Celestron Nexstar 5 - Moving to a better 1.25 / 2 inch Diagonal ?

[John]

Hello,

I'd like to upgrade the 1.25 inch prism diagonal supplied as standard with my Celestron Nexstar 5 to a better quality unit but there seems to be little choice of quality diagonals in the 1.25 inch size (I recently just missed a nice Lumicon Enhanced Diagonal on UK Astro Buy & Sell) and the Tele Vue ones seem so expensive. So I'm wondering if it would be worth moving to a 2inch diagonal where there seems to be a better choice of quality units at better value prices.

I realise that due to the narrow back apeture of the Nexstar 5 (about 25mm or so I think) that I won't benefit much from 2 inch wide field eyepieces but my main concern is getting a 2 inch diagonal that clears the focus knob at the back of the OTA. There may also be issues regarding focuss travel with a bigger diagonal.

Does anyone have a Nexstar 5 (or any Celestron 5 inch SCT for that matter) where they successfully use a 2 inch diagonal and I so could they share their experiences and the setup they use ?.

Thanks very much,

John,

North Somerset

[GazOC]

How much are the Williams Optics these days? They always get good write ups.

[John]

Thanks Gaz,

I reckon the William Optics diagonals are very good but they don't seem to make a 31.7mm one. I have seen the 2 inch ones in a showroom and they are huge - too much for my little Nexstar 5 I think !.

I have just taken the plunge and purchased a used Tele Vue Everbright Dielectric mirror diagonal. It's not cheap but from what I have read they seem to be well thought of.

It will be interesting to see the differerence between this and my current standard Celestron prism diagonal.

John,

North Somerset

[tom33pr]

So how did you get on with the TeleVue? Have you had a chance to use it?

[seiko]

I tried a WO on mine and too be honest it added very very little, if anything visually.

[John]

So how did you get on with the TeleVue? Have you had a chance to use it?

Wow - that was 7 years ago !

I did get the Tele Vue as I recall and it was very good. I have the 2" version now as well as a much less expensive 2" Revelation dielectric diagonal on my other refractor. There is little in it optically but the Tele Vues are better constructed.

The slightly scary thing is that I've owned about 20 scopes since that Celestron