Alternative more portable setup required

[Paul73]

It is like riding a bike or plastering a wall! The concept is surprisingly simple.....(once you have worked out what is going on).

I'm sure that there will be a local SGLer who would happily pop round and show you he ropes if you decide that sticking to the Dob is a good option.

Paul

[Nyctimene]

A lightweight travel scope, e.g.the Sumerian Alkaid 8" (7,5 kg total), or its bigger brother, the 10" (12 kg)?

Stephan

 

[SilverAstro]

46 minutes ago, BRUN said:

sounded incredibly time consuming and difficult

Not difficult, just time consuming the first and second times while you get your eye-in !

My first time with my homemade 6"Newt I did it daytime indoors to "get the moves" and in preparation for a final tweak under the stars (50y ago no lasers!)  By the time I was done the second time I had frost in my beard that made her-indoors giggle

It got easier the 3rd and subsequent times.

[Frank the Troll]

I have a back problem too. and use a trolley with 5" air tires for the 10" Dob.  Have had no problems with collimation

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Seems like a Celestron C8 SE with Starsense might tick your boxes. You can check out the weights somewhere, but I think the whole assembly, which I can pick up and carry outdoors, weighs about 10 to 12 Kg.  It's very quick to set up and align as precise leveling of the tripod is not needed.  If you need to move it any distance, you'd need to take the OTA/mount assy off the tripod. I took it on holiday once.

My C8 was secondhand, so the whole kit came in within your budget. 

[Scooot]

I'd consider the Sumerian 8" as Stephan suggested above. Weighing only 7.5kg and folding down to a case with handle will make it easier to carry it across the field which I presume wouldnt be easy to wheel anything over. Although you'll also have to carry the truss tubes & eyepieces etc separately, and put it together in the field of course. However that doesn't take long with practice. You'd still have an 8" aperture & a reasonably fast scope that'd give you some wide fov's,  but no goto or tracking. However if you really struggle finding things you could add a push-to system (at more expense) afterwards. An added bonus is is it will also fit in a small car very easily.

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/language/en/info/p8495_Sumerian-Optics-Alkaid-8--f-5-Dobson-Teleskop---Quarzglasspiegel.html

Edit, no idea how good the mirror is though  

David Lukehurst's ultra portable if he'd make an 8" would also fit the bill but I'd guess it might be dearer. He could put a push-to system on it from the outset.

[BRUN]

11 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Seems like a Celestron C8 SE with Starsense might tick your boxes. You can check out the weights somewhere, but I think the whole assembly, which I can pick up and carry outdoors, weighs about 10 to 12 Kg.  It's very quick to set up and align as precise leveling of the tripod is not needed.  If you need to move it any distance, you'd need to take the OTA/mount assy off the tripod. I took it on holiday once.

My C8 was secondhand, so the whole kit came in within your budget. 

is the main difference between this, and the Evolution version, the integral battery ?

 

i think this is what ive decided on tbh, how much is my Flextube 250px worth do we think, about £600 ?

[SilverAstro]

11 hours ago, Scooot said:

I'd consider the Sumerian 8" 

Consider by all means, but look round the forums well before you buy.

I have no connection with them nor any competitor, I am not in the market for one,, just a caveat from what I have read and the pictures I have seen.

[BRUN]

im really liking the sound of star sense so i think im set on a Nexstar of some description

im not majorly into this hobby, though this might change in winter when the dark nights are back, i want something super easy

[JG777]

1 hour ago, BRUN said:

is the main difference between this, and the Evolution version, the integral battery ?

 

i think this is what ive decided on tbh, how much is my Flextube 250px worth do we think, about £600 ?

The Evo has far better quality gearing so backlash not really an issue. Wi-Fi for tablets and phones although not everyone has a happy experience with that, USB output that can charge a phone, 4 AUX ports, places on the tray for EPs, plus adjustable low red light. 

The battery can give up to 10 hours use, very convenient.

[Cosmic Geoff]

1 hour ago, BRUN said:

Is the main difference between this and the Evolution the internal battery?

 

That's one difference. The C8SE is the cheapest of several 8" Celestron GoTo SCTs and there seem to be a lot of detail differences, including the electronics, the design of the mount, and possible differences in the tripods. The reason I went for a SCT instead of several other options for a 8" GoTo was the ease of handling and the convenient observing position. Adding Starsense cuts out a couple of fiddly steps - leveling the tripod and reattaching the mount/OTA.   (I'll mention in passing that the C8 SE mount and OTA are meant to be kept as a unit - attaching a fat OTA to the dovetail clamp is not something you want to attempt other than in a lit room and on a soft surface.)

