What are peoples recommendations for a small, lightweight Maksutov for holiday viewing?

[johninderby]

Wasn’t that SV41 a customer return from Amazon not a new one?

Edited June 15, 2022 by johninderby

[badhex]

+1 here for a small widefield refractor.

I am currently away from home myself using a William Optics ZS73 which fits into backpack along with a small mount (AZ-GTi, but something like an AZT6 would also easily fit) and 4 good size EPs (Pentax XW, Morpheus, Aero ED). Tripod is in a separate bag as I didn't fly this time, but I have a small CF tripod which folds up and clips to the side of the backpack. Scope is only about 2.5kg so no CW needed. I've flown many times with it and never had any issues, the only time the security people wanted to look was because they were impressed with the scope/setup and asked a bunch of questions about it! 

TS Optics, Altair, Astrotech, Svbony and others do similar 60mm or 70mm widefield scopes, with different optics to suit budgets but all at least ED (e.g. FPL-51+ or equivalent) glass AFAIK. 

I've posted these pictures a bunch of times before so sorry for spam - but honestly I can't really fault the setup for my use case. It's not really designed around planetary or high power views, but can still do reasonable planetary work if needed. 

Note that I've changed my EP selection for travel and this is an older photo, and also that the final picture is not the same tripod as the one on the bag, which requires being a bit lower to the ground for stability. 

[MonsterMagnet]

22 hours ago, Toltec said:

I tried the sv41, it is possible that I got a bad sample because the collimation was way out, off focus the pattern looked more like a wankel rotor than a disc and any bright objects has noticeable flaring to one side. Having said that it has a 48mm thread which you can just screw a 2" to 1.25" adaptor to to take normal eyepieces.

I spotted this alternative, but not tried it

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/acuter-voyager-mak-80-telescope.html

I have ended up using an old 60mm refractor on a photo tripod with a fluid head for now.

 

That acuter 80mm actually looks quite good, the reviews are positive (see below).  Has anyone given it a try?

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/reviews/telescopes/acuter-voyager-mak80-telescope/

Even the smaller 60mm gets a surprisingly good review, it seems to be sold by Acuter and someone called Sarblue and is obviously very portable but not sure it would stand up to the Acuter 80mm or even the Svbony and Celestron 70mm.

MM

Edited June 16, 2022 by MonsterMagnet

[Roy Challen]

My Skymax 90, Altair Mini AZ, carbon tripod, Hyperflex zoom and a 30mm plossl come in at well under 5kg and it all fits into a rucksack that no airline has ever felt the need to question the dimensions of, and I do a lot of flying.

You can even fit in some t shirts, shorts, and underwear should you feel the need!

Long haul flights usually have a weight limit of 7-8kg but some airlines allow an additional 'personal' bag of up to 5kg eg a handbag or camera bag.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Roy Challen

[ollypenrice]

On 15/06/2022 at 08:31, MonsterMagnet said:

Thanks for the suggestion.

Do you have a specific one in mind?

You will need to remember the constraints of hand luggage only so that's 10kg max (including clothes etc) and 55cm x 40cm x 20cm for everything.

In the end it's for some fun and enjoyment whilst having a glass of wine in somewhere with dark skies so something that works is better than nothing.

MM

I'm not proposing it, per se, but I was able to get my TeleVue Genesis onto flights as hand baggage. It was just possible on length after I made it a compact thin plywood case. I'm sure there are now dozens of fast (therefore short) refractors up to around 90mm which would pass. It's common, these days, to design them with very short main tubes which require lots of drawtube out to reach focus. Although this is a daft idea structurally, it does make them more compact.

Olly

[MonsterMagnet]

4 hours ago, Roy Challen said:

My Skymax 90, Altair Mini AZ, carbon tripod, Hyperflex zoom and a 30mm plossl come in at well under 5kg and it all fits into a rucksack that no airline has ever felt the need to question the dimensions of, and I do a lot of flying.

You can even fit in some t shirts, shorts, and underwear should you feel the need!

Long haul flights usually have a weight limit of 7-8kg but some airlines allow a 'personal' bag of up to 5kg eg a handbag or camera bag.

Thanks - I'll take a look and work it out dimensions.

Unfortunately it's not going to be the main part of the luggage (not going to get away with that with the missus) so will need those clothes etc!

MM

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @MonsterMagnet and welocme to SGL. 

On 14/06/2022 at 22:24, Graham Darke said:

Why limit things to 70mm? I have taken a deforked Meade ETX90 (90mm Maksutov) on planes to the USA twice and into Europe in hand luggage. Weight was very low. 70mm is small for an obstructed scope. At that size I’d prefer a refractor. 

