Do I swap my scope?

[spacebloke]

Hello everyone,

I bought a Nexstar 6se last week, i've only been able to use it once because of poor skies, but I did get a nice view of jupiter.

The 6se is great but i've just got the niggling feeling that I should have got the 8se.

So what should I do?

1 - Keep the 6se, get a microfocuser and maybe a couple of other bits and peices, but always be thinking about the 8se.

or

2 - Get the 8se and put my mind at rest.

I've already got a neximage camera and i'm very much interest in doing lunar and planetary photography and then moving onto dso.

But then that throws the mount in to question. so maybe I should look at the advanced C8 S-GT.

What do you think?

Any advise would be welcome

[Beulah]

1 - Keep the 6se, get a microfocuser and maybe a couple of other bits and peices, but always be thinking about the 8se.

or

2 - Get the 8se and put my mind at rest.

Looks like you answered your own question.

[russ]

Have you read any of the reviews on the 8SE?

You may be surprised. While the 6" SCT sits nicely on the SE mount, the 8" doesn't. A bit too much weight for the single arm design. I don't want to put you off or sway you. But maybe worth doing some research first, read some reviews of the 8SE and decide if there will be a problem with vibration and damp down times.

Be awful to swap and then find you can't tolerate the 8SE.

[JamesM]

I agree with russ and do some research first before changing the scope. The bigger decision is really about how far you want to take the imaging side of things because that great skews equipment choice. I would recommend Steve Richards "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95) to provide you with a detailed account of all levels of imaging. I wouldn't want you to change to an 8se to then have to restart again.

So I would read the book, research the reviews of the product and take your time to get the decision that is right for you.

Clear skies

James

[spacebloke]

Thanks for the quick replies. i've been doing quite a bit of research and the issue with the weight doesn't seems like a major problem.

The 8se is just over £400 more, which is quite a lot.

What I want to know is, will I see £400 worth of difference?

Is the mount for the c8-sgt the same kind as the heq5 becuase that seems to be the standard for any kind of astrophotography and the optical tube for it is the same as the 8se.

[acey]

What I want to know is, will I see £400 worth of difference?

Only if you use the 6" long enough to get a real sense of what you can and can't see with it. Otherwise you'll notice no real difference at all - except extra weight.

You're suffering from the feeling that everyone gets when they first look through a scope - "why doesn't everything look like it does in the photographs?" A couple more inches and a lot of money won't solve it - time and experience will.

[swamp thing]

[quote=

The 8se is just over £400 more, which is quite a lot.

will I see £400 worth of difference?

[/quote

Hi Spacebloke

Don't know if anyone really knows what the standard £400 worth of difference looks like.

I would stay with the 6" for a while.

No point in spending money until your sure what you want from your scope and your hobby.

Regards Steve

[nightfisher]

stay with the 6, i cant see you getting £400 of benefit from the 8

[spacebloke]

Thanks everyone for the advice. The concensus seems to be to stick with the 6se.

Right.... I think that's what i'll do.

I've been reading quite a bit about microfocusers. The feathertouch seems to be the best one, there's also the jmi motofocus.

These are both fairly pricey, are there any alternatives that would be good for the 6se

[ollypenrice]

If you want to do planetary imaging an SCT is fine. If you want to get into deep sky imaging they are (just my opinion) a nightmare. They are nowhere near ready to use as sold. For that kind of focal length you want to be spending not less than five grand just on the mount. Have a look at the deep sky imaging board. Look what folks are using.

Olly

[smudgeball]

Hi

I got the 6SE recently.

Really pleased with it on the hour that I've used it so far

But seriously, the views I got were really impressive and the nexstar system worked really well.

The best part for me was portability and it scores highly there.

I thought about all the mount / size questions that you have in your post.

At the end of the day I reigned in my budget and went for the 6 SE.

So my vote is stay with the 6

Cheers

Neil

[malc-c]

Thanks for the quick replies. i've been doing quite a bit of research and the issue with the weight doesn't seems like a major problem.

The 8se is just over £400 more, which is quite a lot.

What I want to know is, will I see £400 worth of difference?

Is the mount for the c8-sgt the same kind as the heq5 becuase that seems to be the standard for any kind of astrophotography and the optical tube for it is the same as the 8se.

I've just been through a similar process. I went to my nearest retailer with a view of getting a 5SE goto, however the retailer had a 6SE in stock and I was thinking of getting that until the limitations of the mount was pointed out to me. I ended up placing an order for a C6-SGT, however it looks like it will be March before the distributor will have stocks. More research and the I discovered that the drive on the CG-5 mount are really noisy. - I therefore canceled my order and done more research

I've just ordered a Skywatcher 200P on a EQ-5 pro mount with Goto for just over £660. The EQ-5 drive is a lot quieter too. If the 200P is a bit too large have a look at 150pds on the same mount : Rother Valley Optics Telescopes, Binoculars & Accessories

Just some suggestions... but at the end of the day, it's your money, and your choice as to what suits you

[Nexus 6]

I used the 6se for 18 months, it was my first scope, I only used it for visual astronomy and found it to be a great piece of kit, once I had worked out how to set it up, it was also good as a grab and go, I took it to France and had some tremendous views of the nightsky. I reckon you should get yourself a couple of ep's and let it show you whats out there, luckily I have got some decent dark skies here and that does help a lot.

[spacebloke]

OK.... it's decided i'm sticking with the 6se.

I am however looking for a few suggestions on what extras to get.

I already have a powertank, celestron eyepiece kit and neximage.

I'm thinking about a focuser, a better star diagonal and a better barlow than the one with the eyepiece kit.

Anu suggestions?

[smudgeball]

OK.... it's decided i'm sticking with the 6se.

Yeah!

6SE

[russ]

I think you made a good choice. 6SE is a great scope.

You could get a nice 1.25" dielectric diagonal, the Revelation is very well priced at £50. Not sure what benefit you would get from a 2" diagonal as the C6 is stopped down to 1.25" at the rear.

The TV 2x barlow or Celestron Ultima 2x are both superb barlows.

That's about £120-130 blown.

[spacebloke]

I bought a Williams optics diagonal (the carbon fiber one), it's meant to improve a lot on the standard one.

I'm also thinking about getting one of those axiom eyepieces.

has anyone got one of these?

[LukeSkywatcher]

The TAL barlows are very good for the price.

[Mr Spock]

If you have £400 burning a hole in your pocket get a 250mm Dob to go with your 6se. That's the perfect extra

[yoda]

I agree with Mr spock 250mm dob will do you some good if you need to spend £400.