Nexstar C8SE as upgrade?

[Brutha]

Hi All,

I've had a Skywatcher Mak127 for a few years, and have enjoyed what I've seen through it (had less opportunity than I would have liked though!).

But will hopefully get a bit more chance this year for various reasons, so I'm thinking of upgrading; the Mak is quite nice, but the goto is a bit fiddly (I use the wifi dongle to connect), and the scope is also pretty much designed for planets. I'd like to get something that will give a bit more deep sky stuff, but be pretty much as convenient as the Mak, meaning I can carry it in and outside easily.

From a bit of reading around it sounds like the Celestron Nexstar 8SE might fit the bill, it seems to get pretty good reviews. It seems to be around £1300 new these days in the UK.

Are there any other similar options that people would suggest?

Thanks!

Brutha

[Cosmic Geoff]

I upgraded from a 127mm Mak to a Celestron Nexstar C8 SE so I'm biased. 🙂

The C8 Evolution is the same OTA on a better mount.

[Brutha]

Thanks! I guess you’re happy with it?

Re: the evolution, I did consider that. But it is an awful lot extra for something that theoretically won’t give much better views (and I have additional issues with the delivery of things with large batteries, due to my location).

So, in the end I pulled the trigger on an 8SE!

Cheers

Brutha

[Peter Drew]

I also have a 8se, I don't think you'll be disappointed.     😀

[Fishslapper]

Is the 8se any good for imaging and also are the syncscan controllers easy to get used to,I’m currently using an az-gti wi-fi mount with a skywatcher 130p which is great but it’s time to upgrade.

[Cosmic Geoff]

7 hours ago, Fishslapper said:

Is the 8se any good for imaging and also are the syncscan controllers easy to get used to,I’m currently using an az-gti wi-fi mount with a skywatcher 130p which is great but it’s time to upgrade.

The C8 OTA is very good for planetary imaging but doing any planetary imaging with the SE mount is a struggle, and the SE is hopeless for any other sort of imaging.  For serious imaging you need a different mount, or a different outfit altogether.

The C8 SE is intended to be a portable visual outfit only.

Synscan is a Sky-watcher brand.  Celestron features the Nexstar GoTo which is easy to use.

[Brutha]

As an update, we finally had some clear skies last night so I managed to get the "first light"! Very happy with it, quick views of Saturn and Jupiter (both a bit blurry as close to the horizon, but could see for example the shadow of saturn on the rings at the back).

Then onto various deep sky objects, Andromeda galaxy and a number of "M" objects from the "sky tour" option. It was all a bit rushed, and I didn't really know what I was supposed to be looking at in most cases since I hadn't expected to get clear skies! Still, I am hoping for clear skies again tonight, so I've planned things using "Tonight's Sky". If anyone has any particular suggestions for things to see at the moment (from north of UK), please let me know!

The 3 star alignment didn't work the first time I tried, so I switched to the 2-star auto. This worked nicely - even if I didn't know what I was looking at, there were clearly grey smudges close to the centre of the view!

Edited September 28, 2019 by Brutha
confused about shadows!

[joe aguiar]

On ‎09‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 10:26, Fishslapper said:

Is the 8se any good for imaging and also are the syncscan controllers easy to get used to,I’m currently using an az-gti wi-fi mount with a skywatcher 130p which is great but it’s time to upgrade.

no its not made for that however if u get the wedge u can do basic stuff. I would then recommend use the same ota on a heq5 mouint and keep the se mount for more portable times

[joe aguiar]

what the 8se does right and made for is a porable light weight goto 8" size scope being 35 lbs total, which is almost imposible to get from any other scope. I carry whole thing by the fork arm with 1 hand no other scope u can do that complete ota mount weight tripod etc.

so I don't get it when I read people say the mount is bad for imaging or its not rock steady. It wasn't meant for that, if someone needs a rock steady mount or double fork arm celestron has other model to fit that bill. 

don't buy a 300 laptop and then say It cant play my heavy graphics computer game 😛

joejaguar

Edited October 1, 2019 by joe aguiar

[BGazing]

On 07/09/2019 at 10:35, Brutha said:

Hi All,

I've had a Skywatcher Mak127 for a few years, and have enjoyed what I've seen through it (had less opportunity than I would have liked though!).

But will hopefully get a bit more chance this year for various reasons, so I'm thinking of upgrading; the Mak is quite nice, but the goto is a bit fiddly (I use the wifi dongle to connect), and the scope is also pretty much designed for planets. I'd like to get something that will give a bit more deep sky stuff, but be pretty much as convenient as the Mak, meaning I can carry it in and outside easily.

From a bit of reading around it sounds like the Celestron Nexstar 8SE might fit the bill, it seems to get pretty good reviews. It seems to be around £1300 new these days in the UK.

Are there any other similar options that people would suggest?

Thanks!

Brutha

I did just that...127 Mak to C8 and it makes sense, really. C8 is jack of all trades and will give you a lot of good views under dark skies.