Help Meade 10' or Celestron 9.25?

[Eardrum73]

Hi there,

I am a Newbie I have limited knowledge on telescopes. So I have turn to this forum for help, hopefully your opinions will help make my decision easier.:D


I am considering either a Meade 10' SCT or a Celstron 9.25' SCT. I like the weight and the hassle free gotos on these SCTs. (These goto's are not a hassle to use right???)
At this stage, I am using it for observational purposes only, not astrophtography. Hence the CGCs -9.25 and LR- 10' with lightweight mounts that will be release in the next couple of months will probably be the ones I would go for, since they are not as expensive as the LX200 or the Nexstar GPS.

I would also like to hear from members who have own or even looked through these these instruments. Given the same viewing conditions, How does the image of these telescopes compare to with other telescopes of the same apeture ? (say Dobs or schimdt newtonians... etc.)
You may not neccesarily own one, just having look through it and formed an opinion is sufficent for me. (if you had a chance to compare them both - even better!)

So I would like to know which one of these in your opinion - will go for and why? (or perhaps an alternative that fits the requirements)

Disclaimer - I am not looking to start a flame war between the Meades and the Celestrons, just merely on what experiences and opions members have had on these two.

Hopefully your opinion can make my decision easier!:thumbsup:

Cheers and clear skies!

[janoskiss]

No danger of that around here. More likely between Dobbers and SCT-ers/GOTO-ers. :P

If it's ease of use you are after, the Dob is your friend! Plonk it down point and look. People with absolutely no experience can use a Dob. A big heavy computerised SCT is a lot more intimidating. But I'm sure the SCTs & GOTOs have a lot going for them, esp. if you get into astrophotography later on. I'm sure more knowledgable members will help you out.

BTW. :welcome: Eardrum!

[iceman]

Hi Eardrum!

:welcome: to the forum, how did you hear about us?

Where abouts in Sydney are you? The central coast IIS crew have monthly observing sessions up at Kulnura, it's not too far for you to drive. There's about 6-12 of us who go each month, with scopes ranging from 8, 10 and 12" dobs, through to 10" Meade SCT's and an 11" Celestron.

You're more than welcome to join us, and see what you're in for and have a look through the different sized scopes and different design scopes of the same aperture.

I've used a 10" Meade SCT (Rod's) and a 10" dob (mine), and I prefer the view through the dob mainly because of the shorter focal length and wider field of view. Of course that's not great for planetary imaging, but if you're not into astrophotography it may not be a concern.

The SCT's with the longer focal length are easier on eyepiece design and easier to collimate. You don't need a nagler to get sharp stars to the edge of the field of view when using a SCT.

The dobs are much cheaper, but obviously if you want goto then that's what you're paying for.

So enough of the dob vs SCT, onto the Meade vs Celestron. I haven't personally looked through a C925, but there are several forum members who own one and from their reports, plus others I've read, the C925 is the best in the Celestron range with great optics - especially for astrophotography.

There's many more Meade LX200 users on the forums here, they most likely would've done the comparisons you're after so i'm sure they'll chime in.

They're similar in price and capabilities, and I don't think there'll be too many other differences.

Good luck!

[Robby]

You won't be dissapointed with either.
The differece in aperture is nothing really, and visually you won't notice it. Maybe the 10" could pick out a few more stars in the middle of a tight glob, but only on a night of exceptional seeing.
I have a 9.25 and have looked through a 10". Both very nice instruments. The C9.25 has a longer tube and so the weight is very similar. This is because the Meade primary mirror is f/2 and the Celestron is f/2.4. This gives the C9.25 a slightly flatter field of view. Not an issue with visual work, but this really helps in astrophotography. Also it is much easier to create an f/2.4 mirror as opposed to an f/2 and this is really the main reason that the C9.25 is so popular. The optics are great because the mirror is easier to figure! Go figure:)
Not taking anything away for the Meade 10". It too is a great scope.

In the end it'll probably come down to your budget. To get the most out of these scopes (like any scope) you'll also need good eyepieces and a rock solid mount. But that's a completely different story.

