[Hazza777 (Harry)]

Hey,
Been a long time lurker of these forums over the years and the wealth of knowledge and experience here is great! I've been researching equipment for beginning some more serious Astrophotography with my Nikon D5100 and a little visual viewing for months now and information from this and other forums has been incredibly helpful.

I've finally settled on a mount (SW azeq6) and thought I had narrowed down the scope to one of the 'cheap' but highly recommended ED80 doublet APOs (likely SW f7.5 2"Crayford focuser MHC coatings) and banking the coin saved for a nice EP/flattener set etc or to put towards a larger scope somewhere down the line (after all that's the plan for going so far overboard with the mount). But a couple of nights ago I discovered the Williams Optics A-F81GT-VP20A-AP f5.9 triplet (2" R&P focuser and STM coatings) and thought it looked amazing (for the prices listed ~1900 with Flat6A-81 at F4.7). Is this a worthwhile investment of an extra ~850 considering I plan on keeping this scope likely for my lifetime or should I turn back to my original game plan? It's quality does seem better (although maybe just in my head) I haven't been able to find any back to back comparisons between it and the regular doublets.

Any other suggestions are welcome, thanks for your consideration.