Posts Made By: Steven Jindra

I appreciate the replies from all. They give me some good things to consider on the M180, M210, and M250 OTAs. With the economic situation, it is more important than ever to make the right decision on such major purchases. An M250 (along with the FS-128) would optically set me for life, but it may be a little much for the ASGT for visual and it's long focal length would be hard to tame for any DS imaging with my AP-600E. To move up in a mount too, would put me into another order of magnitude on the budget. I will keep my eyes open and see if a really good deal on either pops up.
Thanks
Steven Jindra

Scott
My AP-600E is in a small observatory in my back yard, and on good nights I use this setup to begin imaging DSOs (usually Nebula through an Ha filter due to light pollution), then use my ASGT mount with another OTA for visual or webcam imaging. I have no doubt that the M250 would work fine for visual and imaging of planets and the brightest DSOs on my 600E mount, but would be too much focal length (2200mm+ with FR) for the 3 to 20 minute images required for most other DSOs. I'm afraid the M250 would also be a little too much for comfortable high powered viewing on my ASGT mount as well.

I believe an M210 is a better match, cost-wise at this time for my budget and weight-wise for the ASGT for higher powered visual and planetary webcam imaging, while my FS-128 is used for taking DSO images on the 600E. Plus, since I have to carry my visual set out into the yard, I like the portability of the size and weight combination of these two.

This is not to say that the positive comments about the M250 are ignored. In the future, when my budget allows and I'm ready to move up to a heavier duty, precision mount, the M250 will definitely be given additional consideration.

But for now, I just accepted a nice offer on a used M210 from a respected Astromarter. If all goes well on the purchase and delivery, I'll let you know the results when I've had time to use it for it's intended purpose for a while.

Scott - thanks to you and all the other contributors to this thread.

Sincerely
Steven Jindra

Kip
I have owned an LX200 12" in the past and currently own an ASGT mount with the 2" steel legs on the tripod. I use it with a C9.25 OTA and a 5" refractor for visual only and it works great for either. I'm afraid the 12" OTA would just be too much for this mount, even for visual.

I understand that Orion has a heavy duty, goto GEM, at a reasonable price that may be a better fit, but it would be best for others who have owned one to verify this.

Thanks
Steven Jindra

Alvaro
I had a 12" LX200 in the past and I wouldn,t consider it safe to carry that scope up and down a set of apartment stairs for one person. To me, it's an accident waiting to happen unless you can get help each time.

Views are very limited while in traction.

The 4" refractor would be a nice scope for that role.
Thanks
Steven Jindra

Just to follow up, I had ordered an M210 from a gentleman internationally, but the deal fell through. I now have a previously owned Mewlon 180 coming this week. This will allow me to leave the FS-128 set up more for imaging and use the M180 primarily for visual use.

I just made a deal for a Nexstar 8SE mount (a single arm mount with a Vixen dovetail), without the OTA, to install the M180 OTA on. This should allow for easy setup with an alt-az go-to mount. I'm hoping this will work out well, as I like the way an alt-az mount usually places the eyepiece very conveniently for viewing, while in a comfortably (sitting) position. The main thing will be that there are no noticable vibrations induced by the mount's tracking while viewing at higher power (250X).

I'll report back when I get everything together and tested.
Thanks
Steven Jindra

Brent

I think the Nexstar 8 SE is a good suggestion for your purposes. Light, easy to set and align the go-to, and it can be set up for viewing while setting down. It wouldn't be as suseptable to being bumped off a higher power planetary target as a Dob on a tracking platform. Plus, will the intellescope still work on such a platform?

There is now a Nexstar 8I, including eyepieces, for $800 here on Astromart.
Either way you go, should be fun.
Regards
Steven Jindra

Here is a picture of the other side of the OTA.

Robert
I really like the Orion 5mm Ultrascopic. It has the built in barlow and so provides nice eye relief and a good image right up to the edge of the field.
Steven Jindra

Anthony
That is a beautiful combination. Your mount looks like it's ready to hold a few more OTAs at the same time. I would be interested in how your images come out with the M210.

As you've seen, I have that "Ugly M180" now on a little N8SE mount for a visual setup. If I see some good images from your M210, I may be tempted to mount it on my imaging mount (AP-600E) to try for some longer focal length shots of smaller deep space objects.
Thanks
Steven Jindra

John
I receive my "Ugly M-180" and the clouds finally cleared for a while. The seeing wasn't very good, but I was able to observe enough to know there is nothing ugly about the optics on this thing. To my relief, it appears to have arrived well colimated. The Feathertouch focuser is proving to be a nice addition. I can tell that the Nagler 13 Type 6 is going to get a lot of use with this scope.

I'm excited to see it perform on a night of good to great seeing. Especially if Jupiter is still up.
Thanks
Steven Jindra