Hope this helps
Cheers

[Iddon]

FWIW - I am happy with my Lx200 8" - just portable enough to lug around.
A key question re. Dob or SCT. Do you want to learn the sky the 'traditional' way - ie. push and pull the scope and relate what you see to star charts? Or do you want to be led by a computer to the spots around the sky and learn more by osmosis ?
Each to his own and this seems to be a very personal choice. For the time I can commit, I can get a lot of diverse viewing time by doing a good allignment and having confidence in every field of view - even after almost 6 months, having confidence with many of the star charts is a challenge. I do have to take my hat off to the Dob owners who have so much of the sky in their head :)

[Eardrum73]

Hi all,

Thank you all for your replies!!!! (Thanks for the welcome all well!)

Just from the responses I got, and from the material I have read from the web, I am now slightly tending towards the Celestron 9.25. What Robby said seems to be a consistant opinion throughout the web. I have also heard that the celestron 9.25 out perferomed a C11 on one occasion. Sounds like a really good piece of equipment. However I have heard that Celestron have now been taken over a few months ago, and I wonder if that would affect the quality of the instruments they produce?

Iddon - I am with you on the ease of the goto without having to memorise the star charts. This was the original ideal behind going for the CGC or LX. However I like Janokiss' notion of just having to point and look without the aligments.

I find that now I am considering a third option and that is the DOB!! It's ease of setup and about 1/5 of the price of what I was planning to get.

Just how mobile is the 10' dob?
(I think I will post a new thread on the forum regarding the mobility and ease of use of the dob....)

hmm, decisions decisions.

BTW Iceman- I am in (or what most people consider) western Sydney, Central Coast is probably abit far for me but thanks for the offer.

[iceman]

Louie (atalas) comes up from Bankstown!
Seeker comes up from down that way..
and even Ving came up once from Campbelltown! It's worth it for the company :)

[Eardrum73]

Oh and Iceman... I heard about Ice in Space when I was viewing another skywatching forum called Cloudy Skies!

I saw your reply and you link and decided to check it out, and lo and behold, it's Australian and talks about Bintel, Andrews Com and Southern skies... which are more local and relevent to me. Hence my registration!

BTW - GREAT SITE!

[Rodstar]

Eardrum, have you looked at the new CPC from Celestron? The 11" is only a few hundred more than an LX200 10". You know what they say about that extra inch...

[seeker372011]

Even though Celestron has been bought by Synta, SCT technology has, I believe, till recently remained with the big two in the US..it is of course only a matter of time before the Chinese start making SCTs now they have access to Celestron know how..

As Mike says, Louie, Ving and I have travelled more than once to Kulnura its not all that far

[Astroman]

I think they already have started taking advantage of celestrons technology, Orion have now an 8", 9.25" and 11" SCT that rides on either thy skyview pro, or EQ6+synscan. I am led to believe Orion is chinese owned.

Actually says the optics were made by celestron, but have changed colour.

[Eardrum73]

I was seriously considering the 11' over the 9.25' unit I spoke to a celestron dealer and he said that the 9.25' image looked better than the 11'. He did say that it could have been a special isolated incident. Is this really true? I would really like to know......

I just wonder if the takeover will in anyway have a negative effect on the celestron product lines? Logically it shouldn't, the people that acquired Celestron should be trying to maintain standards.

I am wondering if I should start considering Orion SCT since they are the same as Celstrons anyway? But they don't seem to be any cheaper.


hmmm...... or I might just shelf all this and go for a dob.... meade, celestron, dob, meade, celestron, dob.... oh its agonising!:confused:

[Jonathan]

Hi Eardrum73. I've read various bits and pieces on the net saying the 9.25 is better than the 11 and there's also reports that say it's a complete myth and the 11 is better! I got a C11 a couple of months ago but I've never looked through a 9.25 so I can't say one way or another. Another thing I've read is that the secondary mirror obstruction in the 9.25 is a smaller % compared to the 11, this is wrong according to the papers that came with my OTA. It's a 13% obstruction area for the 9.25 compared to 12% with the 11, close enough to being the same %. The light gathering power of the 9.25 is 1127x unaided eye, the 11 is 1593x. The 11 should be a better scope but there's probably not a lot of difference. I wouldn't worry about the Chinese takeover of Celestron. I doubt whether they have changed any of their production and quality control techniques. If you want the cheapest price around for Celestron gear your best bet would be Andrews Communications, thats where I got mine from. It's probably cheaper than the rebadged Orion versions. Good luck with your decision.:)

[Striker]

I have had a Meade SCT 10"..... I now have the C11...I have no doubt the C11 is the better scope...comparing this to the C9.25 I cant say as their is so many good reviews on the C9.25...I wouldn't imagine their would be to much of a difference.

