Celestron NexGuide Autoguider

[neilm]

Hi,

 

I am a newbie from Kirkby in Ashfield with a Celestron 8.25 Edge with EQ mount.

 

Does anybody use the Celestron NexGuide Autoguider who might be able to give me an opinion on how useful the kit is and inform me how it focuses the OTA?

 

Regards,

 

Neil.

[red dwalf]

welcome to the forum Neil,

i think there are cheaper and in my view, better ways of guiding, firstly the longer the focal length the harder it is to guide well, so your scope has a focal length of 2000mm, a reducer might help with lowering the focal length a bit, also with these scopes an off axis guider might be a better way to go or failing that i have been told that 10x60 guide scopes can guide scopes up to 2000mm very well but you`ll need to attach this to the scope very firmly as with all guide scopes. any bit of flexing in the guide scope will cause you problems with your guiding.

[neilm]

Evening Rob,

 

Used the scope a couple of times manually after taking the plunge to buy following a visit to Kielder in early March - if you get the chance to catch a public (or private) session I'd highly recommend attending especially if you are a newbie. The staff's enthusiasm is infectious. 

 

I'm using the OTA supplied guider for initial manual pointing as I haven't got round to aligning the beast properly yet (which I'll need to do to use any form of autoguiding).

 

Having thought about it, the Autoguider's blurb is referring to is its own focusing capabilities rather than being able to set up the scope's focus.

 

Regards,

 

Neil.