the mount.

Unless a cheap Minitower v2 comes along......

It's a shame no one makes an alt az version of an HEQ5!

I feel i am at the "going round in circles" stage......

Allan

[Joseki]

It's a shame no one makes an alt az version of an HEQ5!

ah but they do.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-az-eq5-gt-geq-alt-az-mount.html

[alfingido]

ah but they do.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-az-eq5-gt-geq-alt-az-mount.html

Ah, I stand corrected! That looks great, but would blow my budget and then some, before I even bought an OTA!

Looks like I need to sell some more stuff!

Allan

[alfingido]

Now you've done it John. I keep looking at this thinking it will do very nicely. Does anyone have this mount? It would need to be stored easily, which means a case for the mount itself. The tripod and pillar would fit anywhere as they are.

It would be nice to physically see one to get an idea of the size, but the nearest shop is a 150 mile round trip. does anyone use this as a grab n go setup?

Allan

[russ.will]

Unless a cheap Minitower v2 comes along......

Allan

Ker-ching!

If it were me, I'd be tempted by a 150mm F5 Newt like the one on Astroboot.

Russell

[alfingido]

I saw that, but thought it was too dear, especially when you add carriage, but there was also a cheaper one, unfortunately, sold.

Anyway, I came to a decision. I went for the Skywatchef Allview mount. It has gps and dual encoders, which I really wanted. As for the OTA, I am not keen on newts and a 150 would be too big for what I want. I had an Evostar 80ED DS PRO a few years ago and missed it when I sold it, so I ordered another

That brings me in at just a few £ over my £700 budget. If I can't get on with the mount, then I may be tempted by the AZ EQ5.

Thanks for everyone's help

Allan