Tom Mengel said:
Hi all,
I’m finding myself in a (unfortunately) common situation of a “early forced retirement” while my wife is preparing for grad school. The bottom line is my well loved (and used) LX-10 is way to large for my projected future life style (and in truth it was getting to be a pain to set up anyway). So now I’m in the process of “trading down” to a smaller scope that must be able to hibernate in a closet corner in what may end up as compact student housing for the next few years.
I don’t want to rekindle the seeming never ending “Cats vs. Refractors” or “DOBs vs. Cats” threads but would like some feedback on small footprint scopes that involve minimal setup efforts. What I want is at least a 5 inch aperture and easy to carry (possible down stirs) to transport to a dark site. Area contenders range from USC in LA (not renown for dark skies) to Cornell in Ithaca NY (small town in the mountains – probably OK skies).
Right now I’m leaning towards trading “even” for something down the lines of a Celestron G5 on a EQ 3 mount. GOTO is nice but not requirement, just want a utilitarian setup that works well. Figure an older LX-10 with a adjustable field tripod and Magellan I DSC would be a fair dinkum trade for a newer, smaller setup.
Your thoughts?
If you were talking a 12-inch Dobsonian, it might be different. Frankly, an LX10 is not much larger nor does it take up much more room than what you are proposing (you don't have to keep it in a case, etc., you know).
You won't like going from 8 to 5-inches if you are a reasonably serious observer. Casual observer who likes to peep at the Moon once in a while? A C5 is fine. I do suggest you get the OMNI XLT, as the EQ3 is really insufficient for the scope to really shine.
Again, not much space saving with either, though.