Saying this their was nothing wrong with the Meade 10" either...I just wanted an EQ mount....It all depends on your budget....I Personaly like both the Meade and celstron products.

[mick pinner]

comparing scopes made by the mid range manufactures will always come down to personal opinion, each maker will make sure that their scope never lags to far behind it's main competitor in optical quality or build or they will lose market share.
there are so many variables when it comes to scope comparisons such as ep's, seeing conditions and how well a drive has been trained if it has go-to capability.
assuming the scopes being compared are in the same league as each other then aperture becomes a big consideration and then the optical accessories you can afford to attach to it, the best scope in the world is only as good as the ep your looking through and how well you keep it collimated.

[h0ughy]

yeah what mick said. for protability go for the 9.25, if you are mainly going to keep it setup somewhere go for the 11. the meade is a nice scope, I should know I have a lx200 12 same as Mick. I have looked through many scopes and I must say that it really is personal preference. look at your budget and do the maths to see how much you can get for the same price for each scope setup. if you get the opportunity get an eq setup now, you wont regret it. An alt az goto setup is great, but not for photography. if it is only visual stimulation you seek, spend the money on a truss 16 or 18" dob and be done with it, fit some encoders and an argo narvis to find the objects. the quality of the scopes are all good. buy it from a reputable dealer who can service the scope with warranty or after market problems.

Doesn't matter which SCT you get, buy a Williams Optics dielectric 2" diagonal. it is a must! just my $1.39's worth :whistle:

[[1ponders]]

FWIW if at some point in time you are considering astrophotography you may want to consider the Meade with its mirror lock system.

I had an 8" LX200 (sold it to Iddon) and bought exactly the same OTA to go on my GM-8 mount. I've looked through 8" 10" and 12" meade scts and 9.25" and C11 celestrons. Visually not much difference in the quality of the views between them, though obviously the larger the aperture the greater the resolution and increase in "brightness" of any given object. I wasn't particularly impressed with the C11, though the one I looked throught had some serious collimation issues. There were three things that convinced me to get the 8" meade.

1. Along with the carbon fibre 9.25" celestron it was the lightest to move and carry (the celestron is around the same weight).

2. It was considerably cheaper than the carbon fibre celestron.

3 I am primarily interested in using it for astrophotography and I could get the meades with the mirror lock. This is only available to the celestrons as an after purchase kit and I'm not sure but I think you have to drill holes in the end of the tube to fit it.

Just something to consider

[mick pinner]

with any SCT you want to avoid moving the main mirror whenever possible to avoid image shift and therefore you should really get a crayford focuser as one of your first accessories, l did and it has made focusing and the use of the scope in general a delight to use.

[[1ponders]]

You got that right mick. Forget the Meade microfocuser, go straight for the JMI NGF-CM, or even a straight manual crayford

[ballaratdragons]

Hi Eardrum, Welcome.

If you were to consider a Dob, as a 12" dob owner I would recommend the GS brand as they are very very good for their price!

But as far as SCT's go, I have scoured the web for info on different brands and models.

After months of searching and reading, the consensus between the 2 popular brands seems to be that Celestron has the edge on optics but Meade has the edge on GoTo's and Motors.

Where Celestron falls down slightly is in occasional tracking errors with it's GoTo system and the Motors.

So it's really a draw between the two of them! :shrug:

I guess the best solution is to put a Celestron on a Meade Mount. You can buy them seperately these days.

[seeker372011]

actually Orion was purchased by the company behind Starry Night..a Canadian company called Imaginova

Orion never had a SCT in their line up so this allowed them to match an OTA with the Atlas mount which is very well regarded

[Astroman]

Ahhhh, always thought Orion was chinese owned for some reason. Must have heard it somewhere and it stuck. Thanks for the clarification on that. Never heard of Imaginova before.

[slice of heaven]

Imaginova also own Space.com

[lxbruce]

Hi

you would be happy with either. I own a 12"LX200GPS and am happy with it. There are problems now and then ( blown computer) but you get that with all scopes. What I love about the LX200GPS is the aftermarket parts that are available.

[anthony2302749]

Hi all

Consider this as an idea, how about a Dob plus the Argo Navis DSC. You get the portability of a Dob plus the power of a goto (e.g. push-to) with out all the motors noise.

Anthony