Skywatcher SW600 or Celestron C8N

[Toomey62]

I have been reading magazines and visiting various sites for months now. Buying a first scope is harder than buying a house or car. I am trying to decide betwenn a 8" Skywatcher SW600 on EQ5(stainless steel legs) or the Celestron C8N on CG-5(with Stainless steel legs) Difference in price is about $400- dearer for the Celestron. If anyone has either of these scopes I would appreciate there views. Thanks

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Yes, it can seem a big task at first with lots of conflicting/confusing information...

Have you joined or visited an astronomy club/society?

I would strongly encourage you if you haven't yet to try and make contact with some folks local to you and try their scopes first...whenever possible try before you buy...a club/society or fellow IIS members would be a good place to start.

Before I can offer any advice I'd like to know a little more about what you want to see or do with a scope?...What kind of experience level do you have?...Do you have any limitations (how much you can lift, third floor apartment with no lift etc.) that need to be considered.

People will make very different recommendations depending on if you want visual only or if you want to get into astrophotography...

After that I'd ask about your budget...after the purcahse of the scope you will probably want to gather a few other aides to viewing (additional eyepieces, maps/charts, redlight etc.)...

If you can offer a little bit more information about your desires and experiences I suspect that there will soon be a whole bunch of recommendations...

Good Luck!

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Welcome Toomey62.

Good advice given there. Definately try before you buy. Either may be great scopes, but mightn't suit your specifics.

[matt]

I have the SW600 on the EQ5...

I'm happy to answer your questions.

The guys are right. Depends on what you want to look at and your expectations.

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I have the Celestron C8N-GT, which is the same scope you are looking at. I am not sure, but I assume the GoTo mount is much the same as the non goto version. I have found no problems with the scope since I purchased it 18 months ago.

Tripod:
Any vibrations stop within a second or so, indicating the mount is quite sturdy. It does however take three loads to get the whole assembly outside, the tripod is light enough that a child above about 12 or 13 could lift it. When assembled, one person can move it...but only for a few metres. I have never needed to extend the legs and so cannot comment if this affects the stability.

Scope:
Again no problems, in fact last year the whole tube fell of the mount and fell onto the lawn. Other than a bent finder bracket, there was no other damage to the scope, it may have been a different story had I set it up in the driveway. I think this shows that the mounting of the mirror must be quite sturdy! I have replaced the rack and pinion focusser with a Crayford because I found it difficult to obtain an accurate focus, but this may be present on all R&P's any way. Setting up the scope and getting it balanced is quite straight forward, the appropriate knobs are in a suitable position when you are fiddling in the dark. As for the quality of the optics, even when I first got the scope is produced quite clear views of the planets and stars...I did not attempt to collimate it for several months. Since "dropping" and recollimating it still produces nice clear images, the main drawback is the quality of the eyepieces I have (I bought a kit) and am in the process of upgrading. The one that came with it was an "OK" 20mm, but you will probably want an eyepiece with something around 10mm or so and another around 30 to give a change in the view.

Transportation is not easy as I only have a Sonata (mid size). The tube fits, just, along the length of the boot. After the rest of the stuff is packed, there is not much room left though. The mount is easy to detatch from the tripod and comes in a padded box for easy transport.

Overall? I like it, especially the GoTo! I have had more than a dozen friends view Jupiter and Saturn and every one gives a gasp and a wow!

As for what an 8" will show you? In the suburbs you will get good views of the Orion Nebula, Omega Centauri will fill the view with stars, a full moon will blind you, Venus will be a white featureless smudge, you will be able to clearly see the belts of Jupiter (on just a couple of occasions I have been able to see the GRS...just, but it doesn't appear red) and the rings of Saturn will astound you. One thing that is present in all German Equatorial Mounts (GEM) is that the eyepiece can be pointing directly at the ground for one object and directly at the sky for the next, so you will need to be prepared for a little discomfort at times, after a while you get to know which locations in the sky will put the eyepiece in a reasonable position.

