RASA 8 vs EDGE HD and Hyperstar

[Rattler]

Hi guys. I'm looking into these 1 of these 2 scope's for next year. Pro and cons of each please. I currently have a ES ED80 APO Triplet (480mm) and Altair 102 ED-R (714mm). Thanks.

[Z3roCool]

Hi, I do not know too much about these but have been looking into them as would one day like to be going for one or the other.

I would probably end up going with the Edge HD with Hyperstar. That way I could get into Planetary and still be able to do some Wide Field DSO work with a super quick scope. The versatility I think is what is attractive. I think the price is a bit more if you include the Hyperstar (And similar if you just went with the reducer to begin with and added the HS later on). 

On the other hand you could get the RASA and get a small refractor for similar price.

Would need to take into account filters though also. Upkeep of the scopes should be taken into account also, ease of use etc...

Now I know why I can never make a decision as after typing this going around in circles again

[fwm891]

@Rattler

I have a RASA 8. I spent a long time reading various reviews of both the Hyperstar and the RASA 8 (though there wasn't very much around on the smaller RASA at the time). CN was the biggest group offering reviews, most quite negative - but that's very much CN. Collimation was the major concern with the Edge/Hyperstar combination. That being that you a, had to collimate the Hyperstar unit when you remove the Edge secondary mirror and replace it with the Hyperstar. Then b, collimate the Edge's secondary when replacing it after using the Hyperstar.

That put me off somewhat. I then thought more about the kit I had. I use an Altair 115 ED APO refractor a lot in combination with an ASi 294MC Pro cooled camera. I'm an imager I don't 'observe' visually and I'm more interested in wider FoV's so the Edge HD would be pretty much perminently set-up with a hyperstar unit attached. So with the cost of the Edge HD and the Hyperstar being greater than the RASA 8, that scored in the RASA's favour, next the ASi294 whilst not exactly suited to the RASA (2.39"/pixel) it wasn't a bad match (very good in fact) so another notch in the RASA's favour. The only negative for me was the addition of filters in the RASA optic chain. With a very small back focus (max 29mm) the only unit available easily this side of the pond was a Baader one but that didn't allow filters to be mounted with their correct face to the sky (I think they've now modified this).

So I went for the RASA 8 from FLO. I've got round the filter orientation problem by making a filter draw of my own and sold the Baader one.

A reasonable mount is needed for both the Edge HD/Hyperstar or the RASA8 as neither are particularly light weights.

I'm now thinking about changing the camera to either an ASi183 or 533...