Small multi-use refractor questions

Hi Craig,
You've gotten good advice from practically all who have spoken up. You never mentioned a budget, but I'm going to assume that you don't want to spend an arm and a leg, which rules out most of the apo options that have been mentioned. 60/66mm is pretty small for astro viewing, so I'll assume that 80mm is the range you're looking for. My recommendation therefore is the Stellarvue Nighthawk on either a Stellarvue M1 or a UA Unistar or Microstar mount on a mid-range Bogen or Manfrotto tripod. There are approx 3000 scopes in the SV AT1010/Nighthawk family in circulation, so you know they have a reliable track record, both optically and mechanically, and SV customer service is tops -- 9 times out of 10 you end up talking to Vic Maris himself when you call. The alt-az mounts mentioned are definitely, IMO, the way to go for dual-purpose terrestrial and astro viewing.

Jim

Has anyone mentioned the new Orion Express 80mm f/6 "semi-apochromat"?

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=92209&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=4&iSubCat=13&iProductID=92209

Dave Mitsky

Hi Craig--
You've gotten a lot of good advise and there's really no one good answer. I'm sure your head is swimming, but I'll give you my nickel's worth...however, I'm not sure what you price point is.

I have an Orion ST80 on a Bogen 3021 Tripod and Bogen 3130 Head at our place in Mexico. This is an extremely lightweight, portable setup that's great for nature views and the scope gives very acceptable wide field astro views (a little color on bright objects). You probably don't want to push this scope much past 100-125x. This is a very affordable setup and may be what you're looking for as a starter.

On the other hand my grab-and-go at our home in the states is a Televue 76 on a Takahashi Lapides modified Teegul AZ mount and Bogen 475 tripod. This is quite a bit heavier than the ST80 setup, but provides a rock solid mount with slo-mo controls and, of course, Televue quality on the scope. This is NOT a very affordable setup but if I had to part with all my other equipment, this is the one I'd probably keep. But for what you're looking for this is probably not where you want to start--just suggesting a price range .

One thing to consider is that a lot of AZ mounts pose a balance issue and many are sold on less than adequate tripods. The stouter ones with slo-mo controls can have the altitude axis locked down and fine motion made with the slo-mo control--this keeps the scope from flopping. A couple you might consider (although I haven't personally used them) would be the Vixen Icarus D and Vixen's new Portamount which mounts the scope along side of the altitude axis and somewhat simplifies the balancing issue (although I don't recall if this mount has slo-mo controls--which I'd definitely recommend). The Orion AZ3 might also be acceptable with a very lightweight scope such a the ST80. I'd recommend on NOT skimping on the mount--you'll really be annoyed at a jumping image! And if you have a good mount it's much easier to upgrade which seems to be a common affliction among us stargazers!
Good luck!

Clear skies,
Phil in Seattle