Skywatcher Refractors

[Cp75]

Looking to downgrade from my 9.25 EdgeHD to something cheaper.

Tried Astrophotography awhile back and found I enjoyed just gazing through the eyepiece more.

I though one of the Skywatcher refractors might be ok for just stargazing.

Black Diamond 150 maybe?

Any thoughts?

[Tropo-Bob]

There is too much false colour IMHO for a 150mm refactor to be your only telescope. I suggest you read up a little on ED scopes or better still, catch up with some other local astronomers and check out their scopes at a Astronomy Club viewing evening.

[dannat]

something chepaer & refractors isn't something people usually say together, the 150 is a heavy beast -more so than your 9.25 i would think
100-120mm is about the goldilocks size in refractors, big enough to gather light but not to heavy to mount.
if you don't mind some colour the 120 f8 achro does ok [i saw it beter than 150 f8] a light yellow filter will help with moon/venus violet colour
else the 120ed or one of the 110ed units will do very nicely -what do you want to mount it on

[casstony]

Where do you observe from Craig - middle of a large town (very light polluted), edge of a small town, etc.
What do you like to observe - planets, deep sky?

[glend]

You can use large achros for narrowband imaging if you want to go in that direction, and CA ceases to be an issue, other than needing to refocus between filters. I am putting together a 152mm imaging achro at the moment.

[raymo]

The Skywatcher 100ED is a steal at $1000, terrific value for money.
raymo

[Cp75]

Thanks all for the replies.

I plan to mount on my same mount which is an eq6 pro.

Should handle weight no problem.

As far as what I like to observe, planets and the usual easy to find galaxies/clusters etc.

[casstony]

How about a 10" dob? It's cheap and will give decent views of a far greater range of objects than most refractors.

[Cp75]

Hi Tony,

Would a dob attach to my EQ6 Pro mount?
I thought they needed special mounts.

I hadn't considered them because they seemed quite large, though I may have to have another look at one.

Cheers
Craig

[raymo]

Why would you buy a Dob, when you can buy a 10" Newt with tube rings
and dovetail bar ready to fit on your mount for a similar price.
raymo

[casstony]

For visual use a 10" dob is much easier to set up and use than a 10" Newt on an EQ6 mount. You could buy a 10" dob (which is a 10" Newt with alt/az base) and buy a set of tube rings and dovetail bar. Then you'd have the choice of putting the 10" tube on the EQ6 or the alt/az dob base.

For occasional visual use I really don't see much point keeping the EQ6 though - better to get a 10" dob or an ED100 on a lighter mount.

It all comes down to your preferences though, small personal differences in which will lead you to prefer one kind of scope over another.

[chuckywiz]

To answer your question yes you can mount a dob on a eq mount. i do it regularly. picture attached. it does need a little bit of work over a solid tube once you add cameras and other weighty items but its doable.
Ben

[Barnacle]

Hi Craig,

http://www.scopereviews.com/page1l.html

Ed Ting gave good reviews on the 4, 5 and 6 inch China (Synta) made fracs (which is branded Skywatchers and Saxons here).

Hope that helps.

Kind regards,

Bill

[JimsShed]

Hi Craig, I'm not sure what you mean about downgrading to something cheaper. Maybe you're just looking to try something new, and if that is the case then getting a refractor is a great move. The current range of ED Skywatchers are a quality product and great value.
I occasionally tinker with astrophotography, but visual is what I love the most. To this end I currently have an ED80 and a c9.25, and on each outing I have them both mounted up on an AZEQ6. You could do the same by getting one of those side-by-side adaptor plates. It's great fun to compare the different views.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: If it was me I would jump on that gold 120ED in the classifieds , awesome scope for a great price .

It would sit beautifully on the HEQ6 .

Just a little word , I have a very good C9,25 XLT and also an excellent iStar 127mm f8 refractor and I really enjoy the views the refractor throws up , used it the other night on the planets , nice views at 250x , but I really like the way the C9 takes 400x plus on a good night with ease , the frak will go to 350x and still be sharp but its a pain having to use barlow's to get there as the C9 is cruising at that power and as I said on a good night its hard to beat the images it gives .

just don't expect a 100-150mm refractor with only 1000-1200mm focal length to easily hit the type of powers the C9 with 2350mm can .

My 5c .:).

Brian.

[Camelopardalis]

C9.25 EdgeHD is a ripper of a scope, you'll be hard pushed to get close to the same experience with a smaller refractor.

[Howard]

If visual only, a 6 or 8SE with StarSense or similar may be the go. I have the 6SE with Starsense & GPS. I can carry the whole thing assembled outside (as it isn't that heavy). Just plonk it down (unlevel and any direction as its AltAz) and power up from the Kogan Li battery pack attached to the acc tray. Go inside and get my chair and EP case and by the time I've done that the things done its alignment and I start visual. The OTA uses a vixen dovetail so sometimes I put my ED80 onto it instead of the 6" SCT. Very fast setup, quite portable (I have back problems and I manage it fine).
Occasionally I put my camping table out there too and throw the EOS tethered to a laptop on it and use AstroToaster to live stack and derotate and within a minute I am looking at the colored image building on the fly in front of my eyes. I use a table of max exp times for diff part of the sky in Alt Az to figure the exp times for each frame.
So kinda got almost the best of all worlds ... quick visual or colored and pretty darn quick images. Multi focal lengths/FOV. Barlows or 0.63 reducer if I need them. Bought most stuff 2nd hand. Sell your Edge and it would more than pay for all the stuff.