[dcalleja]

Originally Posted by marki

Love Maks. They are nice and small so easy to handle and deliver great views with lots of contrast. The focal lengths are not as limiting as you may think. Being a closed tube they will require some time to cool down but you might like to consider a lynmax cooler or similar.




Mark

Thanks Mark
I've never heard of a lynmax cooler - is it a type of Peltier cell?

Originally Posted by AstroJunk

Bit confused here - how do you think another EQ scope is going to be any quicker to set up. And for that matter an HEQ5 be more portable?

If you want something for Visual then buy a dob.

BTW I use a Black Diamond 150 Mak (2" back) on a heq5 pro as my travel scope and find it very nice. I don't use it visually though...

I find the fork mount with a wedge a chore to setup and polar align. (Although to be honest it may be more the weight factor). I had thought a GEM might be easier to work with (faster to setup?)

Originally Posted by redesford

What about an ETX-125PE? I know it's only 5" but... meets most of the criteria for a grab and go.

Or Celestron 5SE or 6SE? I don't know what you budget is but I hope this helps.

'Grab and go' is a real broad definition, in my opinion. What is 'grab and go' for you is different for me.

For me, grab and go means:

1. No imaging considerations
2. Can pick the 'scope up with on hand
3. Can be packed and travel in a space of a small suitcase (say, approximately 400 x 400 x 400mm)
4. No Dobs!


Good luck.

Thanks - the smaller form factor and weight are a consideration for me

Originally Posted by Wavytone

What do you want to observe with a small scope ?

The reason I ask is that having tried an ETX I found it to be a horrible compromise - they are f/15 - obviously supposedly a lunar & planetary scope - the field of view is far too small to be useful for anything else. However, IMHO the aperture is too small and the focal length isn't long enough to give a satisfactory view of the moon, Jupiter or Saturn. Lastly the mount and drive system just get in the way for such a small scope, they are really irritating.

I'd suggest a 4" ED refractor around the f/7 mark if widefield is more your thing. If you want a catadioptric for size reasons, try to get f/10 or f/12 - IMHO f/15 is just plain too long with modern eyepieces. The Orion maks 127-150 mm would do, and the Celestron 6" SCT on a one-arm fork looks like a better buy than the ETX, more aperture, it's f/10 and still small/light enough to be a grab & go.

Also take a look at your eyepieces - for an f/15 Mak you'll want 50, 30, 18 and 12mm.

A combo of DSO and planetary work so I gues I'm looking at some kind of compromise. Focal length was a big concern for me though as most of the MAKs seemed to have quite long FL. The Skywatcher\Orion at f12 is so not quite as long as the ETX so thats a little better, though f10 would be more ideal. I've also read somewhere that it pays to get a decent diagonal as the ones supplied with some of the chinese scopes are fairly poor quality.