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Old 12-04-2011, 06:44 PM
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Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)
Grumpy Old Man-Child

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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: South Gippsland
Posts: 1,768
Although I'm an unapologetic refractorholic, and appreciate their fuss-free viewing, they ARE somewhat limited in what they will show by aperture. Also, big ones (5" and up) are BIG scopes as Profiler points out. A lot of the fun of refractor viewing goes out the window when you're trying to manhandle a 15kg scope onto your mount 4 feet in the air.

As far as application goes:
If you're going to do astrophotography, are a fan of widefield viewing or splitting uneven doubles, I'd go for the 132.
For everything else, especiallialy globular clusters, nebulae and planetary observing I'd choose a good reflector of some sort like your Vixen.
A well-figured 8" Newt of f5+ will show you much more detail than even the largest, most expensive AP, TEC or Takahashi refractor currently available - just ask Yuri or Roland.
The visual downsides to a reflector are slightly less contrast, coma (increasing the faster the scope), and for me, diffraction spikes.

I'm not personally familiar with the 200SS, but I believe the only real gripe people have against them is the thickness of the spider vanes (causing big fat spikes), and a CO that's just a bit large for lunar and planetary viewing. There are quite a few aftermarket spiders and secondaries available that will cure this.

My advice would be to save the dosh (maybe get a 3-4" quality refractor for all-round use) and enjoy the Vixen.
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