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I thought there were quality control issues with the GSO like faulty
focusers, some reflections troubles. Perhaps these have been rectified.
Also I was told bu Bintel the Chinese company that makes them asked them how do you collimate an RC? Whhhaaatttt??!!
There are no known issues with the Meade that I have heard of.
There is a free Wodaski CCD calculator which is a handy tool when making up ones mind about scopes.
It will show what the same image will look like with different scope/cameras (image scale ie size of the object being imaged in different scope/camera combos).
That way you can decide yes that is the type of image scale I want to achieve and also match your camera/pixel size to the optics that best match your seeing.
But the short answer would be for a DSLR say, the F8 will give slightly wider field images than the F10 Meade.
As far as a reducer goes there is a good chance an AP 67 reducer will fit the GSO and work as it was common on RCOS scopes.
Anotehr aspect to consider are the little bits and pieces that make a scope good to work with or not. Cooldown time, mirror flop, strength of focuser, baffling, flocking of the interior, sharpness of the optics,weight, length of tube, dew prevention, cleanliness of the optics (RCs can get a bit dirty), ease of collimation, ability to hold collimation, quality control of the manufacturer, lead time for delivery, after sales service.
To some degree it comes down to confidence in the manufacturers ability to produce a quality product. Meade I think have an excellent reputation for OTAs. GSO is new kid on the block and there have been some problems although some have fixed them and some have gotten into trouble fixing them. Still an RC for such a low price with a carbon fibre tube is a lot of scope.
I'd personally go for the ACF.
As far as Celestron go, so far its all talk and no images or results proven to back up the hype and with the silly pricing - well, they are not even trying are they? And during an economic downturn - somebody wants to lose money.
If you want help deciding look at Fred's awesome ACF 12 inch images of which one made NASA picture of the day. I doubt very much there'll be a NASA picture of the day from a GSO any time soon.
Greg.
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