CPC 800 GPS or Advanced C8 SGT XLT?

[tonyjh2]

Does anyone have any experience of these two telescopes? My brother-in-law is after an 8" (or more) SCT with goto and is considering these - he has a budget of up to £1,500. There seems to be a significant price difference between the two (almost £500), but we're not sure what the CPC offers that the Advanced C8 does not.

If he were to spend all of the budget, might he be better to look at the larger Advanced C9.25? In terms of ability, he's no experts, but he's not a complete novice.

Many thanks for any comments & advice.

PS. He's not really considering any astrophotography!

[MartinB]

I used to have a Nexstar GPS 8" which was the predecessor to the CPC. The priciple difference between the CPC and the advanced version is the mount.

The CPC is a joy to use for observing and planetary imaging. I was able to carry my Nexstar out into the garden as a complete unit. You just plonk it down roughly orientated north. Then ask it to align. It will collect it's GPS satellite data, collect it's thoughts and then go to the first alignment star. You just have to centre it and it will go off to the second star, centre again and alignment is done. So easy.

Once aligned observing with a fork mounted scope is very comfortable compared to using an equatorial mount. The eyepiece is always in the most comfortable position.

The main downside of a fork mounted scope is the fact that you need to buy a wedge if you want to do long exposure deep sky imaging. Also it isn't the ideal scope to get into imaging with unless you are using a modded web cam (small chip will work with the meade 3.3 focal reducer).

The advanced series mount is a reasonable mount for visual but might struggle accurately tracking with an 8" SCT for imaging. This set up is more flexible in that you can use other scopes with the mount. Also you can use your scope with another mount.

I still hanker after my 8" Nexstar.

[tonyjh2]

Martin,

Thank you for the reply. So on the basis of your comments, the CPC 800 is a very user-friendly "all singing & dancing" set-up, with minimal faffing around.

That sounds like what my B-I-L is after. He wants a scope that will cope very well visually with planets, but also give rewarding visuals of DSO's. That is the reason why he decided to upgrade from his original intended purchase of a 127 Skymax Mak to an 8" SCT - the ability to see so much more of DSO's. I presume he's correct on this count?

So it seems if he wants relatively little set-up, he should go for the CPC 800, otherwise look at saving a few £'s, but with a bit more tinkering to opt for the Advanced C8 - or for the same money as the CPC 800, buy the Advanced C9.25 with even more aperture. Decisions, decisions.......