I hope this helps, someone else should be able to give you their views on a SkyWatcher. I think you will be pleased with either scope.

[Toomey62]

Matt, I live on the edge of Geelong on top of a hill. Street lights can be a problem(which council have promised me they will fix). Most viewing will be done from home with the ocassional trip to dark sky places.

I believe a 8 inch Newtonian with focal length of 1000 is the best way to go to get a taste of lunar, planets & deep sky.

I had originally decided on the Celestron C8NGT but decided I would like to locate objects myself so changed to the C8. However at $1299- compared to $900- for SW600 from what I have read it doesn't appear that the quality of the SW600 is much different from C8.

Can you tell me what you can see with yours, where are you viewing from, what additional assesories you have added, what eyepieces you have used, or anything that will help my decision to purchase the sw600.

Thanks


Darren

[matt]

Have PMd you Darren

[Davelrkn]

Hi
I recently purchased a SW600 and have found it to be a good performer for the money and went for the crayford focuser from My Astro Shop which is a straight fit with the SW6OO no holes to be drilled
The tube assy weights just on 10 kilos with most of the weight from the tube rings and the metal plate at the rear of the tube is fairly heavy for what it achieves by just blocking the airfow but can be removed with just three screws. The mirror is not pyrex where the 10'' version is and would have to be aware of this in summer.

I am using this tube assy on a VIXEN GPDX mount and while I was concerned of the weight factor for the mount did not realize that the longer tube of the newtonian (orig tube vc200l cass) now fowls on the tripod when pointing at the zenith and will have to have and extension made up to fix this issue

Regards
DAVE

[Calin]

I also went for the SW600, though it was a bit more 15 months ago. However after making my order the scope was put aside for delivery over the weekend and was sold to someone else by mistake. As a result the retailer offered a Saxon with a focal length of 1200mm, an extra eye-piece (aside from standard 25mm and 10mm), the EQ5 and upgraded the tripod to steel at no extra cost.

My experience has been bang on with OneOfOne, I aslo dropped the scope one night (didn't secure it properly on the mount in the dark ), no damage, the scope did require collimation (another set of skills you'll need to learn anyway). I also have a Sonata V6 and put the scope on the back seat, with seat belts attached. Finally ditched the box it came in after about 7 months, Tripod fits in the boot with everything else. I find it to be a good first scope for visual, easy to set-up, and rough polar-align. Flexible knobs better than the stanbard plastic ones (better reach all round the scope). You'll want more eyepieces, probably a case, but thats about it for a decent kit that will take some punishment and you can cart about in the car. It was a tad bigger than I had thought, so if you have a smaller car it might be a tight fit.

It's ok under some light pollution but depends on what you are looking for, not the best scope for astrophotography. But I am planning on upgrading for those things later and am planning for three scopes (eventually, when the kids grow up I suppose), for now it's what I wanted for what I wanted and I got what I expected. If you have done some homework for several months then you won't be dissappointed.

Of course you could wait a little longer and go for a c9.25 (nice scope) that will be even better and save you upgrading to a 'second scope' later. In my case it was buy then or wait another 5 years or so as just sunk all me money into building a new home, couldn't justify getting a scope instead of a loung suite or bloody curtains, and new beds for the kids ... well, I could sell me car ..... ... nahhh the stars will still be there and I love me car, I haven't dropped it yet .... my mate Spearo was mortified when I told him I dropped the scope ... but we did have a good laugh, while I cried in my beer.

Of course as soon as you get the scope be prepared for the clouds to move in for a week or so, and when they clear the moon is out - though when you get a scope for the first time the moon is another goodly target.

Enjoy ... and try not to drop the b %^&% d ....

[matt]

Hey Calin

Not sure if we've already said "hello" so....
nice to see another Canberran on deck

Weird that you mention both the SW600 and the 9.25

That's my combo ... to a tee!!!

Let me know if you want to organise a get-together for an observing night sometime. We can get Spearo to join us... or I can join you and Spearo