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Which APO ?

Astro_Baby

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angusb1

angusb1

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At the mment i am kind of hardening to just accepting astro may be impossible when you live in an urban environment at the top of a block of flats with no lift.

I'm sure you have already thought of this but I take it there's no way you can get out onto the roof of the flats?

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A McEwan

A McEwan

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I think enough people have chimed in along the lines of suggesting a good high quality Apo refractor on a good alt-az mount. TeleVue 85 + Gibralter? Or Panoramic mount? Or even a Giro type mount.

Or (being slightly biased here, but reasonably so) the TS 90mm ED Triplet that I have is eminently portable and there is space in an ED80 case for the scope, diagonal, some eyepieces, additional dew-shield and even an observing chart!

The TeleVue scopes come with cases, even if they are "soft" cases, but they are perfectly well up to the job. I took my TV85 on holiday in its soft case along with a handful of eyepieces, finder, diag (installed on scope) and hey - it worked fine.

These smaller aperture scopes are very versatile and can go from huge widefield vistas to high magnification planetary viewing at a moments notice. There are plenty of suitable easy to use mounts available too.

Some mindset alteration may be required though. Everyone loves the views through big 'fracs but not everyone that looks through a big 'frac has to put it all away at the end of the night...

Ant

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dweller25

dweller25

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I think I know where you are coming from AB. It was similar with me when my kids were young and I was being keen at work. What little time there was for the hobby had to be taken up by looking through the scope, rather than aligning the mount, extensive cooling, collimation, moving it piece by piece etc, etc.

I found a 4" F/6.5 ED refractor on an un-driven alt-az mount did it for me during the tail end of that period (I didn't have the finds for something like that when the children were really little :))

I still have the scope (Vixen ED102SS) and still use it a lot. My larger aperture scopes will show more of course but the Vixen always seems to exceed expectations whereas the larger ones sometimes don't.

It's just a doublet objective lens with one element some form of ED glass - probably FPL-51 or similar. It shows little or no CA to my eyes and the OTA weighs just 7lbs.

A setup like that keeps you in the hobby, but more on your terms :(

The Vixen is now out of production (mines a decade old) but the nearest modern equivalent is probably this:

Megrez 102 ED Doublet - Telescopes UK: Telescopes & Telescope Accessories in your only London shop

Mine sat quite happily on the Vixen Porta Mount as well - it really is a true "grab and go" on that mount :p:

You will have to compromise somewhere Mel, if it were me the above suggestion/setup would be the way I would go.....

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Well it would look ok in some settings - wouldnt look good in my lounge :hello2:

Last night I got to use the 180 Mak (hooray I have only owned it over a year) and lo and behold the sky was clear, the dew was non existent and everything worked. And lo verily the views of Saturn, the moon and M42 were truly wonderful but the scope is a bit of an enigma - I really cant decide whether a scope like the 180 will vere get much use with me albeit the views were great - should I replace the 200 perhaps with the 180 - problem is the 180 has such a narrow field of view. As a planetary scope its probably the best I have and in some ways it fulfills the needs for compactness.

Sighs - I am now inclining to the Altair 115 for smaller size. I have never felt so lost as right now with scope choices.

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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Just get a nice 102 ED APO.

Then you can blame me and the other person that has said it.

Good views, smallish size, reasonable weight. Believe me just what you want. (Honest).

Someone on SGL must be a dab hand with an airbrush kit to make it candy pink.

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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mel, just a thought, have you considered a tal 150k or 200k, small and portable like a mak but no dew problems with the open tube klevstov design, oh and available in a lovely shade of white

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Strangely nightfisher - yes I have - I considered a TAL 200 and its not out of bounds but it has a narrow field of view and the focusers on them are awful.

Sighs I think I am leaning towards the Altair Astro 115 or perhapos a Meade 5000 series in 102 or perhaps a Teleskop Service equivalent or maybe a WO - so really no nearer on this - sighs - never have I dithered so much on a scope.

