Where do I go from here?

[orion f6.3]

With Xmas now long gone I start the year with a purchase in mind. Here is my dilemma, I have about £400 to spend. The 10" DOD has now a 10:1 micro focuser and the whole set up (as a DOD and when set up on the EQ6) is great. The 80mm Revelation works OK and now is also used as a holiday scope with the EQ6. Would you get a premium eyepiece for the DOB ie. 2" 30mm Meade 5000 UWA (50x in DOB & 16x in Rev) Great for deep sky or Sell the 80mm and get the Revelation APO C/W 1:10 micro or get the WILLIAM OPTICS upgrade for my Revelation 80mm (1:10 micro & APO front cell) according to reviews this is a superb APO cell, thanks Orion f6.3

[GordonCopestake]

If you plan on doing photography then the APOgrade will help. If you are purely a visual observer though i doubt you'll see THAT much improvement to the views with the APOgrade upgrade (at least not £400 improvement in my mind). If you wanted a premium 2" eyepiece you could go with the meade 5k but for £400 you could get a good set of hyperions which will work well in your f/6.3 'scope. If you wanted just ONE eyepiece for £400 then go for the 31mm T5 Nagler over the meade 5k.

Personally though looking at your setup I would look to a planetary 'scope (if you are into planets that is). You have the dob for DSO's and the 80mm for widefield stuff, but you dont have anything thats high mag. Something like a mak or cat perhaps would slot in nicely in your line up. You can get a C8 for £400. Or what about an ED100? Or sell the revelation and put the cash towards a ZS80FD? Lots of options! Depends what you want to do

[orion f6.3]

The 80mm is mainly for wide field but, I love to draw the moon and as it stands the 80mm give mauve / yellow edges! Also if I use it for any day work its limits show again. I do like the look of the ED 100 but if I have to the 80mm goes on my manffroto slow speed setup (see blog) not sure if any thing bigger will still be stable Thanks Orion

[GordonCopestake]

I was going to recommend the ED80 as the FPL53 glass is actually as good as the APOgrade, but it's a heavy OTA for an 80mm and doubt it would go as nicely on the Manfrotto. Going by your setup and what you want to do with it (lunar) then go for the APOgrade. Plus you can sell the old lens cell to an ATM'er for some cash to soften the blow.