older celestron 80eq vs newer ST80 - guidescope

[b16707]

looking for a guidescope for my skwatcher ED80 scope and been reading that short tube 80mm fracs are good for this in terms of function and cost. Now does anyone know if the older celestron Firstscope 80eq (model 21072) is the same or performs the same as current generation Orion ST80 type scopes for guidescopes?

Only reason i ask is i have a friend that is selling his 80EQ and can get it for a decent cost.

 

im also guessing the focuser is where the difference is. Orions are metal no?

[Rocket_the_Raccoon]

If I have not mistaken, the Firstscope 80 is a 80mm f/11 and the ST80 is a 80mm f/5. Are you doing traditional manual guiding with a cross-hair eyepiece? or going digital guiding? The Firstscope 80 being a long refractor puts more load on your mount and you would need more effort to balance the whole imaing scope and guide scope setup. However, its long focal length is a plus for high magnification if you are using visual manual guiding,