[constantino]

23 hours ago, BRUN said:

any advice on what i should be looking at, i dont mind going down to 8" but probably not any less really, not interested in any photography, i just want something i can plonk down and look at planets and nebulae etc, thats it

I had a 5" (127slt) before upgrading to Nexstar 8SE. While a 5" is probably too small, the 8SE is not light or small, and I don't find it particularly easy to carry. If I could turn back time, would have probably got the Nexstar 6SE instead, which seems smaller/ligher.

To compensate for the smaller size I'd highly recommend a binoviewer. I recently got the Celestron binoviewer and I'll never go back observing with just one eye. The difference in experience is...astronomical! You can probably get the same viewing experience from 6/8SE (+binoviewer) as you would from a CPC 9.25 or 11" (-binoviewer)

https://www.celestron.com/products/stereo-binocular-viewer

[BRUN]

yea anything i got would be kept together permanently tbh

[BRUN]

id never even heard of bino view, interesting

why would i give a similar view of a smaller scope ?

dont suppose you want to sell your 8SE  @constantino

[constantino]

binoviewer = "the best invention since the telescope"

I got mine here (under £200 delivered): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007UQNXG

The best £200 I ever spent

[Cosmic Geoff]

17 minutes ago, constantino said:

To compensate for the smaller size I'd highly recommend a binoviewer. I recently got the Celestron binoviewer and I'll never go back observing with just one eye. The difference in experience is...astronomical! You can probably get the same viewing experience from 6/8SE (+binoviewer) as you would from a CPC 9.25 or 11" (-binoviewer

I also have a binoviewer, a budget one from 'Sky's the Limit'.  It works great on the Moon and is interesting on planets. But I don't use it for general observing at all. These devices work best on bright objects, and there is plenty of light from the Moon.  I would not have said that it gives a similar viewing experience to a bigger telescope without bino, but it can make it easier sometimes to see the detail that's there.

Remember that you need at least one pair of matched eyepieces (not included with some bino kits), and this can add to the total cost.

[SilverAstro]

and a matched pair of eyeballs perhaps ?

[constantino]

I'm not thinking of selling (yet); got it on ebay for £600 not long ago. They come up around that price regularly. I'm sure you can negotiate something like this to £800 or even less: https://www.gumtree.com/p/telescopes/celestron-nextstar-8se/1258975415

Saying that, I still think 8se is on the heavy side (although I have no back problems) and if I were you I'd try a 6se first. There's one on ebay, I doubt it will go for more than 4-500: http://r.ebay.com/JPADVi

About the binoviewer, apparently it's to do with the 2nd eye and the brain merging the 2 images; don't know for sure. I just got one word for it: mindblowing

[SilverAstro]

Interesting what Cosmic says in passing about the 8" which is what I said- suspected earlier when I described my 9.25 gyrations !

Good that you are now contemplating it keeping it all in one ! but

> "need something physically a lot less bulky so i can keep it close to my body when carrying"

even with it all in one it still has lots of stick-out bits ! not like carrying the tube or box of a Dob

One thing that might be of interest, from my dim memory I think the SE or something similar had a 'docking pad' made by a third party vendor, to assist in locating the mount (or mount+ota together) on top of the tripod and its screws.

One was proposed for the Evolutions, but I've not seen it, so if eventually you decided you needed dismount to carry, be warned that the mount to tripod is not slot and click jobbie either !

Shame you are not closer, a look-see is deffo desirable before the plunge, really it is   !

[Cosmic Geoff]

It's not that difficult or risky to set the C8 SE mount/OTA on top of the tripod in the dark. There is a central spike which is supposed to help locate it. Just remember to remove the bubble level from the tripod top surface first. 

[SilverAstro]

2 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Just remember to remove the bubble level from the tripod top surface first. 

Gulp ! I didnt remove mine from the Evo !!! I hope they have changed the design then !

Ah, do you mean that it can be damaged, or just that you can no longer see it ?

[Cosmic Geoff]

The tripod top surface seems to be the only place one can use the bubble level.  Unfortunately it's hard to see it in the dark, even if it isn't hidden under the mount, and the mount won't fit on top of it. My bubble level has survived two 'attempts' so far.

[BRUN]

thanks for all the comments guys, good info

[SilverAstro]

hmmm, interesting I assembled mine once and left it that way so I dont know yet if mine is still intact, that is all a bit non-engineered then ! But we are talking Celestron after all !

Anyway, it is my contention from when I used to do spherical trignometry that doing a proper 3-star alignment relates the two spheres uniquely without need of levels and north seeking. Only need for precision there if doing 1-star and then only if you want precise GoTos

But again we are talking Celestron and they may not be that clever in their software ?

[BRUN]

what do we think a 250px flextube, with GoTo added, inc light shroud and counter weight, is worth ?