Grab & Go scope?

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Help pick a potable grab and go scope.

The ever growing family has made a need to look at a grab and go scope.
Where I go kids want to come. So I’m looking for something that can travel in the car with the family.
Yes I had a Maksutov MK67.
Yes aperture rules I have a 10” at the moment.
I have looked at many scopes.
But in today’s world I have not seen a lot of the newer ones.
So do you have a small scope that gives great all round views and what do you like about it.

Looking at a scope between 4” and 8” but with some reservations.
No long tube scopes.
IE 8” Newt. 4” F15 refractor

Budget lets look at between $100 to $2000. Eyepieces are not important
(I have enough good ones!) Sturdy mount good optics and pleasing views for the aperture.

I would buy a bigger car but as with most people not so easy to come up with the pennies for that!!

So your thoughts? I have put a poll up as well. Only vote if you know the scope you vote for.
Thanks.

[faramir]

Meade 8" LX90GPS. Cheap quality mount and finder but good OTA and still portable. Go To and Autostar makes it interesting for the kids. Anything smaller after using a 10" would be to disappointing. Price is a problem ? second hand for the price wanted.

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

Interesting question. Normally I wouldn't think of this, but how about a Meade or Celestron goto mak (e.g. ETX-125)? Goto and tracking is useful if you have multiple observers swapping views all the time. Kids can haggle of the hand controller, which also gives them educational data about objects. An ETX is very good for moon and planets, and the long FL would complement the dob. Stick a green laser on it (if they're still legal), and then others can try and spot the same object with binoculars.

Get a Celestron SE edition scope and you can change scopes on it, even use a solar one.

Just a thought.

Good luck,

Brian.

PS where's the poll?

(Oh, you just put it up.)

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Im sure you can guess what I voted for and I dont need to tell you anything about it

Actually a 150mm newt would be good size if they didn't insist on packaging them with silly eq mounts
IMO eq mounts are totally counter to the concept of grab and go.

[acropolite (Phil)]

I'm with the others on the Vixen/Porta/Newt combination. I carted my porta-mount to Astrofest and HRH Liz spent some enjoyable hours finding her way around the skies with an ED80 and the porta mount. The length of the porta mount can easily be reduced for transport by removing the head using the supplied (and magnetically stored in the head) allen keys.

[Karls48 (Karl)]

I use ETX-105 and Celestron 102 F5 Wide View refractor as grab and go scopes. ETX got advantage of GO- TO but it is heavier and more complicated (cables, Autostar, laptop, camera and the batteries). So I use it only if I want to do imagining. It also needs focal reducer and very sensitive camera, as at F14 it is too slow for anything except the Moon and the planets.
When I’m going to my sister’s farm and want to do few hours observing I prefer Celestron 102 Wide View refractor. It is not heavy (under 3kg), can be used with camera tripod and can be used as spotting scope in daytime. At $370 it is not expensive and it is good quality scope for the price. Sure it is achromat and it got false colour on bright objects but it does not worry me.

[casstony]

Nexstar 8SE: 8" sct is compact but gathers a lot of light and the mount has tracking for the kids. I didn't vote though as I don't own one of these.

The main problem I see with the non-goto alt-az mounts is lack of tracking for the kids, even though it would be more portable than the Nexstar.

[dukesisking]

I enjoy my etx125 for the quickness of setup (grab box with battery and eyepiece, grab scope, your done.) For a long nights viewing I use my 8", but if its spur of the moment, travelling or showing newcomers the delights of the heavens I love the 125. Noisy bugger but nice views.

[rmcpb (Rob)]

I love my binocs and tripod for a quick view. Like it so much that I am going to add another few sets to the inventory.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Just a thought, if you're considering the Porta mount combo, encoders are available for the Argonavis, I noticed you have your Newt up for sale with AN, you could just sell the newt and keep the AN for use on the porta.

[Dave47tuc (David)]

Thanks Phil i have considered that.
But I'm selling the 10" with AN. I will see what scope I may get next if any.

Originally Posted by acropolite

Just a thought, if you're considering the Porta mount combo, encoders are available for the Argonavis, I noticed you have your Newt up for sale with AN, you could just sell the newt and keep the AN for use on the porta.

[Zenton (Rodney)]

I have been using my trusty ETX-125 for a couple of years now and it's great. I can have everthing setup in minutes. I see from the poll the EXT-125 is a clear winner with over 40% of the votes.

[Dave47tuc (David)]

And a ETX 125 is what i ended up with.

Originally Posted by Zenton

I have been using my trusty ETX-125 for a couple of years now and it's great. I can have everthing setup in minutes. I see from the poll the EXT-125 is a clear winner with over 40% of the votes.

[MortonH]

For features, the ETX is probably a good option, but I don't like the long focal length (i.e. small field of view). My favourite is my WIlliam Optics Zenithstar 80mm. It's light enough for a camera tripod and the magnification can be pushed for reasonable planetary viewing. For a slight increase in size and weight, I reckon the ED80 and Porta mount sounds like the perfect combo to me, and cheap!

Morton

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

why not a 6 inch dob?

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Originally Posted by seeker372011

why not a 6 inch dob?

Because it's not much different in a size from an 8" Dob: the tube is just as long and the base is just as big:

Originally Posted by Dave47tuc

No long tube scopes.
IE 8” Newt. 4” F15 refractor

6" f/8 fits in there also...