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Hi all!
Bought myself an 8" LX10 a few years ago. Great scope but it's big and bulky and moving it in and out of the house on a winter's evening is a pain here in the Chicago area. I want to get another scope, one that will get used more often(yup learned my lesson the hard way)

I find it hard to back down on aperture but I'm seriously thinking to go to a 100mm (+/- 20mm) refractor to help deal with light pollution issues (even though I'm close to the Wisconsin border where it's nowhere near as bad as my old viewing location 25 miles out of the city). I would also like to go with a GOTO scope as well-I want to have fun seeing all types of things.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

~peace and clear, steady skies~

Michael Plishka said:

Hi all!
Bought myself an 8" LX10 a few years ago. Great scope but it's big and bulky and moving it in and out of the house on a winter's evening is a pain here in the Chicago area. I want to get another scope, one that will get used more often(yup learned my lesson the hard way)

I find it hard to back down on aperture but I'm seriously thinking to go to a 100mm (+/- 20mm) refractor to help deal with light pollution issues (even though I'm close to the Wisconsin border where it's nowhere near as bad as my old viewing location 25 miles out of the city). I would also like to go with a GOTO scope as well-I want to have fun seeing all types of things.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

~peace and clear, steady skies~

I once owned an 8" LX50 and like you, (during the winter especially) it was a pain to haul out, though it wasn't terrible...just kind of inconvenient for a quick look kind of thing.

So I bought an ETX105. Granted, I went down in aperture, but I went WAY up in time out observing. What good is a big scope you almost never use? I'm not saying get rid of the 8", but perhaps get a smaller Mak, like an ETX 125 or the Orion 127.

One thing I really like about the ETX line is that you don't even need a tripod. I often (in the early morning when I'm having my coffee before everyone else is up) will take my little ETX out and set it on the brick planter next to my front steps. I don't even turn it on. I have it well balanced and I use the fork mount like a manual Alt-Az, non-GoTo setup and just do quick looks at a few things.

What could be easier than an ETX? You don't even need a tripod. What other scope can do that? Try taking a refractor or reflector out without a tripod sometime and see how fun and easy that is. Even the smallest DOB is more work than an ETX (in manual Alt-Az mode).

I still can see an awful lot with my 105. In fact, I see way more with it than my 8" SCT. But that's mostly because the views of my closet through the 8" aren't very impressive.

Michael
You may want to look at the Nexstar 5". It can be carried outside on the tripod with one hand, has accurate go-to and can show a surprising amount for it's size. I found the the Nexstar 5 to be considerably more stable than the ETX-125 in a past comparison.
Hope this helps.
Steven Jindra

Thanks everyone (thus far!) for all the great info! PLenty of great reading material and advice...

This board ROCKS!!!

I'll let you know of my final decision (and I'll keep working the barbells in the meantime! )

Clear steady skies~~~

Michael

The choice has been made:
Celestron 102SLT and I'm working up a possible swap plan to get rid of my SCT and replace it with a DOB...

Takers on the SCT?

Thanks for all your help--you folks rock!!

~peace and clear, steady skies~

Michael