Refractor Recommendations

[robbymain]

I've been enjoying my 2nd hand setup of consisting of a self-flocked 150P on a classic green GP (SW enhanced dual drives) for a while now and have been pondering the addition of a small general purpose refractor.  I'm thinking mainly visual (including lightweight binoviewing) with a bit of DSLR imaging only.

 

I would really like something that is mid-way between Skywatcher and Tak in terms of cost and quality (happy to pay £4-500 used) but light enough to sit on a Porta II for portability and travel. 

 

Any suggestions from you good people?! I was thinking of a Megrez 72 or similar. I would consider a SW but have owned several of their reflectors now and fancy treating myself to something with a little more premium

[Carbon Brush]

Have considered Skywatcher Equinox on the used market?

HTH David.

[Timebandit]

 

 

 

For your budget I would opt for something like the SW Ed 80. To which I understand many use to image with good results. Great optical ability so great for visual. Its in a reasonable small package, so portable. And best of all great value for the ones I have seen on the used market.. Treating yourself to something more premium. The SW 80ed , may not seem premium because they are widely known and used. But they have a track record of quality build, they produce the results both for imagers and visual for a quality refractor that is portable, and within your budget. In my opinion a serious contender for you to consider

 

I hope this help with your refractor choice 🔭

 

 

 

[Rob Sellent]

I'm not sure what tripod your Porta II is mounted on, but I feel the mount and aluminium legs is a decent small scope mount and good for grab 'n go. Although everyone's millage will differ, I feel it handles reasonably fast (f6s/f7s) 70mm and 80mm fracs but I'd be nervous mounting anything more. You see, it's not always the weight which will affect the mount but also the tube's length and angular momentum. I've never owned one, so all this is just from memory recall when out with other astronomers.

With your budget and mount in mind, and my own intolerance, I think I'd be happy with something like a TS-Photoline 72mm, SW 72ED, WO ZS71 etc. I also feel something like a TeleVue 76 would be a good match but you'd have to wait on the secondhand market for quite a while until one cropped up.   

It may be a good idea, then, to set up another thread along with this one, asking folk of their weight/angular momentum/tube length etc exeperiences with the Porta II.

[robbymain]

On 10/10/2019 at 12:48, Rob Sellent said:

 

I'm not sure what tripod your Porta II is mounted on, but I feel the mount and aluminium legs is a decent small scope mount and good for grab 'n go.

 

Good point - I picked up an APP-TL130 tripod for added stability.

[robbymain]

Thanks all for the suggestions! The SW  72 or 80 ED certainly do seem to be highly recommended...

[jadcx]

I've found the SW 80ED to be an excellent piece of kit, and it's given me a very easy (which I guess is why it's so popular) introduction to imaging too.  Check the weight though.  I'm not familiar with the Porta II but the SW80 isn't the lightest.

And if you wanted one.... I have one for sale second hand