SkyWatcher ED80 Pro or Meade 5000?

[AstroManDan]

I am thinking of getting one of these scopes for imaging and guiding use. I am torn between the two, I know the Meade is a triplet and about £100 more than the SW, but the SW does come with an eyepiece and diagonal, so a nice collection of kit.

Should I expect false colour on the SW doublet? or even on the Meade triplet?

I have seen some great images with the SW, I think the SW just seems a lot more popular.

[Euan]

You may also want to consider how good the focuser's are on each of them if you are hanging anything heavy off the back of it

I've no idea which one is better but I'm sure someone will chip in, here is a first light review someone has done:

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-discussion/97036-meade-5000-ed80-apo-first-light.html

[AstroManDan]

I see in your signature you have an Equinox 80, how do you find that?

As I think it is supposed to have the same optics as the ED80 Pro, but with a better build quality than the ED80 Pro.

[Euan]

I see in your signature you have an Equinox 80, how do you find that?

As I think it is supposed to have the same optics as the ED80 Pro, but with a better build quality than the ED80 Pro.

I don't know if this is common with these scopes or not, but my focuser completely lost it's collimation, and there was no way to adjust it

See the thread here: http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-help/86812-equinox-80-collimation-out.html

I replaced it with a Moonlite which is a different class altogether

[Euan]

I think it is supposed to have the same optics as the ED80 Pro, but with a better build quality than the ED80 Pro.

I think it's the same type of ED cell, but the advantage for me with the Equinox is it's faster. F6.25 instead of the usual F7.5 for the ED80

I use a 0.8 focal reducer as well, so I get F5 which is rather nice, it's a big FOV with a big chip CCD, here is the QHY8

[ollypenrice]

One difference is that the ED80 doublet will need a flattener for sure. On the Meade it may or may not, depending on your chip size. I think both are good but I think I'd go for the doublet and flattener.

Olly