|
Just a few comments about the 8SE - Since I own one
The Alignment technique is real easy to use - even my 15 year old Son who knows Zip about Astronomy managed to align it - Since all you do is pick bright things in the sky and let the controller work out what they are - although he reckons the hand controller interface needs updating to look like an IPhone!
Even if your very casual about the alignment (ie the target alignment stars are somewhere near the middle of a 25mm EP) then the trackings seems good. If you Synch the object it improves - although not remembering to switch of the synch can cause some fairly annoying pointing issues when slewing to other objects.
If your going to image Solar System stuff then it's fine -as long as your not a perfectionist and your happy with a cheap CCD/Webcam style solution - DSOs just don't cut it and I suspect a better mount is required.
I can easily picK the OTA and Tripod up and carry it back into the Garage even after a few Beers! so portability is not an issue.
If your intending to show the Universe to Gen Ys then this is a good scope to do it - although make sure you get stress that reading SMS messages in the middle of a session is likely to stuff up their night sight!!!
As a complete change of subject - the 15 year old plays Ice Hockey and none of the major Ice hockey suppliers (Nike, Bauer, Mission etc) will export to Australia you have to use a local dealer and they are 200-300% more expensive than their US/Canadian counterparts. So it seems to be something of a pattern when it comes to 'minority' interests buying US manufactured equipment.
Regards
Mike
|