Choosing a guiding scope

[Breetai]

I want to add an autoguider to my setup.

I have a skywatcher 250pds on a NEQ6 pro.

I have my eyes on the orion starshoot autoguider but am unsure about which scope to choose.

Guess my biggest concern I how much more weight I can add to the system without overloading the mount.

I have seen that the starshoot autoguider can be bought along with a 50mm mini guiding scope that would not add much weight and is supposed to be acurate enough to guide scopes of up to 1500mm focal length.

Will the small size of this scope limit it's capabilities.

In other words would I be better off using a small refractor piggyback.

Are there other factors I need to consider.

I'm still a newbee.

Thank you in advance 

Edited January 22, 2017 by Breetai

[ecuador]

Some 50mm guiders claim up to 1500mm fl, others make the more modest claim of 1000mm fl. I have a 50mm guider and it seems to work fine with my C9.25 @ f6.3, which is about 1500mm fl, but I am quite under-mounted for it (the mount is primarily for a small refractor), so I can't say I get very tight stars with that setup, making it not a definitive test @ that focal length.

So, why not play it a bit more safe and look at the 60mm guiders? They should not add the weight of the popular 80mm guide scopes, yet be more comfortable for your focal length than the 50mm ones...

[steppenwolf]

I have an Altair Astro 60mm finder-guider that I reckon is good for around 1000mm although I rarely use it - however, on Friday night, I was unable to locate a suitable guide star using my OAG so I brought out the finder-guider and was spoilt for choice although the guide software did choose a dodgy binary pair for some frames and the to and fro between the two stars played havoc with the guiding on two subframes out of 17. The other 15 were beautifully guided at the imaging focal length of 1070mm on my Esprit 150.

I would say that 1500mm with a 50mm finder-guider would be really pushing it to far and the 1250mm focal length of  250 PDS would place it at the limit.

[cjdawson]

I've been using a SkyWatcher ST-80 as a guide scope for a Meade LX-90.

So far, the telescope has been excellent for guiding... the problems that I'd been experiencing were finding a guide star in the first place.  The root cause of that were cameras not being very sensitive.  I bit the bullet and purchased a Starlight Express SuperStar, which on my initial test was able to aquire a couple of mag 7 stars.   Not had a chance to use in for real yet (I get very few opportunities) but I'm very very encouraged by my test results.

[Breetai]

Thank you for your answers 

Sounds like 60mm might be the way to go for me. 

http://uk.telescope.com/Telescopes/Guide-Scopes/Orion-StarShoot-AutoGuider-amp-60mm-Guide-Scope-Package/pc/-1/c/1306/sc/1325/p/115600.uts

Maybe something like this. Only saw the package with the 50mm before.

Guess I won't know for sure unless I try 

[geordie85]

I use an orion finder guide with a qhy5L-ll and it works perfectly. Never had a problem finding a decent star to guide on. It guides my 200p just fine so I can't see the extra 50mm being much of a problem 

[Anne S]

1 hour ago, Breetai said:

Thank you for your answers 

Sounds like 60mm might be the way to go for me. 

http://uk.telescope.com/Telescopes/Guide-Scopes/Orion-StarShoot-AutoGuider-amp-60mm-Guide-Scope-Package/pc/-1/c/1306/sc/1325/p/115600.uts

Maybe something like this. Only saw the package with the 50mm before.

Guess I won't know for sure unless I try 

I've got the Altair 60mm finder guider which I use with their GPCam camera. It's easy to find suitable stars and it's a bit cheaper than the one in your link. They do an 80mm finder/guider too.

[gonzostar]

I have got the orion starshoot autoguider, guide scope as per your link. Never had a problem finding a guide star even in my area where there is light pollution

[Breetai]

I went with Orion 60mm package. Can't wait to start playing with it 

Thank you all for your help