Orion UK VX8L vs others

[Space Hopper]

Heres my OO VX12 (short tube) with encoders that i recently fitted.

  

Edited May 18, 2019 by Tubby Bear

[johninderby]

On my old OD350 with Stelkarcat used a perspex disk which was also for the alt drive and the encoder could be removed easily.

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by johninderby

[Ignoro]

1 hour ago, JG777 said:

Have a read here http://www.astrodevices.com/AllAboutDSCs/index.html

Encoders are small rotary devices that measure a mounts position in altitude and azimuth. They send a signal via cable to a unit that is pre loaded with astro objects, and the user just pushes the scope into position usually following the guide arrows and co-ordinates on the units screen. Once the co-ordinates are "zeroed" the telescope will be pointing at the chosen object. This is referred to as "Push to". Advantages are silent running, custom catalogs, fast easy set up and minimal power requirements. Disadvantage is cost ( more than GOTO usually ) and some folk do not like nudging their scopes to view objects. Personally I really like it and have two set ups, but I am not very good at finding stuff manually and my local skies have a fair amount of LP.

Thanks for the explanation I understand now

 I actually enjoy finding the process stuff manually, sometimes I fail but it's fun anyway  so probably won't be installing electronics...

And those 2 mounts look great, but maybe I'm not patient enough to make them precisely... I'll think about it more...

[Ignoro]

This guy apparently also sells a TS carbon tube upgrade for the scope, for a small increase in price. 

Do you think it would be possible to use it with AZ4? It should be lighter with carbon, but still too long or?

Although the white tube looks better which shouldn't be an issue, but somehow is... 😊

EDIT: I'll go see the scope in a few weeks as it's not very close to me, otherwise I would have probably decided by now (or maybe)...  🍇

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Ignoro

[Ignoro]

I've decided not to take the big tube (OOUK or any other).  I think I'll buy a mount and a tripod for my heritage 130p to make it even more portable and then travel to darkness even easier... That seems more sensible at this stage of life, I just don't feel like owning a big tube... Maybe in a bit time I get a small refractor also (They attract me for some reason, I feel I should have one), so then we'll have two scopes, for my son and me. And soon I may cover the whole family... 🤗

Thanks everyone for the help