Guide scope advice required

[daryl_lincoln]

Hi i own a meade lx90 and guide currently with a celestron nextstar 80 (my old scope)

Im looking at upgrading my guidescope. Nothing fancy just some thing that will 9/10 times have a star in the FOV

I use a Meade DSI-I as my guide cam, which i find is a great cam for guiding so dont want to change the cam. I have AMD 150mm scope rings and dovetail set so dont want to change these either

Alot of constraints i know but the best scope that fits this spec

So any advice and guidence (no pun intended ) would be welcome

[Catanonia]

A nice Skywatcher ED80 would work a treat and used by loads including me.

[adamsp123]

I am using a spare 50mm finder plus QHY5 and it works a treat! Saves weight and nice wide FOV, just a thought.

[daryl_lincoln]

Crazy Cameras - Orion ShortTube 80 OTA

Would this be any good

[Catanonia]

I am using a spare 50mm finder plus QHY5 and it works a treat! Saves weight and nice wide FOV, just a thought.

how do you connect up the QHY5 to the 50mm spotter ?

I have an idea as I have a spare spotter and a QHY5 and two DSLR's

mmmm...

Me thinking here,

SW ED120 with EOS 350Modded

SW ED80 with Sony A700

Spotter with the QHY5

mmmmmmmmmm

[JCJC]

I like many others am using the Startravel - Skywatcher Startravel 80 OTA it works really well for me, having a good fast focal ratio and a nice FOV.

I think it's pretty much identical to the Orion you already mentioned.

Jordan

[Rossco72]

There's a short tube William Optics Zenithstar 80 on ebay right now. It is one of the original ones with the flourite objective.

I use a Zenithstar 80II for guiding, haven't had it long or I would be snapping up the one on ebay!!

[beetlejuice]

There's a short tube William Optics Zenithstar 80 on ebay right now. It is one of the original ones with the flourite objective.

I use a Zenithstar 80II for guiding, haven't had it long or I would be snapping up the one on ebay!!

So what do people use for guiding generally? My understanding is that medium to long focal lengths are preferable as the smaller field of view means more accurate guiding, though making choosing a guidestar more difficult. I am going down this route by dual mounting my M90 (the imaging scope) and my C6 as the guiding scope.

[adamsp123]

how do you connect up the QHY5 to the 50mm spotter ?

I have an idea as I have a spare spotter and a QHY5 and two DSLR's

Spotter with the QHY5

mmmmmmmmmm

Posted a thread with pics in DIY section