Beginner's Equipment Choice

I am interested in an autoguider which will also serve for lunar and planetary imaging and stellar photometry. For wide-angle deep sky I'm still into film. I am considering three alternatives:

1) STV

2) ST5C

3) ST237A

The STV is stand-alone, but more expensive. Including the price of a laptop (which I would have to buy), alternatives 2 and 3 cost about the same to a little more but carry greater power requirements. As I understand the literature, I could run the STV off a 12-volt power source (like the one I use for my mount).

I'm leaning toward the STV, but wonder what the experienced hands can tell me might be the other tradeoffs between the alternatives. No color with the STV is one, but I'm sure there are others. I wonder in particular about ease of focusing. Thanks for any helpful comments.

Hal Coward

A color filter wheel for the stv has been available for some time. Just so you know. If you want the best autoguider money can buy, get the stv.

The ST-237 is the better imager between it and the STV - the STV has lower dynamic range and higher read noise. The STV is the better guider from a convenience standpoint (no laptop), but the ST-237 is an excellent guider. My own choice was to use the ST-237 as my guider, and to dedicate a cheap P150 laptop to it.

The ST-5C is used by a number of planetary imagers, but it has large pixels and is only well-suited to very long focal lengths. it has a larger dynamic range than the other two cameras, and that is what makes it good for this purpose.

Ron Wodaski