Opinions Please on 8 inch RC telescopes

[fwm891]

Hi All, I'm thinking of getting an 8-inch RC scope and would like to get a flavour of different peoples views on these scopes.

 

I'm an imager so wont be looking to do any visual work with the scope. It will be used in an observatory on a fixed pier.

 

May thanks for your time - Francis

[+RonC]

Hi Francis, I had a 6" RC for about a year, well impressed! I only sold it as I bought a MN190 for AP. Found collimation to be fairly easy and its a light scope (the 6") so an EQ5 was used. It was an Altair Astro version and well made! Hope this helps?

 

Cheers

Ron

[+Ibbo]

I have one

you need a very good mount at long focal length

at 1.9m they are slow

collimation is tricky

consider 2x2 binning

 

great for smaller targets

 

Steve

[fwm891]

Ron / Steve,

 

Thanks for the comments - looks like one for one against...

[+Ibbo]

I did not say I was against

just needs thinking about

 

not sure which mount you have but it is a slow system and I was using 30min + subs with mine and the SX9

its not been on the mount since I got the 694, but will be come galaxy season

 

Steve

[fwm891]

Thanks Steve,

I have an Avalon Linear Fast Reverse mount and Atik 383L+ mono. Un-binned it would give me 0.67" / pixel 2x2 gives 1.3"/pixel

 

No problem with the mount.

 

They all seem to be GSO clones (in my price range)

[Brantuk]

Ohhh... that's a nice mount Francis - well worthy of a pic in the Member Equipment section (hint).

 

You'll get a lot of folks drooling over it lol.

[+Ibbo]

The mount is no problem Francis

 

you might consider one of the Tak coli scopes

 

I will dig out the links for the collimation

 

bright stars tend to be a bit blobby but I think that can be sorted in processing and short subs

 

 

Steve

Edited December 29, 2013 by Ibbo

[fwm891]

Thanks All and a Happy New Year to you.

 

Decision made. I took the plunge yesterday and bought an 8-inch Carbon tube RC from Astronomia. One of the Altair Astro badged GSO varieties, lots of thinking gone into this.

 

My aims were to get a scope that would give me a larger image scale for the smaller (not too small) DSO's. Ideally I wanted to mount a new scope in parellel with the AA115 frac I already had so I needed to stay within a loading restraint of 20Kg for the mount and a strict budget (read allowance).

So thanks to people like yourselves on the net I've read reviews (for and against) RC's I even nearly changed my mind and started looking at a Celestron Edge 8 inch but experience with an older C11 and a number of poor reviews swayed me away.

I looked at some second hand  metal tubed RC's and SCT's but here the weight of the OTA was just too high.

 

Now need to swat-up on collimation with these RC beasts

 

Thanks again - Francis

[+RonC]

Good move Francis, I found collimation on my 6" easier than a Newt! Look forward to some great images! (no pressure!!) 

[fwm891]

Good move Francis, I found collimation on my 6" easier than a Newt! Look forward to some great images! (no pressure!!) 

Thanks Ron, How did you go about collimation: just a Cheshire or laser as well?

I have both and will get a rear levelling plate at some stage (or make one, it doesn't look very complicated)