Gday all Pls advise us most newbies on latest n lightest tripod w/gotomount for8" OTA

[ddastider (Dean)]

Hi everybody -

I had surgeries and live 20k NE of Melbourne- mostly resting at home.

Mostly I will watch nebulae as ..
may take photos w/"orion skywire n iphone"

welcome n all to spend some time to read this Pls advise on few latest, lightest and popular tripod (Aluminium) w/goto mount total weight +/-20kg

for eg 8" OTA (I am buying VMC200L or Orion 7" Mak or C9.25")

New LX80's 2" steel legs too heavy for my visual purpose..

is there any universal ?? tripod eg HAL130 fits
popular goto mounts or which ones are easy to modify, has good resale value?

as I read as a newbe and prefer Meade, Orion and Celestron and are good brands n have mid-range/budget stuffs..

which brand offer free software updates on hand controller??

Many thanks for helping out

Cheers to clear sky

Deep
many [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT]

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

What your asking for doesn't really exist im sorry.

if your doing visual, then a EQ5 would be fine for any of the telescopes you have mentioned.

If you want to do photography then a NEQ6 is what you need as a minimum really to have a decent and stable platform

My personal opinion i would be steering clear of the meade mounts untill proven.

Celestron are not cheap as the prices are generally double what they are in the US

Orion isn't a brand we have over here, anything you see with orion is generally imported apart from some dobs and the like.

Synta (Skywatcher) and GSO are the main brands we see in the low to middle range market.

BM

[casstony]

The Celestron Nexstar 8SE is a light weight and easy to use goto mount/scope. The trade off for the light weight is it's a little shaky, but it's ok and if you've had surgery the weight is perhaps more important?