meade LX90 12" v. Celestron CPC 1100 v. Obsesssion 12"

[redsky]

Greetings,

I am about to purchase a first telescope for mainly visual viewing of the planets and nebulae possibly some future AP of nebulae and planets, but visual is my main interest to be honest. I've spent about 2 months in research. I'd like a goto system, tracking and GPS if possible, and want to avoid complicated, 'finicky' stuff because I'm not good at fixes for things (!); I'd like to press a button or two and it goes to where I want after relatively simple alignment. A good pedigree in terms of reputation overall; Sturdy is good, I can lift 60 pounds at a time without a great deal of effort and have a fairly big truck with a large second row, and ideally want to travel with it overland. I am 5' 7'' in height. Most important: the optics should ideally offer excellent contrast and clarity, a feeling of almost 3-d. My eyesight is sensitive to light, if that description makes any sense, and tires easily. The scope is something I'll be happy to take out with me again and again and is one that reaches thermal equilibrium in a reasonable timeframe and doesn't fog up. I don't know what eyepiece(s) I should get to start with, and also whether 1.25 or 2 inch, and if a 45 degree angle is obtainable or desirable. An excellent but dependable focuser and a sense of a wide FOV. In advance, for any insights on ANY of these points above or possible alternative scopes to those below, I offer my sincere thanks and appreciation! My shortlist so far (feel free to suggest others):

1) Meade LX90 12" ACF with UHTC
2) Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
3) Obsession Dobsonian 12" or 15"

All best,
Gerard (Redsky)

[Bob327]

Welcome to theses forums...
Forget the 45 degree diagonal entirely ..
You will end up with both 1.25 as well as 2 inch eyepieces (1.25 inch for high power and 2 inch ones for low power) and you will have to buy a 2 inch diagonal/with a 1.25 inch adapter with that scts at least...
The GPS is handy but it does not do a thing to help you align the scope except to find North and level the mount, enter the time and date and of course your location.. all of which can be done in under a minute manually IF needed...the Celestons do not need to be leveled or pointed in any one direction ...

Now to start off with I'll tell you right off the bat that I own a CPC1100 ..and I never think (but who knows) I will ever go back to owning a Dob again...(NOT A THING WRONG with the Dob btw.. its just that I personally prefer Scts)

Before I purchased my CPC...I actually used (tested) several dozen scopes from both Meade and Celestron in 10 11 and 12 inch sizes... and I'll give you my own opinions...

Physical set ups: (all are big all are heavy and not at all easy to lug around or set up in a hurry)
1. The Lx90 12 inch scope was eliminated because it frankly was way too much scope (weight wise) for the mount...so if I purchased an Lx90 it would have to be the 10 inch OTA which was fine.. for visual use..
2. The 12 inch Lx200 Meade worked fine ..much better mount then the lx90 BUT Oh the price tag...
3. The CPC was the best of both worlds not as ezpensive as teh 12 inch LX200 but just as solid the CPC mount is the equal of the Lx200 mount...
Optically:
I found more differences between individual scopes that is a Celestron vs another Celestron compared to a Meade compared to another Meade) then I did when comparing a Meade vs a Celestron ... the differences are not great as the absolute worst scope was still darn good and would put a smile on my face.. And in general I actually think the Meade ACF optics are worth about 20 extra bucks over the standard Meade Optics or the Celestrons optics..BUT only if you made a habit of looking at the extreme edge of the FOV... Most of us view on axis and on axis there is no difference that my eyes could see...period!

I went with teh CPC because the price and aperture were right for me..Plus I like the Celestorn HC a heck of a lot better then I do the Meade HC (I own and use both brands btw)

Although I said I personally would not go back to a DOB... I think you should look into them and maybe someone else will help you with thoise scopes...I can tell you the Dob will have a slightly brighter view..as well as a wider FOV then the Scts will give you...

Clear Skies..
(BTW although I do drive a truck but I am also 68 years old and if I did not own an observatory there is noway I could physically handle any of the scopes you asked about.. .like I said too big too heavy... lol

Bob G,.

[Joe Lalumia]

BOTH scopes are BIG and heavy.... they really need two people to set them up especially if you are using a wedge. Personally the 10 inch Meade and the 9 inch Celestron are the largest I would want to setup by myself.

Clear skies.

[Gedan]

I use a cpc 1100 and can set it up on my own without any problems, however I only have to carry it 50 yards and would not want to go much further. As posted the scope is heavy.

[redsky]

Bob,

Thanks so much for this very detailed and thoughtful response. BTW, I own a pair of Oberwerk 25/40 X 100 Binoculars, the military-style terrestrial giants. Heavy! Can see a coke machine a mile away inside an office the same as if I were standing beside it, but not really for astronomy...anyway, I think I'm going to end up buying two scopes. More research: found an interesting Hubble Optics Dob and an Astro Tech RC OTA for around the same price as those on my list. I think joining an astronomy club might be in order. Will keep you up to date on what I end up with! Going to Nevada in 3 weeks and I hear there's a popular viewing site just over the state line with CA up north of Reno.

[redsky]

Hi Joe, thanks for this advice. Weight an issue is what I'm hearing here. A shopping bag of groceries can get heavy, so I can well imagine. Do the binoviewers degrade the clarity/contrast in any way? I'm interested, seeing as I'm a little more used to the bino side of things.

[redsky]

Thank you for this, much appreciated. Will post to the thread when I figure it all out.
G

[cbrucker]

Perhaps you should consider a good refractor. Especially if you plan to travel around with it. I have an SCT and a 4" refractor and I actually get sharper clearer views from the refractor faster than I do from the SCT since the refractor doesn't need to cool down like the SCT does. It will also be easier to mount and dismount than the larger SCT's. A 152 mm (6 inch) doublet is about $750 or so. And rule of thumb is that a refractor is equal to double the aperture in a corresponding SCT so for example my 4" is the equivalent to a 8" SCT.

If you get a GEM mount the learning curve will be a bit more but the benefit is that when (not if) you decide to try your hand at photography you are ready to go. For visual I would suggest the CG-5ASGT from Celestron. The alignment procedure will be the same as on their 1100 and the added feature of the any star polar align is nice plus it is easy to move around and setup. I am suggesting you get a GEM mount by the way.

Personally I am partial to the Explore Scientific line since you get so much for your money in terms of extras like focuser and the like.

[redsky]

I checked out refractors and am looking at a Scientific Explorer 152 doublet tomorrow. Indeed--lots of extras. I'm also looking at a used Meade Ds-16 (!) on a German Equatorial Mount, a bit of a monster. Might be a bit much, but it would be for visual only. For down the line, I've been looking at an Astro-Tech RC 12'' and a Vixen VC200 for possible imaging work. I loved the sample images I've seen from both scopes. Much to learn, and thanks for the words of wisdom. Will report back.

[Bob327]

that ES refractor is not exactly a small scope either...As I noted I do run a CPC1100 in my observatory

BUT I also own 100 mm (Orion) and 127mm (Meade) achro refractors and an 8i (earlier model of the 8SE) that I use from the lawn on nice summer evenigns or to travel with to local star parties ...

I do not use the 127 mm refractor much at all ...its heavy... its long and its a lot more trouble setting up and it requires a good (read heavy) Gem mount... plus the 8 inch Sct kills it on all targets (it is an achro lol) the 100 mm refractor however does get a lot of use..is not very long it does not weight a lot and it does not need a heavy duty mount (eq-3 works for for visual) the 8i is actually the easiest scope to just walk out the door with

Bob G.