Which One?

[martin_h]

SW EV 80ED f7.5 fl 600mm - or -

WO megrez 72 FD f6 fl 432mm

Both have a dedicated reducer which brings them down to f6.37 & f4.8

Will be used for imaging, there is about £40 between them with the reducers in the mix.......so which one?

[ollypenrice]

Well, I honestly think that f 4.8 is highly attractive but is also the territory of very premium glass. Can it be done on a budget?

And the ED80 has an almighty track record in imaging.

WO tend to use a very short main tube with far too much hanging out of the back.

If were my dosh I'd personally throw it at the ED80 but others might not agree.

Olly

[brantuk]

Olly makes a good point about the Meg - I'm considering a small counterweight on the front of mine for when I have substantial ep's and a camera hanging on the back end. Might not be an issue with the ED80.

I've heard nothing but good stuff about both scopes and you won't go far wrong with either. Unless you have very specific requirements I think it may be down to personal preference in the end.

[martin_h]

The WO is the faster scope - and cheaper! so I dont know, like you both say tho balance might be an issue - Toss a coin some one.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I just did an image search on both scopes and for the second scope i got this:

[martin_h]

I'm leaning towards the ED80 - for one simple reason, I have the Evostar 100ED DS-Pro with reducer, so my imaging train (filter wheel and ccd) is already setup, so it will be a case of just swapping over.

No more hunting for exotic spacers.

[argonaut]

Having to slim down on OTA's lately due to health problems I was looking for something small and portable. I went for the WO 72ED DDG (Ian King). This new little scope has the new hardened bottom rail for the DDG focuser. I must say I'm not into gadgets really (see Lee Evans Tour,Cardiff) but this is a nice focuser. I did notice when the scope cooled down the focuser actually moved .02mm. I thought this was quite intersting to know. I will be using the scope for a bit of dabbling in afocal pics also.

The optics show very little CA and with a prism diagonal,even less. The views of Jupiter the other night were quite outstanding for such a small aperture. I did buy it for wide field were my main interest is.

It's a chunky monkey and it fits on my Manfrotto 028/503 combination for quick and light grab and go. Just thought you might be interested in this little scope.

Glen.

[brantuk]

Dunno how that happened Paul but it sure seems funny

[watchmakerjohn]

I have a 72 and find it very good for visual observing, have a camera tripod for mine which will all pack in a bag with my computer and will pass through Easyjets inspection for hand luggage for hols in portugal

[mint_mark]

I've got the Megrez 72 and I use it for imaging with a DSLR mounted on an astrotrac.

It's the only telescope I've used like this and I find it very capable.

The William Optics flattener III is very sensitive to focus. Even with good focus you do not get round stars in the corners of an APS-C sensor. I wrote a thread about it...

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-discussion/112548-best-flattener-william-optics-megrez-72-a.html

I need to update that thread because I have since bought the Skywatcher flattener and it gives much better results. It does not reduce the focal length though, so you are back to 430mm f/6.

I have the original focuser and reading the previous responses here I would have to agree with them. If I have a barlow, extension tube and camera then it almost doubles the length of the setup. I'm sure there is some sag in the focuser and you have to get the tension just right to avoid it slipping with all that stuff in there. I'm thinking of getting a heavier camera so this might become more of an issue for me.

Also, the focus lock knob causes the focus to change as you tighten it. You just have to compensate for that.

I only found out about the new focuser from this thread, so I don't know if it addresses these issues.

The little mounting foot is very short and nowhere near under the point of front to back balance (which is under the focuser end of the tube), so you need some way of mounting it back there.

Other than that I think it's great and I'm glad I bought it.