Altair 8" Imaging Newtonian

[Nerro]

Hi,

As i am looking around in the market for a nice refractor for imaging,i saw this newt : Altair 8" Imaging Newtonian telescope. it seems like they are ticking all the boxes but reading the rwviews.... Initial thoughts on AstroTech 8" Newtonian i am not so confident anymore.It seems like a good idea as that would be dual purpose scope.8" aperture is prity imprrsive and F/4 for wide field.But is it worth it?I got the impression that focuser needs to be changed.I plan to get NEQ6 Pro mount anyways so i would be using its weigh limit to the max or in this case i would need steadier mount?

But again after reading this thread i was pritty impressed : http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-discussion/107507-calling-all-owners-altair-8-inch-f4-imaging-newtonian.html

So any thoughts?maybe someone got good usage not only testing?

[ajg]

Love to help, but mine hasn't seen first light yet as I don't have a mount for it! I'm planning on an EQ6 - it's well within the limits for it.

The focuser is a GSO affair (10:1 dual speed crayford), very similar to the one on my old 16" lightbridge - I never had a problem with that. I can't feel any flex in the focuser on mine. I think some people may be a little spoiled with their moonlites and feathertouches.

The other reported problem was with the primary holding collimation, similar to the early lightbridges where the springs were'nt strong enough. Can't say either way on this one, but upgrading 3 springs isn't a big problem IMO.

[Nerro]

thanks for that.do keep me posted when you will finally get the first light.what bugs me the stability of the whole focuser.I read some reports that you would need to get quite a few extensions for visual use to get into focus.and are you planning on using any correctors?

[Pete Presland]

looks pretty good to me and i reckon it would be comfortable on a heq5

[ajg]

looks pretty good to me and i reckon it would be comfortable on a heq5

For the scope, yes, but once you've got a guide scope, imaging gear and all the other paraphernalia, it might be pushing an EQ5.

what bugs me the stability of the whole focuser.I read some reports that you would need to get quite a few extensions for visual use to get into focus.and are you planning on using any correctors?

I plugged the 20mm ES 100 (~1Kg!) into the 50mm extension tube, and dropped the focuser out as far as it would go. There was a small amount of flex in the focuser, but that's a pretty extreme load.

I'm planning to get a paracorr with the tunable top as I'll be able to use that with the Flextube as well as this. The Altair one looks like a steal at under £100, but there's no tunable top and I want to use it for visual as well. I think for photographic only, it would do fine.