Good afternoon to all:
I'm signed up for a 102F6 from Burgess Optical. Currently, problems have been identified with the scope for which may take a while to identify the cause and come up with a solution. Against that possibility, I'm starting to look at alternatives. I'm interested in a small (or medium) fast (or at least not too slow) refractor. I would use it for wide field viewing but would occasionally want higher power views (especially as it will be my only telescope for a while). It has to be very portable (able to fit in a car with suitcases as I may take it with me on vacations). It does NOT have to be airline portable. The price has to be comparable to that for the 102F6 OTA ($400 maybe up to $600). I just need the OTA (and finder and eyepieces) - already bought a CG5 mount. I'd prefer a 100mm or so objective but may go up or down as much as 20mm. The focal length would be 500mm - 800mm. The alternatives I'm currently aware of are
1) Orion 100F6
2) Orion 120ST (F5)
3) SV Nighthawk
4) Orion 80mm ED/APO
5) APM 102F6 Triplet Achro (is there a US dealer that sells these)?
6) Celestron 102F5
I'd list the SV102D but it's out of my price range and anyway it appears that Vic Maris is in the middle of redesigning it.
Opinions from y'all would be appreciated. Have I missed anything?
Thanks.
Mark Costello
I'm signed up for a 102F6 from Burgess Optical. Currently, problems have been identified with the scope for which may take a while to identify the cause and come up with a solution. Against that possibility, I'm starting to look at alternatives. I'm interested in a small (or medium) fast (or at least not too slow) refractor. I would use it for wide field viewing but would occasionally want higher power views (especially as it will be my only telescope for a while). It has to be very portable (able to fit in a car with suitcases as I may take it with me on vacations). It does NOT have to be airline portable. The price has to be comparable to that for the 102F6 OTA ($400 maybe up to $600). I just need the OTA (and finder and eyepieces) - already bought a CG5 mount. I'd prefer a 100mm or so objective but may go up or down as much as 20mm. The focal length would be 500mm - 800mm. The alternatives I'm currently aware of are
1) Orion 100F6
2) Orion 120ST (F5)
3) SV Nighthawk
4) Orion 80mm ED/APO
5) APM 102F6 Triplet Achro (is there a US dealer that sells these)?
6) Celestron 102F5
I'd list the SV102D but it's out of my price range and anyway it appears that Vic Maris is in the middle of redesigning it.
Opinions from y'all would be appreciated. Have I missed anything?
Thanks.
Mark Costello
Mark Costello
Matthews, NC, USA
"I hear you're mechanically inclined. Did you ever do anything with perpetual motion?"
"Yeah, I nearly had it a couple of times."