C-9.25

Just wondering about collimation of the C-9.25. I'm sure this has already been covered, but I am most likely going to buy one as soon as possible. According to the reviews I have read, this scope is fantastic. I will be using a WO 2" diagonal. I have the adapter lined up from ATWB, and all my eyepieces are Nags and one Panoptic.

My two questions are:

(1). What about collimation?
(2). How is the OTA as a performer?

I will be using it on a G-11, so GoTo is not in the picture. I enjoy hunting things down for myself.

I also wish to mention that I want to free up some of the money I have tied up in this hobby. This scope will most likely replace an FS128. Since I am craving apeture and DSO's, I think the C-9.25 would be a good place to start. Besides, I could use the extra cash I'll get from the sale of my FS128 toward some good accessories. So if anyone has a comment to that end, it would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance to all who respond.

Steve

Wow Steve, you are selling a FS-128 for a C9.25"?! I would go the other way!

The C9.25" is a pleasure to use. Bob's knobs makes collimation very easy. Once you get used to collimation, it is not very hard at all. It's like Burger king, have it your way- you can collimate lightly or to anal levels for high mag work or photography. I do mine every few months, and feel that it holds it very well. The first few times I was covered with sweat and thinking I will never get to bed. Now I actually enjoy tweaking the collimation!

While people will say that a huge central obstruction lowers contrast, I enjoy mine a lot. Double stars are great, planets are wonderful. The challenging thing is to make sure the scope is cooled down and in equlibrium. Otherwise tube currents will mar the whole session. I've had once or twice where the scope just could not equlibrate due to changing temps and the views were lousy. But on nights when the optics are good, the views are mind blowing.

Good luck,
Ivan

Ditto what Ivan said. Holds better collimation then any other type of SCT I’ve owned. I tweak it every once in a while.

Visually there is none better for a production sct IMO. And I've owned quite a few OTA's by both Meade and Celestron’s from 4-11 inches. It's impressive on DSO's and Planets. The APO folks can say what they want, but you can't get away from the "Aperture Rules" rule. It's roughly twice as large as your Tak - what ever contrast is lost by the central obstruction will be more then made up for in image scale and brightness.