Posts Made By: Donnie Bigers

I have an Ultima 9.25. Great performance on the planets. But if you are going up in aperture, go for the 11, you will notice the difference.

The 9.25 is not much more portable than the 11 either. They have almost the same tube lengths.

I have not had a chance to view through any of the 11's. But reports indicate they are every bit as good optically as the 9.25. Especially the recent Nexstars.

Donnie

I have the same problem. Astromart is set to my home page. Sometimes its just nice to see some of the stuff I may never own.

Unfortunately this is one of the downsides to fork mounts. Very hard to view near the pole.

With a fork, I have found it best to view M81 and M82 (or any objects fairly close to the pole) at a differnt time. That way rather than being directly above or below Polaris they are to the side which makes it (somewhat) easier to aquire them.

Not much help, but thats just the way it is with EQ mounted forks. I had an LX0 a couple of years back, had a similar problem viewing objects near the Zenith. Had trouble getting my head between the forks. lol

Just an update. The problem has been resolved. Al has been found and everything is ok.

I think Markus is somewhat challenged by his ability to speak clear English. Not a knock on Markus. I would be the last to belittle anyone for not speaking English very well. I know only one language (not great with it either). So I have admiration for anyone who is willing to learn another language other than their native tongue.

I think when Markus said this was not new for Chinese people, perhaps he meant for the Chinese optical industry or people in it? At least that is what I am assuming. Perhaps I am wrong. Coule be. But I have the feeling this is a language barrier issue and not a blatant racial attack.

Well. I only had one chance to view through one of Meade's F6.3 scopes. This was a long time back. The numbers they tout--60/40 would seem worng to me. I dont know of too many people with the F6.3 version. But if thats the numbers they gave you, then perhaps it is correct.

The problems I see with these is that SCT's already have a relatively huge central obstruction. Going to F6.3 only increases it more. Which lowers contrast. In the sample I viewed through, this was evident.

Shortly after Meade introduced these scopes, Celestron I believe introduced the F6.3 reducer. Later Meade also started selling them. That is the way I think it happened, been so long now, hard to remember. All I remember is that initially Meade was using some silly marketing. Saying that images in their scopes were brighter than competing SCT's because they were F6.3. Celestron had to advertise and denounce this saying that in any 8" scope at the same power, the images will be the same brightness.

At any rate I would go with an F10 SCT. Then pick up an F6.3 Reducer/Corrector. For CCD work, because of their inherent small chips, the Reducer works great. Now, for full film illumination of 35mm, there is I believe a problem with vignetting. Again, I am not an expert, so you might research that also.

Hopefully one of the CCD and film guys here can chime in. If it were me I would go for the more versatile F10 and get the reducer also.

BTW If budget permitted I would own both. My wife says "NO". So for now its either or. One thing I am thinking of doing is getting a top quality APO and then picking up an inexpensive 8" dob to satisfy my limited DSO cravings.

This forum alone serves as my daily dose of humor.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I have reconsidered the weight issue. I am now leaning back towards the Eq6. Regardless of the weight it will still take at least a couple of trips with any mount I choose.

With that in mind, the weight is only an issue during the trip outside. I can endure the extra weight to have more stability.

Once the OTA arrives I will give it some more thought and make a decision.

Thanks to those who responded.

Nice pictures. Makes me feel good when I consider that the coldest it usually gets here is right around zero and thats only a couple of nights each winter.

On a side note. They could have built the tripod and platform using parts from Synta mounts. Im sure the grease (glue)in that cold weather would resist all twisting. ;-)