Posts Made By: Vladimir Fedosov

Hi I asked you guys about the Meade 201 autoguider and the general response was that it would be a waste of time and money. So what would be a good autoguider that I could get used for $1000 or less? I’m willing to spent up to $2000 so if there is something that you guys think is worth the extra $$$ let me know. Thanks.

Hi do you guys think that this is possible? Would the LX-200 handle the load? Thanks.

You should always remember that old rule: "If it sounds too good to be true then it more then likely is". Why on earth would someone sell something for less money then it I worth? They would not. It’s like someone offering you a 2004 Corvette in a Wal-Mart parking lot for $15,000 when the car goes for $40,000 in the local paper. You should kind of get the hint that something is not right and that this guy just stole the thing 15min ago. Vlad.

Hi I have a Tak FC-50 refractor and its great for really quick looks and for daytime spotting but I don’t have a good tripod for it. I’m looking to buy one that will carry it comfortably and is around $100, new or used. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Hi, here is my first try at m51 . I'm new to astrophotography, and just kind of getting the hang of it. My setup is a WO 80mm FD at prime focus with a Canon 300d all riding a LSD55 mount. So far I do not have the reducer/flattener and no guiding yet(have a guide scope on the way). I hope that with autoguiding I will be able to get 5min exposures. At 1 min I don’t see too much tracking error but anything much more then that gets pretty ugly. 60x1min, IOS 800, processed with IRIS and PS. If you have any tips or comments lease let me know. Thanks, Vlad.

I’ve had a 24.5mm Meade SWA and the view was good but stars at the edges where very degraded. Keep in mind that this was on an f/10 SCT. The two Meade UWA eyepieces that I have(14mm & 8.8mm) are very sharp all the way up to the edges and provide a very good performance on both my f/10 and f/5 scopes. I have since sold the 24.5mm and replaced it with a 31mm Nag T5. Now that is an eyepiece....

I have owned two SCT's, a c8 and a 10" meade LX-200 and both have been great. Now I use the 10" LX200 and it provides breathtaking view of the planets and deep sky objects. I don’t know where people get this nonsense that SCT's have bad performance and the central obstruction is WAY overblown by a few refractor maniacs(no offense) running around the message boards. I have nothing against refractors and I own a c102 but in no way is any 4" scope going to outperform a 8" scope. Sorry, do not have any experience with reflectors.

For the price you pay for Meade products you get a lot of scope for the money. The 60mm that you tried is a toy. I still cant believe that people go out and spend $3000+ on a 4" APO and mount when you can get a Meade AR-6 LXD55 6" f/8 go-to equatorial refractor for $895(with goto) that will blow away any 4" APO. Why do you think you see so many APO's and prontos for sale on astromart? It’s because people buy them thinking that they will perform as a much bigger scope. Right. A 4" scope is a 4" scope. I have a 10" LX-200 and it works perfectly and has great optics. Got it for $1000 off astromart and it will beat any 4",5",6" APO in any measurable department. But I'm sure it makes people happy that they have something way overpriced, I know it makes me happy to own the biggest and most expencive eyepiece ever made the Nagler 31mm.

Nice.... after you have played around with it in the dark can you post a brief(or not so brief) review of what you think about it. I have been thinking of getting me some of those. Thanks.

"Hi Steve,

IMO, you won't notice much difference from the 4" APO and a 8" dob. I have the 4" Takahashi and a 6" dob and actually see more in the APO, DSO's included. On another forum there was some discussion about comparing the various designs (Warning: lots of controversy around this), and the suggestion was a 4" APO would be roughly equivalent to a 7" reflector. The problem is you are really comparing apples and oranges with light grasp vrs contrast, etc, etc, etc.

Anyway, I stick to my comments, save your cash and get the 12/14 inch when you're ready.

Mike"

Mike not to be rude or anything but this is typical APO owner hype of the performance of apo's. To say that you will not see much difference between a 4" scope and a 8" scope is funny really. Lets do the math real quick here: Back to geometry class, Formula for the area of a circle: A=3.14r^2... Now lets plug in: 3.14(2)^2=12.54in for the 4" APO. Now the 8": 3.14(4)^2=50.24. In other less mathematical words you are gathering 4 times!!!!!!! More light with the 8" scope. And you are going to go and tell folks that there is not much difference?? Basically it comes down to this: A 4" APO performs like a 4" scope when it comes to DSO. On planets it might come close to a 6" reflector when the seeing is not all that good. Nothing special about APO's they are just like any scope: they gather light and can’t magically defy the laws of physics.