Nexstar 5i - wide field views

[seiko]

Happy New Year everyone!

I currently have a Nexstar 5i and Baader 8-24mm zoom but miss the old wide field views of my now sold ETX90.

I was thinking about mounting a William Optics Megrez 72 FD to really deliver wide views? What are peoples thoughts on this combo? Will they compliment each other or are they to similar in size? I personally suspect that an 8" and 72 would be a better pairing?

Alternatively can someone suggest eyepieces that will help the 5i.

Ultimately, I like the 5i but am really disappointed that it doesn't show globular clusters with any brightness hence I'm focusing on planets and wide fields.

Thanks in advance

[John]

I had a Nexstar 5 for a while and quite enjoyed the views of globular clusters through it - about the same level of resolution as my 4" ED refractor delivers. Aperture really does the business on globulars though - my 10" newtonian really opens the brighter ones up

For wider views, I found the F/6.3 focal reducer very useful as a 2" diagonal / visual back won't fit comfortably on the C5 I found. A 24mm Panoptic coupled with the focal reducer was giving me a true field of view of just over 2 degrees and very nice views

[seiko]

Thanks John, having had the 8" Nexstar I am bitterly disappointed with the dim views of M13 in the 5i. Alas, the 8i was just to bulky and didn't really qualify as a travel scope! I'm now stuck as I enjoy planetary viewing but wanted to still take a look at the very bright globular clusters!

I was genuinely surprised at the difference in brightness between the 8 and 5. I only wish I'd had a chance to see them side by side!

The 6" is also now on my mind but again I suspect it's views of m13 will be only marginally better than the 5?

Once I get the main scope sorted I can always piggy back a small refractor for wide views but it's proving very difficult to settle for one?