From: Mark Gaffney <markgaffney@me.com>
Date: January 29, 2011 8:23:16 PM MST
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] OT: Astro-Tech 8" RC Astrograph
Milton,
Have you considered the AT6RC? They`re only $299 at present on sale..!
Also have you considered the Hyperstar route? I don`t know how your Grasshopper`d adapt to this but one of the new C9.25" scopes from Opt is only $1199 & because it`s Fastar compatible will adapt to the new Hyperstar lens..
I`ve been looking into it recently & Starizona have retracted from sale the Hyperstar unit for the standard (older C9.25 like mine) they were offering late last year..!
The new (Fastar) C9.25 unit has a big enough hole in the corrector to extract the secondary & insert the Hyperstar lens I`m told by Dean at Starizona..
It may not be your cup of tea & I was particularly interested because of the Nikon compatibility..?!
I`ve bought a very nice looking CGEM mount (with a case to boot I believe!) on Astromart & it`s at present at Deep Space Products waiting to be Hypertuned..
It`s paid for so far but I have to do this in 2 stages getting the mount stored whilst I save the rest of the money..(Hyperstar +shipping & customs out here).
For this reason my money`s a good bit tied up at present..
(My old CG-5 has problem with it`s motor control board or maybe encoders I think)..
I afraid I don`t know enough about how your camera`d attach to one of these Hyperstar lenses?
The Edge HD 800 is only $1299. but the Hyperstar unit for it is only compatible with various CCD cameras..
http://starizona.com/acb/EdgeHD-800-OTA-P3104C113.aspx
I`ve heard nice things about the Edge HD 8" & in the past about the AT8RC also..!
Mark
On 30/01/2011, at 1:32 PM, milton_aupperle wrote:
Hi Folks;
This is definitely OT (Off Topic), but my 8" Celestron SCT is 5 years old and has all the issues that the old models have (i.e. mirror flop, collimation, shifting focus, shifting position when focussing, no mirror locks etc.). It's fine for visual and lunar / planetary - but not for DSO's or Photometry. So I'm looking into buying a new scope for my HEQ5. An 8" is about as big as I can go without replacing the mount.
I'd like to know if any of you have had any direct experience with the Astro-Tech 8" RC Astrograph:
http://www.astronomytechnologies.com/product.asp?id=15477&c=10607
at all? I've read good reviews about it online and in S&T too.
All though the Edged HD 8" scopes are nice, I've read reviews of people still having some of the same issues I'm having (i.e. mirror shift when focussing, collimation etc.), so they are lower down on my list of alternatives
Thanks in advance for any suggestions..
Milton Aupperle