[Darth Wader (Wade)]

Originally Posted by Coen

Fair enough. Just got a reflector myself after many years of refractors so still getting used to it.

While I do not have experience of an ED 100mm, a friend of mine has a base model 100mm and another has a 150mm both of which give nice views although the tubes do start to get long. There is also the 150mm Mak to consider but is at around $1000 for the OTA; the views are very good and the long focal length excellent for planets and double stars.

Does your budget include the cost of the mount itself or focussing on the OTA only?

I've found that an EQ3 is adequate for a 100mm but an EQ5 is better. The difference is quite noticeable especially when changing eyepieces and waiting for the oscillations to damp down.

Originally Posted by mbaddah

Why dont you go for a Skywatcher 120mm ED instead of a 100? I have used both for quite a bit of time, the 20mm aperture increase was very noticeable on DSO and planets. Both are 900mm in focal length, very portable (for me).

Sadly the 120mm is way out of my budget. I'm looking at the 100mm ED100 PRO (Gold OTA, superseded model, the only difference I can tell is a 2 speed focuser in new models) which I can pick up for $899 new, plus a basic EQ-5 mount for $399. I think $1200 really is as far as I can go for the meantime. The Maks are a little out of my range, and I'm not too familiar with them at all. Do they require collimation/any other maintenance? Are they heavy? I did read on CN that planetary images can be affected by long cool down times too.

Originally I was looking at a Sky-Watcher 150mm Achromat but its f/8.3 ratio had me a little worried about chromatic aberration, otherwise it would be perfect for a planetary grab n go at $849.

I'm a member of the Macarthur Astronomical Society so might poke around and see if anyone will give me a peek through their 4" scope.