Which would you get?

Hi all. I have no experience as far as refractors go. I have an 8" Discovery Dob that just doesn't seem to get much use any more due to time constraints. I am wanting a small refractor for quick 1/2 hour sessions that will be ready to go without much cool down time. My dob can take up to an hour.

Anyway I have narrowed my search down to either the Stellarvue 80/9D on their eq mount with walnut legs or the Celestron C80ED with a Vixen Porta alt/az mount.
I do have experience with an eq mount and setting it up would not be a problem for me.

My main targets would be planetary and lunar as well as open clusters.

Both units would run me just under $1000 after getting a decent quality diagonal.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Jason

Jason Paoletti said:

Hi all. I have no experience as far as refractors go. I have an 8" Discovery Dob that just doesn't seem to get much use any more due to time constraints. I am wanting a small refractor for quick 1/2 hour sessions that will be ready to go without much cool down time. My dob can take up to an hour.

Anyway I have narrowed my search down to either the Stellarvue 80/9D on their eq mount with walnut legs or the Celestron C80ED with a Vixen Porta alt/az mount.
I do have experience with an eq mount and setting it up would not be a problem for me.

My main targets would be planetary and lunar as well as open clusters.

Both units would run me just under $1000 after getting a decent quality diagonal.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Jason

Hello there Jason,

I have an 8" Dob as well and like you I use it less than my smaller scope. Instead of only 3.1" aperture, I'd suggest looking into 4-inch aperture minimum ;-). A small 4-incher rides on small EQ mount very well and extremely quick to be deployed.

Ron the 4-inch Tall Evangelist B[ee]

if your main target is planetary it sure would be nice to have EQ tracking, either manual or powered.

You can get a Super Polaris mount for $400:
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=380515

That leaves you $500 for a tube and $100 for a diagonal.

You can get an outstanding non-apo 3" (and maybe even an apo 60) for that. A Megrez 80, for example, sold for under $350 recently. Prontos and Rangers sell for about $600 but often include a diagonal.

You can also get a decent 4" tube for $500.

Thanks all so the replies so far. I would like to get the 80ED however I keep hearing about the quality optically and mechanically on the Stellarvue being outstanding. The 80/9D Is supposed to used a higher quality abbe rating in its lens for even better color correction. I know it's no apo, but reports are very good for this scope. Having never looked through a refractor, but have looked through a 4.5" reflector will a 80mm scope be able to resolve say M35 in Gemini? how about the double cluster?

I will be keeping the 8" for better views, but as it is, I've only gotten the scope out maybe 4 times this year.
Jason

Jason,
I also have an 8" reflector (Cave f/4.5) and I have bought the C80ED and Vixen Porta for grab-and -go as it takes quite some time for the 8" mirror to cool down.
I use the refractor much moore often, because it`s so easy to take out and set up; Vixen Porta is steady and wonderfull to use with it`s slow-mow controlls.The C80Ed is rock-steady on it, even up near zenith!
I can use the C80Ed up to 160X easely with no breaking down of images on binaries and on Mars.
Good Luck!
Magnus

You can't go wrong w/ Stellarvue.
Other thoughts for used scopes consider:
Wm.Yang Megrez
Tak78 FS
Televue alternative (harder to get a good price used)
If you get a Tak be sure it will fit on your mount set up.
Repeat tho: Stellarvue new or used seems always a good deal w/ top notch customer service. Ditto for Wm.-Yang.