[thegableguy (Chris)]

Hi all, would love some advice on which direction from here.

I started about 3 years ago with a little Orion ED80 on an NEQ6 mount, imaging with a cheap crop sensor Nikon. I got reasonably good results reasonably quickly so upgraded straight away to an 8" f/5 Newt. I don't think I was ready for the learning curve. Couldn't get autoguiding to work (probably because I was using the ED80 as a guidescope and it was simply too sensitive); got frustrated night after night. Since then my Newt has sat collecting dust for a year or so, as has the mount.

I put both the Newt and the ED80 on the mount the other night to make sure all works, and yep all is fine... but I was simply delighted with the ED80. Made me wonder why I'd ever moved on. Razor sharp, super light & easy to use, no collimation required, no coma correctors & fiddling with spacing, doesn't get dust inside. In practice the f ratio makes absolutely no difference. Literally! Even though the f/5 tubes should allow for much shorter exposures than the flattened ED80 (down to f/6.4), same exposure results in identical brightness. I know the secondary mirror takes up some of the light, but didn't expect that much. In practice my ED80 is no "slower" than my f/5 Newt.

In short, reflectors (at least the cheap ones I've been using) seem inferior to refractors in every way except focal length. So I'm thinking I'll sell my reflectors and go back to the ED80, with the aim of eventually upgrading to an ED100 / ED120.

Has anyone gone in this direction, ie from reflector to refractor? Did you regret it? How much did you miss the focal length? Any major benefits?

Also interested to know experiences in comparing APO vs ACHRO. Achro is vastly cheaper, which appeals, but I don't want to buy something that frustrates me. I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who's imaged with an achro.

Thanks for reading!!