I am another with a de-forked Meade ETX, [the 105] and with a re-modded backplate, following an accident that damaged the ABS plastic rear cell assembly, after a short alloy dovetail plate snapped whilst on a mount. (images below).

When I do travel and observe away from home, it is stored in a backpack/rucksack...

 ...along with a few eyepieces and filters. The tripod and mount are packed in a suitcase or trolley-bag if it involves air travel.

[KP82]

For anything smaller than 70mm, I'd definitely recommend refractors over any obstructed designs.

If budget allows, the Tak FS60 is a good option: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-fs-60-series-refractor-telescopes/takahashi-fs-60cb-f5-9-doublet-fluorite-apo-refractor.html

Otherwise the various 60 and 72ED f/6 doublets are all good choices (e.g. the TS-Optics 62ED posted by vlaiv). No way that scope would weigh 5.4kg (My 107 triplet is only 5.7kg). It's more likely 2 - 2.5kg.

[Stu]

I had an excellent TS 72mm f6 unit with fpl-53 glass. Really good optically and also mechanically; lovely focuser. Well worth a look, or any of the similar 72mm scopes, even an SW 72ED would be great at the cheaper end.

[Highburymark]

Another vote for a small refractor. The first scope I took abroad was a Meade ETX-105, but since then it’s been refractors all the way - much better for DSOs under darker skies. Better to appreciate the star fields in Sag/Scorpius/summer Milky Way. And still effective on the planets. Any of the 60-72EDs would be great, and if you can go bigger, all the better. 
Looking back, the ETX was the largest diameter scope I’ve taken away, yet the most restricting in terms of what it can show. 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

I used a Skymax 102 for travel although not flights. The scope, a zoom ep, 30mm plossl, finder and diagonal fitted into a standard dslr camera bag. The mount and tripod in other luggage. However I found 10x50 binoculars were being used more so I sold the Skymax and forked out on 15x70s, a monopod and trigger grip. The whole lot is easy to pack and maybe weighs umm 3.5kg? Under dark skies there's a plethora of objects to see. The binocs are great for extended nebula and open clusters especially. Far less faff than a scope and tripod.

Edited June 17, 2022 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[StarryEyed]

On 14/06/2022 at 22:40, MonsterMagnet said:

Certainly an option.

Not sure the missus will be impressed though 😂

MM.

Depends how small your speedos are and how big your scope is! 

[900SL]

9 hours ago, Stu said:

I had an excellent TS 72mm f6 unit with fpl-53 glass. Really good optically and also mechanically; lovely focuser. Well worth a look, or any of the similar 72mm scopes, even an SW 72ED would be great at the cheaper end.

Second vote for the TS 72. I had the f6 doublet 53/Lanathum objective, lightweight, totally flat field with the 0.8 reducer, no CA, I'm sure it would have been a cracker for visual

[Gfamily]

I've got a 102 mm Skywatcher Mak, and although it's adequate for the Moon and planets, it didn't real give me what I want for DSOs. For faint fuzzies like Galaxies and PNs, it didn't really give enough of a contrast gain to take advantage of the magnification, whereas for star clusters, its field of view is relatively small so they don't really show at their best (I like to see them against the background distribution of stars).  

On the other hand, I've recently bought a 72mm ED refractor that gives wonderful views of clusters and is capable of surprising levels of magnification for planets and the Moon. Yes, there isn't anything much that it can do for galaxies and PNs, but then again, I wouldn't have got much with the Mak either. 

As for their relative weights - the 102mm Mak weighs about 1.9kg, whereas the refractor weighs 2.5kg.  These may be a bit higher than you're hoping for, but you might find the info useful. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by Gfamily

[MonsterMagnet]

Hi All.

Thanks for the warm welcome and for all the suggestions.

I'm pretty new to observing and you've made excellent suggestions, quite a few out of the budget I wanted to spend and outside the size limits I am working with but I think they will come in useful in a few years when I decide to upgrade (the ED's look excellent).

I'm still learning how to use my main scope so I've decided to get something small (and probably pathetic in many peoples views - a 60mm mak with good reviews) but the idea is to have something very simple to use for a little bit each night - I'm not going to get away with observing all the holiday.  I'll pair with with my Hyperion Zoom rather than the eyepiece it comes with and it should provide some enjoyment.  Still a chance I will change my mind and send it back but this should work for this holiday and then the kids can maybe use it along with my old dob.

I'm going to be back with many other questions, probably on my main scope as I don't think I'm getting the viewing I expected but I've not had a chance to use it in a while and London is of course monstrously light polluted and Jupiter and Saturn aren't up early enough to put into practice things I've read.

