Meade ETX-80AT-TC Vs Celestron NexStar 4 or 6 SE Telescope?
hi
I am ready to buy my first telescope.
I need advice from someone who knows what is talking about
Which one of those three telescopes is better value for money?
Meade ETX-80AT-TC for 249 $
Celestron NexStar 4 SE for 499 $
Celestron NexStar 6 SE for 999 $
Are you going to do astrophotography? If not, you can get a superb 10″ tube Newtonian Dob with computer locator that fits in your car and sets up in 3 minutes for $700. I’d much rather have that than a 6 inch SCT for visual observing. 3 minutes is much quicker than 15. You can spend the other $300 on accessories – an oxygen 3 filter, a variable polarizing filter, a carry bag, a high end low power wide field eyepiece, and so on.
The SCT design is compact, and has a tracking mount, but i wouldn’t use a one arm mount for photography. The experts strongly recommend a beefy German equatorial mount for photography. Further, as a 10″ dob can fit in your car, there’s not much point in going with a 6″ compact design.
The main advantage for the ETX-80 is extreme portability. One of the guys at the club has one, and carries it with him on his motorcycle. But he’s also got his truck-portable stuff.
I largely agree with Larry, that aperture rules. But i don’t agree that you get what you pay for. I mean, you may get something, but it’s valuable to know what you’re getting. You may not want it. The NexStar 6 gives you a tracking scope for visual work for $1000, when you get the same aperture, computer, but without tracking in a dob for $400. That’s $600 for tracking. In my experience, i don’t miss it.
You can get a tracking 8 inch scope for under $600 in a Newtonian. The deal is that the SCT design is much more expensive to build than the simpler Newtonian design. But there’s an extra optical element in the SCT – the corrector plate, and there’s a more difficult to make secondary mirror. So it’s more expensive, but it doesn’t buy you much at this size.
I agree with Lee, get more aperture – but get the computer. You’ve really got to be into the thrill of the hunt to do without one. I know people who are. But the computer on my xt10i has taught me quite a bit about the sky in a totally painless way. I don’t have to use it. And now that i know where my favorite objects are, i often don’t. But it’s really handy, and i don’t beat myself up if i can’t find something without it.
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