payner
sage
Reged: 03/22/07
Posts: 230
Loc: Bluegrass Region, Kentucky
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The C14 gets my vote hands-down. It is everything Eddgie said, one really appreciates the details and resolution a big aperture scope brings to the eyepiece. The complexities of Jupiter's equatorial belts and clouds are incredible. I can now view M57's white dwarf, the star resolution in globular clusters, and on and on.
Randy
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CGE1400 w/XLT & FT MicroFocuser
Russian-Intes MK 91 Rumak
Takahashi FS-128
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coutleef
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/21/08
Posts: 806
Loc: Montreal and St-Donat, Québec,...
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In terma of portability (this is a major issue for me), the C8 is a winner.
But my desire for the long term is to get a C14 on a scope buggy and keep it at my country house permanently, where i have very dark skies.
Francois
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François
Nexstar 8 SE
50mm StellarVue finderscope, Astronomik UHC-E and Orion OIII filters
WO Swan 40mm; TV Pan 22mm; TV Nagler 9T6, 12T4, 17T4; TV Plossl 11mm and 15mm.
WO 2" dielectric diagonal retrofitted with Denk Power Switch (and now reach the zenith with the shorty adapter).
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doug76
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/05/07
Posts: 2554
Loc: SE Louisiana
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Good answers all, but I am concerned about something I have noticed. There are an awful lot of CPC1100's for sale all of a sudden. I wonder why?
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yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1714
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I have a CPC 1100 XLT. It's a great telescope. But if you are into imaging, fork mounts are not the ideal setup. For imaging purposes, I wish I had gotten an Atlas and a C11 instead.
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doug76
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/05/07
Posts: 2554
Loc: SE Louisiana
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It's likely I'll wind up doing the Atlas/C-11 thing myself.
Doug
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coutleef
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/21/08
Posts: 806
Loc: Montreal and St-Donat, Québec,...
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it may be that the CPC1100 is not as portable as 8 inches SCT. But i have not read any complaint on that scope here on CN.
Francois
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François
Nexstar 8 SE
50mm StellarVue finderscope, Astronomik UHC-E and Orion OIII filters
WO Swan 40mm; TV Pan 22mm; TV Nagler 9T6, 12T4, 17T4; TV Plossl 11mm and 15mm.
WO 2" dielectric diagonal retrofitted with Denk Power Switch (and now reach the zenith with the shorty adapter).
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Starnek
member
Reged: 11/29/07
Posts: 10
Loc: New Hampshire, USA
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After trying a C-14, CPC 925 & 1100. I settled on the CPC 1100. Still within my ability to set-up and lift by myself, but the views are just a tad better than I was seeing thru the 925. If I had an observatory it would have been the C-14.
I love my scope, and in the 6 months I've had it, I've not had one regret for having purchased it. 
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Celestron CPC 1100, "Soulshine"
TMB-SMC 7mm & 9mm
Televue: Nag-T4 22mm, Nag-T5 31mm, Panoptic 41mm & Ethos
GSO Superview 50mm
MoonLite focuser
Denkmeier PowerX switch w/Filter switch
DewBuster
DewNot straps
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Stephen S
super member
Reged: 08/21/07
Posts: 132
Loc: San Diego, CA
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It's already been said. However, I'll throw in my 2 cents as well.
If I had a dark sky location (working on this) where I could permanently mount a scope, a FASTAR compatible C14 (on a pier or CGE mount) would win hands down.
For now, I am forced to travel to a dark sky location, which is why I went with the C9.25 (on the edge of portability).
If I was forced to commit to one scope regardless of changing circumstances, I would go with the C9.25 (which is precisely what I did - for now  )
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C9 1/4-SGT (XLT)
AT80ED
Vixen Porta Mount
50mm Takahashi LE
24mm Meade UWA
13mm Televue Ethos
7mm Pentax XW
3mm Smart Astronomy
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AddictedCGE1400
member
Reged: 09/24/06
Posts: 13
Loc: Katy, Texas
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I have a C14-XLT mounted on a Losmandy HGM Titan on Wheeley bars that I keep at home and roll out from my garage to my driveway. This scope stays at home in light polluted suburbia. I also have a CGE-1100XLT on wheeley bars that I also roll out to the driveway. The C11 is also my traveling scope and goes with me to the Davis Mountains in west Texas, w/o the Wheeley bars. If I could only keep one of them, I'd keep the C14. It would be a pain in the rear to travel with, but the extra apperture to me is worth it. My C14 optics are also better quality than my C11. Just luck I guess. My C14 was originally mounted on the CGE, but I added too many accessories and was forced to get the Titan. Since I then had a CGE with no OTA, I was then forced to get the C11 OTA. None of this was really my fault and was totally beyond my control.
Peter
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C14 (XLT) + Losmandy HGM Titan
CGE-1100 (XLT)
Orion 100ED
Steiner 20 x 80 Senator Binoculars
Celestron 25 x 100 Binoculars
Whole bunch of other stuff
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Question...
Are SCT telescopes over 8" really worth it if you are only doing visual observing?
I have a 8" lx-90 emc SCT. It was my first scope and still the one i use after all these years. I still haven't seen 1/2 of what this telescope is capable of.
