Upgrading your astro equipment

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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Upgrading your astro equipment

#21

Post by Bigzmey »


mikemarotta wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 3:11 pm
Bigzmey wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:23 pm... However, if I would buy AZGti first without settling on the scope I could miss the mark since it has only 11lb capacity.
Right. We had the same discussion about my 102-mm ED APO which you pointed out would be front-heavy and overweight for my Explore First Light mount and tripod. That is why shopping for the mount first is very much like shopping for the telescope first: What do you want it for? What kind of observing do you expect to do? Buying the lightest mount is like buying the smallest aperature because it is the cheapest. Think the problem through. In my case, just as a first approximation, I set my limit at 30 lbs (14 kg) as the most that I can lift, carry, and set comfortably. Using JayTee's Table of Mount Payloads, I can see that I can expect to pay between $800 and $1500. (Prices have gone up since that was published.) And I might get by with 27lbs (1.25kg) for a little less, but that would be near the limit of any telescope that I might want for observing and not at all for astrophotography which holds little interest for me.
Your estimate of $800 and $1500 for payload of 30 lbs is about right, but for GoTo mounts. If you don't mind using manual mounts take a look at TS-Optics AZ5 (Sky Watcher Skytee 2).

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... tment.html

I have been using it for years and Refractordude recently got one. It is rated 44lb per side, rock stable and can carry up to 3 scopes. One can obviously use it with one scope to. With shipping it should be ~$500-600. This is not grab and go, but comes pretty close to it in terms of how easy to carry and set up.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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