buying another telescope

[geoff1962]

at the moment i am using a skywatcher200p on a eq5 mount, wanting to get a larger or better telescope but cant decide on which one or type to buy,looked at a meade lx90acf 250mm a celestron c11 sgt(xlt) and a skywatcher skyliner 400p flexitube goto all are similarly priced but i also need to consider imaging in about 12 months time, still enjoying roaming the skies at present but at some stage i now i will go down the imaging route,could do with some advise on all three telescopes mentioned and a bit of advise towards imaging,were i live in macclesfield i have great dark skies and little light pollution except when the missis gets up and turns all the lights on in the house,might take all the bulbs out one day

[johninderby]

As you mention imaging in the near future perhaps you should consider the mount first and then which OTA to get.

The C11 on the SGT mount is just barely adequate for visual and useless for imaging. The OTA's just too heavy. The Meade being an ALT-AZ mount would be fine for lunar/planetary imaging but wouldn't be suitable for DSOs. You could get a wedge for it but a decent quality wedge isn't cheap and has it's own complications. The Flextube again would be really be limited to Lunar/Planetary for imaging, although great for visual with all that aperture.

An EQ6 or CGEM mount would handle a decent sized OTA. The C11 OTA would work really well on one of these mounts although the C9.25 OTA would be great for imaging. Of course if you had the EQ6 or CGEM one of the Astrograph type Newt OTAs might be worth considering.

John

[geoff1962]

thanks for the imformation:)

[Daniel-K]

first dibs on the 200p