New Telescope Soon Opinions Please

[GordonCopestake]

counterweight?

[Tinkerbell]

I suppose one advantage of the LX90 at the moment is the eyepiece offer that comes with all new LX90's

Full set of 4000 series possels

Lo Darren

I have the LX90 and for ease of use and set up it is a doddle but if You feel imaging is going to be a big factor in the future I would recommend an EQ mount. The LX can be used to take some cracking pictures but it is not the easiest beast to tame especially when You have it on the Meade wedge, very prone to vibrations. For mainly imaging you can't get better than a refractor on an EQ mount, the set up takes a little bit longer but the shorter focal length makes taking pictures much easier .

I use My LX mostly for visual and occasionally for pictures and use my EQ mainly for imaging and now and then for visual. So one is ideal for DSO viewing and one is ideal for DSO imaging but if you could combine an 8" or 9.25" SCT on an EQ mount then piggyback an 80mm on top jobsagoodun .

[MartinB]

The Meade and Celestron wedges do leave a lot to be desired. However the mitty, milburn and APT wedges are different animals. I use an APT wedge which makes the whole set up very solid. MP did you know that Greg Parker images with a sky90 piggy backed on a web mounted Nexstar 11" GPS?

[GazOC]

I've never found a SCT difficult to use on an EQ mount (I used to have an LX90), the eyepiece is usually in a convienent position due to the size/ format of the telecope no matter which mount is used. Also fork mounts generally tie one scope to one mount (at best two)

[MartinB]

counterweight?

Yes. a pair of rails run beneath the scope. the counter weight can be moved forward and back for balance in dec. The weight can be turned out to provide correct balance for RA.

Here's the set up although obviously the weight isn't in place on this pic

[Tinkerbell]

The Meade and Celestron wedges do leave a lot to be desired. However the mitty, milburn and APT wedges are different animals. I use an APT wedge which makes the whole set up very solid. MP did you know that Greg Parker images with a sky90 piggy backed on a web mounted Nexstar 11" GPS?

Lo Martin

Four of our members use LX scopes on the Meade wedges and are quite happy with them but I couldn't get away with mine so I sold it and bought the Milburn and what a difference. Now there are no vibrations and the pictures are still carp but I know who to blame . I wouldn't put anyone off from trying to image with a fork mounted scope but if imaging is going to be their thing I would still recommend going the EQ route having tried the fork mounts and the EQ mounts myself and finding it a lot more fun and a lot less frustration with the EQ. 8)

Would this Greg Parker be of the infamous Greg and Noel fame who between them produce fantastic images time and time again

[FLO]

My, my, what a busy thread

[geppetto]

Martin

How much would a decent wedge and a counterweight system cost

to put things into perspective?

[The Warthog]

I keep going back to look at the Celestron C8-SGT. It retails for $1800 in Canada, about £800. I don't know how much it goes for in the UK. It has a full goto system, and a CG5 equatorial mount, which is more versatile than the fork mount because you can put other scopes on it. The combined price means that you are getting the tripod and mount for $400, or the OTA for $900, a total savings of $500 on the package. You could save a couple more years and add an ED80 later. JMHO.

[GordonCopestake]

I'm not sure the CPC is an upgrade to the NS GPS, it DOES have a better tripod but the cord wrap would get on my nerves.

WH, theres also the 8SE which isnt as stable a mount as the GPS but does have a dovetail so you can use different OTA's. I'm a bit wary of it though as a C8 on a single fork arm seems a recipe for wobblevision IMO, especially with large 2" eyepieces and forget about piggybacking an ED80 for guiding. Different market though I guess

[George]

I'd get rid of the wife and increase my budget

[Jamie]

I'd get rid of the wife and increase my budget

Thats the best suggestion i have heard yet.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I'd get rid of the wife and increase my budget

I got rid of mine and it had a very bad effect on my budget.

Not recommended chaps.

Captain Chaos

[MartinB]

The Meade and Celestron wedges do leave a lot to be desired. However the mitty, milburn and APT wedges are different animals. I use an APT wedge which makes the whole set up very solid. MP did you know that Greg Parker images with a sky90 piggy backed on a web mounted Nexstar 11" GPS?

Would this Greg Parker be of the infamous Greg and Noel fame who between them produce fantastic images time and time again

The very same

Martin

How much would a decent wedge and a counterweight system cost

to put things into perspective?

Yes it gets expensive!! Bought my NS8 GPS from Rog for £1000 Second hand APT wedge £350 piggy backing and counter balance kit £160 Am about to upgrade to CPC handset for permanent PEC

[geppetto]

Second hand APT wedge £350 piggy backing and counter balance kit £160

Ok so if you were thinking of buying a fork mount scope which you would be using for astrophotography

your budget would have to take into account an extra £500 to £600 for the addons.

