Down to Three at last.........

[TJExcalibur]

The more I look the more I ponder. I was going to get the Evolution 9.25, more so with the free Starsense. Good deal. Then I did some more reviews and it was pointed out that a dual arm fork is much better and the Celestron CPC was a better buy despite no internal battery, been about for a few years so stood the test of time. I was showing her indoors and she was looking then came back with the 11" CPC is better still she thought but not sure if its that much better unless you are doing AP.  It was pointed out that the aux ports on the CPC facing up is not a good idea. Even having to buy the Starsense, which she thinks is great and a battery pack it still appears to be good value compared with the single fork of the Evolution. I have yet to find the weights of parts for moving it outside, found the total weights but not the moving about weights.  I am not into AP.  I am having a very short break but hope for some good advice here on my return.

[Pig]

I used to own the CPC 9.25 and I never experienced any vibrations whatsoever, it is a very sturdy scope. It was also just about manageable from a weight perspective and when the mount was removed from the tripod I could fit it on to the front passenger seat of the car I had at the time ( AMG Mercedes sports coupe) so despite its size it was pretty portable. The other benefit of this was the Mrs couldn't fit in the car when the scope was there

My only niggle was having to make sure the power cables did not wrap around the mount whilst slewing the scope in the dark, this resulted in having to re-align. So if the evolution mount does not vibrate like the other celestron single arm mounts all should be good as it has a built in powerpack with no wires to worry about... Most importantly I got some lovely views from the scope.

As for the other scopes and AP I have no experience of them

[cloudsweeper]

Taking the plunge can be difficult.  All I can add is that the single fork arm on my 8SE is good and steady.  I had considered the 9.25 Evo, but thought that over 27kg was too much.  Having an onboard power supply just increases weight, and is hardly a vital requirement.  StarSense - just depends on one's preferences, but I feel that alignment is easy enough by ordinary means without that feature/accessory.

The 8SE's total weight is about 15kg, but is easy to move about in two parts.  The OTA can be released easily with one hand-screw.

Doug.

 

 

[TJExcalibur]

Spent ages sorting out which is best for me and narrowed it down to the Celestron CPC 925 or 1100. The blurb all give different weights for the same models and I have yet to discover the separate weights for moving it outside. I doubt I will be going to any dark sites that often. Indecisive I am but after buying on impulse and losing money I need to get it right. I left out the Evo 925 because I felt dual fork was a much better option. Then it will be whether to get a 2" diagonal and so on, it can get complicated as I have discovered. Thanks for the input so far. 

[PeterCPC]

I used to have a CPC800 and it was very stable and great for planetary imageing. It was just about movable without taking it apart but I decided to go down the EQ route because it gives you more scope for DSO imaging. Cable wrap was also a big issue with the CPC and being able to image high targets due to the small gap between the end of the scope and the top of the mount. My C9.25 on an AVX is so much easier to move about.

Peter

[TJExcalibur]

18 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

I used to have a CPC800 and it was very stable and great for planetary imageing. It was just about movable without taking it apart but I decided to go down the EQ route because it gives you more scope for DSO imaging. Cable wrap was also a big issue with the CPC and being able to image high targets due to the small gap between the end of the scope and the top of the mount. My C9.25 on an AVX is so much easier to move about.

Peter

Thank you. I will now start looking to mounts as the AVX looks very very good.