I have an 8" Celestron Starhopper and for the most part it's a wonderful scope. I've never seen another scope of the same aperture that I liked better, but one thing that does annoy me about it is the mount. For one thing it's rather large and bulky compared to other dob mounts and another is that it simply isn't as steady as a well built EQ mount. Are there any modifications that would improve either of those two problems?
I imagine the bulkiness issue would require a complete rebuild of the mount, but what about the shakiness at the eyepiece? Perhaps a crossbar added between the two arms of the dob mount or tension springs where mount and scope connect? What sort of things will help? Does anyone have a webpage detailing modifications they've made on their Starhopper?
---Daniel
I imagine the bulkiness issue would require a complete rebuild of the mount, but what about the shakiness at the eyepiece? Perhaps a crossbar added between the two arms of the dob mount or tension springs where mount and scope connect? What sort of things will help? Does anyone have a webpage detailing modifications they've made on their Starhopper?
---Daniel