[The Warthog]

Second hand APT wedge £350 piggy backing and counter balance kit £160

Ok so if you were thinking of buying a fork mount scope which you would be using for astrophotography

your budget would have to take into account an extra £500 to £600 for the addons.

Which makes an equatorially mounted scope at a reasonable cost look mighty attractive. 8)

[GazOC]

Some people would say that buying a wedge for a fork mount is like admitting you should have got an equatorial mount in the first place....... :p

[MartinB]

Well I wouldn't so ner ner :sunny:

[GazOC]

[richard42]

i have also just swoped my lx90 for a heq5 pro mount, the lx90 is a fantastic scope but when all is said and done it is a top of the line observing scope, if you want to do imaging other then use the included lpi for planet / moon imaging then it will not cut the mustard, easily, now i'm not saying it wont, but you will find it more fun and less of a struggle with a shorter focal length and a faster scope for dso and a longer focal length scope for planet moon, when you know what you want to look at then the people here will be able to help you more. I have not had much time with the new scope but the ed80 is a great scope and have had loads of fun where as it got to be quite a bind to get the lx90 out.

As a question to martin how have you corrected for 3d weight problems? this was the main problem that i could not sort with my lx90.

[MartinB]

Richard, I agree about short focal length refractors, that's how I'm doing all my imaging at the mo - mostly piggybacked on the ns8. Why piggy backed on the NS8 rather than using my super polaris - I am happy to leave the tripod and wedge outside protected by a bbq cover which saves a lot of time with alignment plus the alt az controls on the APT wedge are so smooth fine drift alignment is better. Also the NS8 arrangement is more stable especially in a breeze.

I have posted a picture of the scope with rails on the 1st page of this thread. Underneath the scope is a pair of rails with a threaded shaft atthached. A counter weight screws onto this. The weight is cylindrical with the threaded hole at one end. It can be rotated on the shaft to move the weight out laterally. It is therefore simple to balance in both RA and Dec. I can set it up with either my ED80 or ZS66 on top so that is completely balanced. It is easier to do this than balancing the super polaris when the ED80 and ZS66 are mounted side by side.

[richard42]

you have a great setup martin and it is working very well indeed looking at the images you are getting!

[dazza1639]

:huh:Well I'm even more confused now

What to do?

It seems that from the comments I should forget the LX90 even thought Rother Valley are doing it with the eyepiece set, powerpack & dew shield for £1679 + delivery

http://rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/detail.php?id=1507&n=Meade-LX90-8-in-Scope-w/-power-pack-&-dew-shield-meade

So it seems to be down to the Celestron Nexstar 8 GPS without XLT coatings from dhinds

Celestron CPC 8 with XLT coatings (do the xlt coatings make that much difference?)

A Celestron Advanced Series C9.25-SGT (XLT) (But from what I've read here the mount isn't that great and I won't be able to add an ed80 to the top at a later date because of the weight)

An ED80 pro with HEQ5 Pro and get a C8-sgt or C9.25-sgt OTA at a later date (this seems an expensive way of doing it)

Or finally get a C8-sgt or C9.25-sgt OTA and a HEQ5 Pro and think adout getting an ED80 Pro later.

I'm so confused. Give me a clue please.

Darren

[MartinB]

Darren, I've never compared XLT with non XLT linings but I doubt there is barely any discernible difference in the field.

If you are going down the fork mounted route, as you will have guessed, I can vouch for the NS8 GPS. Adam Hinds has very nicely summed up the difference between the GPS and the CPC. From what I have heard the quality of the CPC/GPS is much higher than the LX90. Don't be tempted by the trinkets on offer, go for the scope.

Despite all I've said, an SCT on an HEQ5 mount will also serve you very well. The advantage of this set up is if you want to equip yourself with a larger scope than an ED80. I wouldn't attempt to piggy back an ED100 or 120 on an NS8 for instance. However you will only be looking to go down this route when you are moving onto longer focal length, more advanced imaging (if you have any sense!). By that time who knows what you will be looking for equipment wise. You might be after a more competent mount than an HEQ5 anyway.

I was in your position 1 year ago. I bought an NS8 GPS second hand and haven't regretted it for a second. I have toured the sky visually and am currently using it to piggyback a small refractor for CCD imaging (admittedly with the additional purchase of a wedge).

BTW, I have a heavy duty Celestron wedge with additional fine tuning controls going for £100 (a saving of over £200) if you were interested.

[GordonCopestake]

One massive advantage of XLT over non-XLT is the resale value of the OTA!