First light Celestron CPC 800 XLT

[proflight2000]

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[Psychobilly]

Hi Terry ....

Sorry to hear you had a few issues... But as you hinted at the end of your post its a pretty tidy scope once its all up and running... There are quite a few CPC users on here so they should be able to help out with most problems...Hopefully you wont have too many more...

The USA TZ issue is linked to the fact that GPS systems don't expect to be switched off in one part of the planet and switched on in another... the first time they do they get lost... Usually for a few minutes...

Basically the GPS receiver knows which GPS satellites should be in view at any time and will try to link to them first... if it cant see any of them it then tries other satellites until it finds one and then needs to download and update an "almanac" so it knows which satellites are overhead at its new location... then it can obtain a fix...

There is a side panel in the manual which says that the first time the scope is switched on it may take up to 20 minutes for the scope to download the information from the GPS satellites...

Peter....or Billy

[PaulG]

Packing the scope away took me 3 minutes, as simple as that, overall the scope and the mount are stable and a real pleasure to use, Terry

Hi Terry

Congrats on the new purchase, very nice the CPC800 .

When you say 3 minutes to pack the scope away, can you pick the whole kit and kaboodle and walk with it or do you have to remove the OTA. Whats it like to carry through doorways.

Paul

[Psychobilly]

When I was looking for an SCT the Christmas before last ... and had a little bout of aperture fever... the shop owner said....

Are you going to have to carry it to set it up and is there anyone there to help you ?... to which I answered yes and No then he said don't go bigger than an 8"... an He was spot on...

The CPC800 and its tripod split into 2 reasonably manageable lumps...

Peter....

[Helen]

I've got the Nexstar earlier version and I could just handle it in two pieces. But it was at my limit, hence the Obs. But then I'm only 5 foot tall...

Helen

[Coco]

Congrats on your purchase. I was bought one for Xmas by the lovely Susan (Wife) Grovel here... She just maid me put this because of me obsy coming

Anyway my findings about the GPS are the same. I waited and along came the correct settings some 10 minutes later.

I have just recently received a new hand set from Steve at FLO. My set died after I did a firmware update

The old hand set was arranged to be FEDEX collected and a brand new hand controller FEDEX back all with 1 working week!! Kudos to Steve and Peeps at FLO

The hand set was set back at California time so it took another 10-12 mins during the day to re establish itself.

The scope is a real gem, I still kick myself for not buying an EQ6 & Astrograph now tho'

Oh and the electrical connector is the same on mine also ...

[proflight2000]

Hi Paul, yes it can easily be carried by using the handles placed on the OTE section, my reasons for a reasonable weight were part of my deciding on what to get. Overall, I believe the whole thing kept together is about 65 pounds, easy enough to carry outside from a shed or a garage, I would not want to carry it a great distance though. It is easy enough to carru through doorways as there is a section attached to the bottom of the tripod which when lifted pulls the legs in, you can place a foot under it and raise it.

I would say though, it maybe easier to carry the taller you are, over 5 foot 6 maybe, as you would in effect be placing a lot of upwards pressure on your spine.

Hi Terry

Congrats on the new purchase, very nice the CPC800 .

When you say 3 minutes to pack the scope away, can you pick the whole kit and kaboodle and walk with it or do you have to remove the OTA. Whats it like to carry through doorways.

Paul

[PaulG]

Hi Paul, yes it can easily be carried by using the handles placed on the OTE section, my reasons for a reasonable weight were part of my deciding on what to get. Overall, I believe the whole thing kept together is about 65 pounds, easy enough to carry outside from a shed or a garage, I would not want to carry it a great distance though. It is easy enough to carru through doorways as there is a section attached to the bottom of the tripod which when lifted pulls the legs in, you can place a foot under it and raise it.

I would say though, it maybe easier to carry the taller you are, over 5 foot 6 maybe, as you would in effect be placing a lot of upwards pressure on your spine.

At 65lb it would be right on the limit i think for me to lift without blowing a gasket, nice that you can retract the legs then kick them out to finally place it down.

Paul

[Psychobilly]

I reckon that it's easier and safer to split the scope from the tripod... and fixng one to the other is really easy and takes seconds...

Peter...

[red dwalf]

this is a scope i`m hoping to aspire to, shme about the power connection problems, for a scope in this price range you would think they would sort it out.

( anyone got a second hand one for half price ) LOL

does Steve do interest free credit ?

[Psychobilly]

The power connector issue is no big deal... it uses a split pin socket and they two "leaves" just need to be eased apart slightly..

Peter....

[brianb]

this is a scope i`m hoping to aspire to, shme about the power connection problems, for a scope in this price range you would think they would sort it out.

Hmmm ... the power connector isn't great, but gently spreading the pin fixes the problem more or less permanently. A good tip is to wrap the cord round the right hand arm of the fork so that the friction between fork & cable takes the strain off the connector. Remember to turn cord wrap off in the setup menu, too - the cordwrap function does exactly what it says on the tin, not at all helpful!

I bought the CPC1100 recently - it was the biggest scope I could manage. I transport the tripod & mount/tube assembly seperately, it's reasonably manageable that way (for a 56 year old who isn't huge or strong), the carrying handle on the right hand arm & recess under the left hand arm make it a cinch compared with e.g. the Meade LX200 10" which weighs almost exactly the same. The CPC800 has got to be easier, less weight & less bulk (the tripod is no problem), it must be a reasonable proposition for any adult without a serious back condition.

But I wouldn't try to move it in one piece, all the same.

A good hint for anyone with one of these scopes - get a crosshair eyepiece (mine is 12mm i.e. quite high power), when aligning stars make the star drift right through the crosshair & press "align" as it does so - doing this reasonably carefully & using three well spread out stars I'm able to get "goto" accuracy into the middle part of a x187 eyepiece everywhere in the sky for the whole night. Much better than the 8" LX90 I used to use.

[Adam Hinds2]

this is a scope i`m hoping to aspire to, shme about the power connection problems, for a scope in this price range you would think they would sort it out.

( anyone got a second hand one for half price ) LOL

does Steve do interest free credit ?

Proflight - I have responded to your comments in the first thread a couple of days ago.

Red Dwalf - Interst Free (12 months) credit is available online via our website. I am not aware of any other UK Celestron seller that offers it as a payment option.

[FLO]

does Steve do interest free credit ?

No, but thanks for asking

[BlueAstra]

I looking at this telescope to buy as an upgrade in the next week or so. To get 0% free credit I'm taking out a new credit card (Tesco) that gives 0% for 12m on new purchases. That way I can look at all the online sources and eventually get 0% finance.