Re: where do the go-to's go to?

Started by ghacker, 07/03/2007 07:57AM
Posted 07/03/2007 07:57AM | Edited 07/03/2007 04:04PM Opening Post
Greg,

I'm afraid I can't agree with you on the NexStar SE and "i" models. First, I don't think Celestron is selling a ton of the SE models. They've been discounted 2x in the last 6 months. They currently have a promotion of $200 off on the C8, $150 on the C6, and lesser amounts on the C5 and 4 models. If they were selling like hot cakes, Celestron wouldn't be discounting them.

Having had my C6 SE only since January, I can't give personal experience about its reliability over 4-5 years. However, I belong to several groups where these types of scope are covered and it's my belief that most of the member are quite happy with their scopes. Certainly most of the posts don't concern problems or failures. Like the forums here, members are interested in tweaking this or that or sharing images (yeah, even though these scopes aren't meant for imaging-hard to believe). Of course, there are those with problems but I don't feel the proportion is statistically greater than more advanced systems.

While my personal experience is limited (I've only been in the hobby for a little over a year), my personal experience has been that my C6 has performed well so far. No mechanical issues and the optics are quite good according to the people in my astro club.

FWIW, I do want more light so I eventually plan on upgrading to an 8" SCT. The 8" will still meet my portability requirements. Of course, this means I'm only 2" smaller than my 10" dob and I'll be forced to upgrade this as well to at least 14". wink But this is based on aperture fever and not blurry optics.

The GOTO function is OK by me although I suspect that a higher priced mount does have better performance. But this is just speculation since I don't have the personal experience.

Based on my observations in the various forums/boards, your comments may be accurate for the SLT mounts. They seem to be less reliable and stable that the SE and NexStar i models. But the price points for the SLTs are considerable less so it's not totally unexpected that the manufacturers cut corners on quality construction.
Posted 07/03/2007 01:16PM | Edited 07/03/2007 01:17PM #1
>>>Having had my C6 SE only since January, I can't give personal experience about its reliability over 4-5 years. However, I belong to several groups where these types of scope are covered and it's my belief that most of the member are quite happy with their scopes.
=====

I am not a big fan of GOTO scopes, they are not for me but that's beside the point.

And I think one needs to be concerned with the possibility that at some point a particular model will become obsolete.

But mounts like the Meade LX-200's seem to last quite nicely and are going strong well past the 5 year mark.

When the equipment is out there that has sold well in the past and is not being re-sold, it likely means people are happy with it and using it.

I do see a fair number of older LX-200s here on AM for sale.

Jon