Antares Sentinel 80mm vs Celestron 80 ED

[ONSLOWE]

I am trying to decide on a Grab and Go scope to go on my heavy duty photo tripod and would like help deciding between the Antares Sentinel semi APO and the Celestron 80 ED (or any other suggested alternatives at approx £250). I realise the Celestron will have the best optics being an ED but the Antares appears to have the best build quality. I will want to use the scope for Clusters, Planets, the Moon, Solar (with Baader filter)and as a spotting scope. Where I live there is alot of light polution so faint deep sky objects are not visible. Previously I have had a Vixen 102 (good scope but sold when I needed the money) and a Skyliner 8" Dob (again a good scope but the Dob proved unsuitable due to my observing location limitations and storage was a bit of a problem, not a great spotting scope either!). I have a couple of eyepieces that I would like to use in the new scope a 2" 30mm revelation and a 1.25" 6mm Baader Ortho. The other scope that I have considered is the 127 Skywatcher Mak but I realise the 2" eyepiece would be redundant and the 6mm possibly a bit high power for my locations "seeing",and not sure how good the build quality, focuser etc, is on the Mak. Currentlly the Antares is my favourite due to its size and build quality but any advice would be most welcome.

Regards,

Martin

[russ]

As you have already guessed, it's a one horse race regards the optics. The ED80 is far far better. Owned the Sentinel and while it was a good scope, the optics were no where near as good as the ED80.

There are options that give you the superior build of the Sentinel but with the optics of the ED80. Not least the Skywatcher Equinox 80. But it's £100 beyond your budget.

I have the William Optics Megrez 72 which is very compact and incredibly well built. The optics are still sub ED80 in quality but not too far below. You maybe able to pick one up secondhand for your budget.

Another option is the Revelation ED80. It has the same build as the Skywatcher Equinox 80 but with slightly inferior optics again. It's quite compact. Secondhand only but easily inside your budget.

For the money there's no beating the original ED80 optics at your price point. It's a case weighing up other factors such as build and size against those optics.

Russ

[timetraveller]

May I offer an alternative to both your options and its only a little more than you listed budget take a look at this and see what you think Regards Pete http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=skywatcher_skymax_102_az_gotoor

if you already have a tripod and mount this one http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=mak127ota

[beamer3.6m]

C80ED is built very well, or at least better than the reviews on the internet would have you believe.

[Neon]

I own a Sentinel and I'm very impressed with it as a scope used for purely visual work (although my experience of other scopes is very limited). I use mine in much the same way that you're intending to use your next small scope, as a kind of general purpose grab 'n go and it fits the bill quite nicely.

The build quality is indeed excellent, although I do use mine with a violet filter pretty much all the time. As a general purpose scope (including for terrestrial) itdelivers the goods nicely.

If you'd like to ask any questions about it feel free.

Cheers

Mark