Advice needed on scope purchase

I am a relative newbie to telescopes. I had a couple growing up - both were probably under $50 (a Tasco & Meade) and recently decided that I wanted to invest in a nice telescope.

So here comes my dilema. There seems to be a slew of scopes on the market and I am virtually lost as to what to purchase.

One model that I have been looking at heavily is the Celestron C91/4-SGT which can be found here: http://www.celestron.com/prod_pgs/tel/c914sgt.htm

Another model I have been looking at is the Meade LX 90 8" found here: http://www.meade.com/lx90/index.html

I'm wanting to stay under 2K for this first purchase (mostly because of the wife); however, I would love to have something that is capable of decent deep space exploration and something that can be expandable at the same time - I'd love to have a CCD unit eventually.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks

Brad Bible
Salisbury, NC

Brad an SCT is a good scope but I am not the one to advise you on this. If its going to be your one and only scope for a while, I would not buy one but thats my opinion only.

Hello Brad!

I personally own a 10" LX-200GPS, and love it! So don't let the SCT bashers steer you away! LOL!

Every design has their PROs and CONs, and you must weight each and every one of those things in order to get the most out of your money/scope.

SCTs are nice scopes, since they'll do everything for you, but they normally don't excel at anything in particular.
This does not mean that the views won't be amazing, but they could be slightly better in some other "premium" designs...

Cool down times are sometimes long, depending on the difference of temperature between your "storage" room and the outside... sometimes ranging from 30 mins to 1 1/2 hours or more, specially if the temperature keeps changing...

Weight is also another issue, the larger the scope, the heavier it gets.
10" is my limit...a 12" would be too much for a 158lbs guy. 8)
(I made a set or wheelie bars so I can roll it out of the garage in less 5 minutes...)

Collimation is something else you must be aware of, as it is something that becomes crucial if you want the best views out of your scope.

The 9 1/4 SCT from Celestron is well known for very good quality optics, and that's definitely a plus...
The 8" LX-90 is also well known for reliability and good views, but the 9 1/4 has a bit more aperture, and is better known to deliver awesome views.
My only concern is the CG5 mount that it comes with, as i do not have much experience with it, and I'm not sure if it is sturdy enough. Maybe it will be good enough for visual purposes, but I'm not so sure for astrophotography...


Anyways, this is just my .02 cents, and I could keep talking and talking, but let's give some others the chance to talk... 8)


If you want to talk more about them, feel free to send me a Personal Message, and I'll send you my email address...


Clear skies, and good luck!

Brad,

Since money isn't too much of an object, I would say that all comes down to what will get you out of the house on a cold night. If you love electronic gadgets, you will really enjoy a Schmidt Cassegrain. If you must see the faintest fuzzies, than a dob will give you a great time. If you crave crisp views of the planets, than a refractor is up your alley.

The market does work pretty efficiently, so all other things being equal, $2000 will get you a great scope of any type. YOU have to determine what you value.

One piece of advice given recently on this forum was to visit an Astronomy Star Party and try out a variety of scopes. This is very worth it, especially if you are risking matrimonial discord.

One word of caution. Both of the scopes you mention have ok mounts, but you might find them frustrating for ccd work. Folks who are into astrophotography will often spend considerably more $ on the mount than the scope. You can always upgrade later, but if you are sure you want to do ccd work, you should consider a smaller scope on a sturdier mount (eg. Meade LX200 or Celestron CGE).

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I have contacted a local Astronomy club concerning meeting times, etc. to get a chance to explore different scopes.

As for the mounts & CCD work:

I do plan on getting into astrophotography, however, I think I am going to take it one step at a time. My first purchase is going to be a scope that I like and feel comfortable with. As for the 'wife' I think I can use her to my advantage.

She has a mutual interest in astronomy and from past experience I have learned that often all it takes is to further peak her interest in a subject for her to get gung ho.

Again, thanks to everyone for their advice - it has been very very helpful and I am certainly glad to have found this board!

Brad Bible
Salisbury, NC