Problem is the nights testing with the 180 Mak threw more confusion onto the pitch and now I have to put the EQ6 sale on hold while my sister dithers over whether she is going to nag her other half into building an obs for her. :hello2:

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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it appears the newer tal klevtsov models have a crayford type focuser, i was going to get one from a member on here but just cant justify spending so much cash on yet another scope, with so little time to use them

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AndyH

AndyH

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Strangely nightfisher - yes I have - I considered a TAL 200 and its not out of bounds but it has a narrow field of view and the focusers on them are awful......

Ooooh :hello2:. They're not awful. I'd call them adequate for the job. Perfectly fine for visual and can be tuned up to be smooth.

:DAndy.

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LMC

LMC

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Strangely nightfisher - yes I have - I considered a TAL 200 and its not out of bounds but it has a narrow field of view and the focusers on them are awful.

Sighs I think I am leaning towards the Altair Astro 115 or perhapos a Meade 5000 series in 102 or perhaps a Teleskop Service equivalent or maybe a WO - so really no nearer on this - sighs - never have I dithered so much on a scope.

Problem is the nights testing with the 180 Mak threw more confusion onto the pitch and now I have to put the EQ6 sale on hold while my sister dithers over whether she is going to nag her other half into building an obs for her. :hello2:

Dear oh dear.....

I swear on my sister's grave (we can all dream:evil6:), that any of the Astro-Tech lensed 106/7s will be as much 4" APO as you will ever need. Unless you have astounding vision, the difference between a 115 and a 105/6 is negligable while the difference in portabilty is noticable. On an average night, you MIGHT get an extra 1/2 magnitude out of a 115. Maybe.

IMLTHO you should hang on to the Mak - A good 7" long fl scope is ideal for lunar and planetary exploration. I just got a used IM715 and, whereas before, I would curse the Moon, I now can't wait to get out and view it. The extra detail is phenomenal. Saturn has been spectacular.

I love it and want to marry it. You will too.

Peter

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johninderby

johninderby

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Just get a nice 102 ED APO.

Then you can blame me and the other person that has said it.

Good views, smallish size, reasonable weight. Believe me just what you want. (Honest).

Someone on SGL must be a dab hand with an airbrush kit to make it candy pink.

Hmmmm.....A pink APO. At least you'd know no one else would have one. :hello2:

John

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Ir reminds me of something - but that aint nothing nice.

I have suspended the APO lark for a bit - I just cant decide :hello2: Everytime I come to a decision something else pops up. I get aperure creep (ie decide on a 100 and then think aww just go to 115, 120 etc which might defeat the whole point). The ones I like trhe look of all seem to have issues - ie no case forcing me to spend more (and I am already on iffy ground with finance manager), or they have a slightly bigger/better model available (3" focuser, better finder etc) tempting me to overspend or they have some other kind of issue (non stadrad finder shoe, just dont look nice, unreliable supplier etc).

I know all of this is fixable but I dont want to fix - I want it to come out the box and be just what I want - and therein lies the rub I guess because no astro kit yet that I have bought has been able to pull that trick off.

Plus the Skymax 180 has muddied the waters a treat. Until a week ago I was happy to sell the accursed Mak but now having had some good views with it I am not so sure anymore. I was going to flog the EQ6 but my sis has now begged me not to because she might want to buy it. I cant sell the 10" scope which is just being used to balance some books on at the moment because I havent had time to test it - sighs. Until these issules are resolved I cant afford an APO anyway :hello2:

One last question though - is a field flattener really all that and a bag of chips for a visual observer or is it juts another bit of glass to mess about with. I know what it does but I wonder of its worth having for visual only.

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dmahon

dmahon

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One last question though - is a field flattener really all that and a bag of chips for a visual observer or is it juts another bit of glass to mess about with. I know what it does but I wonder of its worth having for visual only.

I'd say not.

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