Should I get a 3” frac?

[jjohnson3803]

My personal evolution (or devolution, if you prefer) has gone from a C8 with wedge (recently sold finally), to an ST120 on an alt-az, added an ST80, added a 90mm Mak for lunar.

The scope that sits by the door (and the one that is used much more than the other two) is the 80mm on a SkyWatcher AZ5 on a Manfrotto 475B tripod.  The 80mm rig is a one-hand carry and is convenient and fast when I'm time limited.  Plus it's ridiculously easy to transport to dark sites, etc.  I admit I wonder now if I should sell the other two.

I'll leave the apo /achro / 80mm / XXmm discussion to others.  If anything, I might consider something like an AT92 or one of the new 90mm's from TS if I ever replace the ST80. 

 

 

 

 

[neil phillips]

If astroboot was still running i would say no hesitation in trying this,  SW Capricorn 70mm refractor got the tube assembly for £30 they had a few. wish i had got two.   At Nearly F13 it has negligible false colour 

super sharp optics, best cheapest grab and go i ever got.  a scopetech F12 80mm would set you back over £400 

Edited April 15, 2021 by neil phillips

[Dazzyt66]

8 hours ago, neil phillips said:

If astroboot was still running i would say no hesitation in trying this,  SW Capricorn 70mm refractor got the tube assembly for £30 they had a few. wish i had got two.   At Nearly F13 it has negligible false colour 

super sharp optics, best cheapest grab and go i ever got.  a scopetech F12 80mm would set you back over £400 

I miss Astroboot! Got my 150 dob and my Heq5 from there - both brilliant 😊

[neil phillips]

1 hour ago, Dazzyt66 said:

I miss Astroboot! Got my 150 dob and my Heq5 from there - both brilliant 😊

Wow didnt know they did items as serious heavy duty as a HEQ5 good catch. I got the EQ2 Head here for about 30 or 40 Quid. If they ever sell to the UK Again. i would seriously buy another of these 70mm fracs just as a backup. They are that good. 30 quid is giving it away. 

[IB20]

Been doing a fair bit of reading and research around possible set ups and I must say it's been an eye opener for weights of mounts, tripods and refractors!

The 4" F7 Ascent on an AZ4 with steel tripod and with diagonal, EP etc would come in it at around 12.5-13kg, which I'm not sure I'd class as super grab n go. Could it be done any lighter but without introducing excess vibration?

I've also been looking into one handed carry set-ups for super portability, so the 72EDs (of which there are many FPL53s!) and one of these on a Vixen porta or AZ5 aluminium would be around the 6-8kg mark, which appeals but with the obvious loss of aperture. Again can these be done any lighter, without busting the bank?

There's no way I could mount a frac on a tripod (unless I left it erected somewhere...) and get it outside quicker than my 8" dob. Maybe I already have my grab n go scope, as it takes under a minute to get outside; it's more the cooling that was the issue. 

The one thing I am certain of is that I want a frac for cloud break sessions on doubles, planetary views, star-fields, white solar etc but also portability for access to all parts of the sky within my garden and for UK trips to dark skies.

Pretty much everything is sold out so I'm in no rush and I must've changed my mind tens of times. Who knew it so difficult to pick a refractor!

[Mike JW]

Most of my doubles observing, lunar sketching has been done with Mak Cass scopes - the benefit is they are compact, can give APO like views and you get more aperture.. The orion optics OMC 140 is only around the 4kg mark. I used a 5" APO  refractor for awhile but sold it, preferring my OMC 200 (heavy) at the time. My current scope for doubles/lunar is a 7" MakCas, on an iOptron Mini Tower - easily grab and go.

No simple solution.

Mike

[IB20]

So I've ranked some of the scopes I've been looking at - scoring on weight of OTA, F ratio, cost etc for what is important to me (entirely my own system pulled from my backside!). It's an interesting result for sure, you lot sure know your telescopes!

I might point out that the Tak FC-100DC wins this if it didn't cost nearly 2k more 😅.

Another point I'll add is these are all manufacturer specs so possibly not quite accurate, but it's all I could go on. Would the AZ4 aluminium hold the AA Ascent 102ED f7 OK?