WO Megrez 72 FD APO or Equinox 80 APO

[vlebo]

Could do with some more advice, I have just bought a WO 72 Megrez and the kind man in the shop said if I was not happy with it he would exchange it for my other choice which was a Equinox 80. Even though I love the WO, and it has had great reviews , I find myself going back to the old saying that aperture is best.

I know WO have a good reputation and it should be a keeper but some other opinions would be very welcome to help me make up my mind.

Thanks again in advance for any replies.

Vlebo

[Brinders]

Hi, I've got this great little scope too. I think it depends on what you want to do with it. I bought mine primarily as a travel and grab and go scope (I took it with me to Cyprus last month). I find as a travel scope on a photo tripod it's great. Just the right size to take on an aircraft as hand luggage and yet still gives me great views of Lunar and Jupiter and widefield. Back in the UK I bought a Celestron SLT 60 for about £80 off Ebay for the goto mount. It gives me a great grab and go set up that can be up and running in minutes (great for our weather).

The set up is far quicker than the EQ6 Pro and C9.25 that I also own. No long setting up time such as polar aligning etc or waiting ages for the scope to reach ambient temerature - just grab and go between showers and clouds. And the Celestron 3 star alignment is far simpler and more reliable than Skywatcher's. The SLT mount has only ever failed once to give a succesful alignment and that was when I tried to cheat it by trying to use a rather dim star which clearly was not one of the 80 in its database of bright stars used for alignment.

I intend trying the Megrez on my EQ6 Pro at some time with a view to widefield astro photography and at f6 it is reasonably fast. The quality too is second to none.

So, as I say, it depends on what you want to do with the scope. For me it's ideal - the right size and weight and gives excellent views. It goes with me to Spain next month.

Brinders

[GazOC]

Aperture is king but if you are happy with the Megrez then 8mm isn't too big a deal IMHO.

[Tiny]

You could go for the Megrez 90 of course. As has been said - it depends on what you plan to use it for. The 72 doesn't need a big mount but the bigger they get the heavier and the more mount you need. Visually the view though a WO72 and WO80 is very similar if that helps. The WO90 is better by a bit and the WO110 by a lot - but by this stage we are in the multi kilos and big bucks area.

Having said all that a 6" Orion Optics reflector with state of the art equitorial, at under £400, costs a lot less and if in collimation is as good as the 90.

[vlebo]

Interesting ,I did not know the 72 and 80 were that similar,I thought there would be quite a difference ,but thinking about it I have read somewhere that the 72 does give similar views to the 80.

I originaly wanted to only go up to £300 max and I probably got a bit carried away and went to £450 for the 72 and the supatrak mount. I feel I would rather go for a quality slightly smaller aperture scope that will last me a long time than a bigger ,inferior one, but please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks for all your comments

Vlebo

[Viking]

All the Equinox range has FPL-53 glass, beautifully finished in black with an excellent focusser.

The Megrez range doesn't specify the glass therefore its unlikely to be FPL-53.

The 72, more portable - perhaps better mechanicals but not by much.

The 80 has 11% more aperture and is a great scope.

Any way, clear skies to you all.

John

[vlebo]

Food for thought

Thanks John