MM

[Steve Ward]

Robert makes a good case for this nice little 60mm Mak ... 

 

[MonsterMagnet]

14 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

Robert makes a good case for this nice little 60mm Mak ... 

 

Yep - picked one up for 85 GBP last night, seems perfect for the current needs although I do like some of the suggestions in the 500+ GBP range in this thread.  Couldn't get the SarBlue one but managed to pick up the Acuter version which seems to be identical and a few small suppliers still had stock.  I'll use my Hyperion Zoom instead of the stock eyepiece and might change the tripod - I'll make some judgements after a test once it's arrived.

MM

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by MonsterMagnet

[badhex]

17 minutes ago, MonsterMagnet said:

Hi All.

Thanks for the warm welcome and for all the suggestions.

I'm pretty new to observing and you've made excellent suggestions, quite a few out of the budget I wanted to spend and outside the size limits I am working with but I think they will come in useful in a few years when I decide to upgrade (the ED's look excellent).

I'm still learning how to use my main scope so I've decided to get something small (and probably pathetic in many peoples views - a 60mm mak with good reviews) but the idea is to have something very simple to use for a little bit each night - I'm not going to get away with observing all the holiday.  I'll pair with with my Hyperion Zoom rather than the eyepiece it comes with and it should provide some enjoyment.  Still a chance I will change my mind and send it back but this should work for this holiday and then the kids can maybe use it along with my old dob.

I'm going to be back with many other questions, probably on my main scope as I don't think I'm getting the viewing I expected but I've not had a chance to use it in a while and London is of course monstrously light polluted and Jupiter and Saturn aren't up early enough to put into practice things I've read.

MM

The little Mak will be great for the moon and planets when they are around, as well as double stars. You also have a nice opportunity to kill two birds with one stone so to speak; double stars will be one thing that won't suffer so much in London LP with your existing dob, so it's worth spending a bit of time investigating them. I would highly recommend the book "Discovering Double Stars" by another SGL member @Ags - a really great, practice book helping you both learn and observe. 

 

[MonsterMagnet]

24 minutes ago, badhex said:

The little Mak will be great for the moon and planets when they are around, as well as double stars. You also have a nice opportunity to kill two birds with one stone so to speak; double stars will be one thing that won't suffer so much in London LP with your existing dob, so it's worth spending a bit of time investigating them. I would highly recommend the book "Discovering Double Stars" by another SGL member @Ags - a really great, practice book helping you both learn and observe. 

 

Thanks - I'll take a look at that book and great that it's by a fellow member of the forums.  As you say, it'll be good for just some fun spotting.

The dob is old and sits in the corner, I have a Skywatcher P150i (WiFi GoTo) with a Baader Hyperion Zoom and Baader SkySurfer V I can use in London or somewhere else if I can be bothered to load the car up.

MM

Edited June 18, 2022 by MonsterMagnet

[badhex]

3 hours ago, MonsterMagnet said:

Thanks - I'll take a look at that book and great that it's by a fellow member of the forums.  As you say, it'll be good for just some fun spotting.

The dob is old and sits in the corner, I have a Skywatcher P150i (WiFi GoTo) with a Baader Hyperion Zoom and Baader SkySurfer V I can use in London or somewhere else if I can be bothered to load the car up.

MM

Double (multiple) stars are quite addictive! I didn't really know many apart from a handful of well known ones like Albireo, the double double etc. but started to get more into it last year, so the book came at just the right time for me! I'm still very limited in my knowledge but it turns out they are just as varied and satisfying as any other target. 

[MonsterMagnet]

On 18/06/2022 at 10:25, MonsterMagnet said:

Yep - picked one up for 85 GBP last night, seems perfect for the current needs although I do like some of the suggestions in the 500+ GBP range in this thread.  Couldn't get the SarBlue one but managed to pick up the Acuter version which seems to be identical and a few small suppliers still had stock.  I'll use my Hyperion Zoom instead of the stock eyepiece and might change the tripod - I'll make some judgements after a test once it's arrived.

MM

 

So this turned up this morning and thus far it seems good - only had a quick look at some trees but hopefully I can give it a small test later tonight.  It's tiny, will definitely be no problem in the hand luggage on any trip.

 

MM

Edited June 22, 2022 by MonsterMagnet

[Roy Challen]

17 minutes ago, MonsterMagnet said:

So this turned up this morning and thus far it seems good - only had a quick look at some trees but hopefully I can give it a small test later tonight.  It's tiny, will definitely be no problem in the hand luggage on any trip.

 

MM

Hand luggage? That'll fit in yer pocket!