The worth of an 'f' stop

[oreed]

Any thoughts on the Omni XLT over the Skymax SLT?

Is it worth spend more money on the Omni 127 XLT (F9.8) than going for the Skymax 127 (f11.8) on an eq3 mount?

Are two 'f' stop's worth £100, or are there other qualities hiding underneath the skin?

[Zakalwe]

What do you want to do with the 'scope? Visual or imagery?

[jgs001]

The Omni XLT is a Schimdt design and the Skymax is a Maksutov design...

The Omni has a thinner front corrector and collimatable secondary (mirror), the Skymax has a thicker corrector and the secondary mirror is fixed to the corrector.

The Omni has a shorter focal length, as can be seen by the lower focal ratio, therefore a slightly wider FOV.

The mirrors in the Omni are, as I understand it harder to manufacture, thus it's more expensive.

I'm sure there are many other things I've missed on, but I don't really know the SCT type scopes, and have barely scratched the surface of the Mak's myself.

[oreed]

The scope would be used for viewing mainly.

[Zakalwe]

Buy which ever one you like best then. Sometime we can over-analyse these things. If it is a first scope than get it bought, and out under the stars.

Both would be good for Lunar or planetary imaging with a webcam too.

[CGolder]

Hello,

I have owned many SCT's and Maks and in my opinion the maks perform a little better (not much). the SCT's are a fair bit lighter.

[oreed]

Thanks CGolder, would you buy into GOTO version now or go for a more solid mount i.e. eq3 now then upgrade later?

[CGolder]

I had a 127 on a az goto and ended up selling the lot for a Meade ETX only due to frustrations with the mount, which in turn caused frustrations with the F15 optics and having to use an extension tube so hyperions fit in. Now i have a Nexstar SE mount and its great, if you don't plan on imaging i highly recommend the mount.

i knows its more expensive but you might get one second hand, it will then allow you scopes up to a 8" SCT. but a 5-6" is rock solid.

I have the 6" sct at the moment but intend to get a 150mak to compare at some point. I have spent a lot of money but i am nearly at the end lol

if your budget doesn't allow then i would take the eq3-2 version over the alt/az, or get the smaller 102 on the alt/az. for visual the alt az mount is just perfect.

EDIT: Oh just a thought.... I would probably look into a AZ4 instead of a eq3-2. I like the look of those