Grab and go advice - bins or a refractor?

[Guest Steve]

Well the CGEM C9.25 is nice, but it is hardly grab-and-go. With a trip to rural south of France coming up next month I'm looking for something I can observe with which will fit in the car without having to leaving one of the passengers out...

I'm tempted by large binoculars, maybe 20 or 25x100, but also by a small refractor.

I'm looking at £200 - £300, second hand, which would have to include a basic mount/tripod.

Any thoughts on options or relative merits?

Thanks

[BAZ]

You may want to check the weight of the 25x100 Bino's, they are around 4kg, and quite big. You will also need a decent mount for the, a photo tripod will curl up and die with that weight on it.

15x70 Binoculars weigh in at about 1.5kg, and at a push can be hand held, but not for long.

Nigel's got an offer on Bino brackets at the moment, I would consider one of those.

The only problem with Bino's and small refractor's is the magnification, unless you get an APO, you can't really push them without losing image quality.

How about a Mak, they perform well.

[Perkil8r]

I really rate the St80 at the minute. Okay, it's not the very best there is, and as Martyn says it will suffer at high mags, but if you're thinking bins 25x100 you're going to need a mount of some sort and be stuck with 25x mag. An St80 on the other hand will still need a mount, yes, but mags are user defined by the EP which I presume you already have. Plus it's other uses later could be guiding or imaging etc.... piggy backed on your other scope maybe. It's versitile and gives more uses I feel.

I am biased obviously and still in the honeymoon period, but I can't find any faults with it for the price.

[Guest Steve]

The refractor option would be a bit more expensive, but it opens up the options for guiding and imaging, so I guess it would seem the better longterm option.

Haven't considered Maks. Aren't they just smaller variations of my C9.25 SCT? I'm looking for something robust and compact... and just 'different' really!

Anyone want to sing the praises for big bins, or are they just going to be a rod for my back?

(Or maybe I'd need a rod for my back to hold them)!

Edited June 1, 2012 by Steve

[Tweedledee]

Hi Steve,

I'm also tempted by large binoculars. But have been weighing up some of the pros and cons as follows...

Using 2 eyes is a small advantage over one and can make very pleasant viewing.

Double the weight and bulk for same aperture as a refractor, thus requiring more substantial mount/tripod.

Binos usually have fixed eyepiece/magnification, usually very low power/wide field. No provision for attaching filter. Thus far less versatile.

For £200 to £300 you would get far better quality optics in a small frac.

As you have just pointed out, you would have problems doubling up (pun intended) your binos as a guide scope.

To my mind the odds are in favour of a good frac mainly on the grounds of versatility.

My two penneth.

Cheers.

Small refractor...

[Tweedledee]

As Martyn pointed out, don't dismiss the small mak as a great grab n go. They are very robust and compact, generally high optical quality and don't require collimation. A 100mm mak will have a shorter tube than a similar aperture frac, will probably be slightly heavier having a mirror as well as a lens. The focal ratio will be a minimum of about F10, giving a much larger image scale than your average travel frac (about f5). With the longer focal length you'll have a higher range of magnifications with the same set of eps compared to a short focus frac but generally a smaller field of view. Maks don't usually come with a dew shield like a frac, so you would definately need one, but a camping mat shield would weigh nothing and pack away easily.

Choices, choices

[Tweedledee]

Check out Damians modified grab n go mak. 100mm F10. The photo shows it with a 2" diagonal.

http://www.eastmidla...-2-sct-adapter/

Sorry, it's a 110mm!

Edited June 1, 2012 by petersull

[Rock Doctor]

I had the same dilemma a few weeks back but decided to go for a small frac which I could then use as a guidescope when the darkside calls. I was lucky enough to pick up a mint WO 72mm Megrez for £240 from Astro buy/sell which I am now looking for a cheap mount for. From the advice here it looks as though a SW Az4 will do the job with a small dovetail but then at a later stage I will need a mounting bracket and tube rings for mounting on the 1100. I have not managed to use it yet but I think that Kim has one and also Stephen sold one earlier this year so they may have more comments on it. Mike has also just purchased a ST80 which he is also very pleased with.

[Guest Steve]

Went for a small frac in the end - WO Zenithstar ZS66 Petzval from eBay. (I collected, so was able to check the condition - lovely).

I too am now looking for a small mount, although this is small enough to go on a modest photo tripod, I think, for the 'go' part of grab'n'go. I'm not looking for imaging on this - just something to hold it and point it in the right direction for visual.

Thanks for the advice. I think bins would have been great, but, especially if I'd gone for big ones, too cumbersome. The ZS66 is lovely and light and compact, so it can be tucked away in the middle of the suitcases perfectly.