In terms of the balance of aperture/portability, i really wouldn't go over 8" unless i was getting a truss dobsonian. Even at 8", my lx-90 with lx200 standard mount is as heavy as i would want to go. Simply taking the telescope/mount as a single piece and carrying it from my 1st floor to the backyard down 3 stairs, makes me break out sweating even when its cold out. Lifting 60-80 pounds with your arms while standing up, then trying to walk with it for a good 20 seconds can be very tiring.
I cant imagine how much harder this gets with a 10-12-14", as the weight just continues to grow.
And lets not forget pricing! my 8" lx90 is 2000 dollars. 14 or 16" SCTs are very expensive too. This is all great if you want to do heavy astrotography but what about us pure visual observers?
Wouldn't a dob be better if you want high aperture for pure visual observation?
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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AddictedCGE1400
member
Reged: 09/24/06
Posts: 13
Loc: Katy, Texas
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If I were going to do visual observing only, I definitely would have gone with a big dob. I probably would have bought a 20" w/ all the goto options.
Peter
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C14 (XLT) + Losmandy HGM Titan
CGE-1100 (XLT)
Orion 100ED
Steiner 20 x 80 Senator Binoculars
Celestron 25 x 100 Binoculars
Whole bunch of other stuff
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Yep, that's what i plan on.
Im extremely happy that i got a SCT as my first scope. I don't think i would have been ready to take on the maintenance and extra work that a dob needs. Also, i can dabble a little with some astrotography if i ever decided to. My meade SCT has taught me almost everything i need to know when it comes to telescope usage.
But make no mistake, my next telescope will 100% be a dobsonian, at least 16" aperture up to 20".
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Stephen S
super member
Reged: 08/21/07
Posts: 132
Loc: San Diego, CA
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One of the advantages of the SCT over the dobsonian is that it is easier to get GoTo and tracking with an SCT. That said, there are a variety of 'push to' systems being developed. If I was strictly interested in visual, I'd probably go with ... 
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C9 1/4-SGT (XLT)
AT80ED
Vixen Porta Mount
50mm Takahashi LE
24mm Meade UWA
13mm Televue Ethos
7mm Pentax XW
3mm Smart Astronomy
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w orchid
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/23/07
Posts: 665
Loc: Tampa, Fl
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I'd pick my C8. At just about every star party, I always here the same line. "Had on of these years ago, never should of sold it." The orange tube still delivers great views, fantastic quality and bullet proof.
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Celestron C8 orange tube circa 1982
Stellarvue SV102ED
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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stephen,
I always wondered what is the big draw for people to do astrotography.
It seems to me that if you cant produce a better picture than whats already out there, why bother? In essence you're just making the same copies of 1000s of pictures other people made, only not as well as they did.
I understand if you are a professional photographer or if you work in the photographic business, then photography of any kind would appeal to you. I myself own a bunch of cameras that me and sometimes my father haul with us on vacations or anywhere we go with family to remember the memories. Difference between terrestrial photography though is, no two pictures would ever really be the same. One picture taken somewhere at one time, then same picture taken a month later would look very different.
This isnt true of photographing the sky. No matter what year you photograph a nebula, chances are it will look very similar to another picture someone captured years ago.
Astrotography pictures are all the same (except for the angle of the object), since they're made from the same point of view (earth). That's why to me, there is almost no motivation to try astrotography...not yet at least. But hey im just a noob in the grand scheme of things, perhaps in the future when i am settled financially i will try ALL aspects of astronomy.
It seems like a cool thing to dabble in, but i don't see it being a real substitute for REAL eye viewing. Your eyes will show you all sky objects in motion, as if they're alive. A picture is a still collection of frames.
But back to the subject, if you are a true astro photographer, you probably need a celestron equipped with fastar like this one:
http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/catadioptric-telescopes/cge1400schmidtcassegrainwithstarbrightxltcoatingsfastarcompatible.cfm
But at nearly 7.000 dollars, you better hope you know what you're doing here. You can get a very nice obsession for the same price, but hey to each his own. We all need something a little different depending on what we want to do with the telescope.
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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Freddy WILLEMS
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 11/13/05
Posts: 913
Loc: Hawaii, Honolulu
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C14 on a Losmandy Titan mount
Freddy
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Freddy
Meade 14" LX200 GPS UHTC GPS on permanent pier (Time Machine)
Celestron C 14" Peltier cooled for planetary imaging.
Meade 10" LX200 & TITAN 50:1 mount Gemini 'go to'
Meade 127 mm f/9 APO & TITAN 50:1 mount Gemini 'go to'
W/O 102 mm f/7 APO doublet
Orion 80 mm f/7 ED
DFK 21AU04.AS
ToUcam 840 II pro
Canon 10D Unmoddified
Canon 40D waiting to be modded by Hutech
And lots of eyepieces and acc.
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rmollise
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 1564
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Quote:
Question...
Are SCT telescopes over 8" really worth it if you are only doing visual observing?
I hate to say this, but, yeah, they are. 
You will see more detail; not just more objects...
A C11 is also remarkably easy to set up and carry around.
All that said, my C8 is _still_ my most used scope.
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Uncle Rod
Watch for Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using the New CATs--coming soon!
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HendyPhoto
Sith Lord
Reged: 08/09/06
Posts: 1485
Loc: Bountiful, Utah
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The challenge of astrophotography is what's so apealing.
You will never find a do-it-all scope. You sacrifice the qualities of smaller scopes with bigger scopes, and sacrifice the qualities of bigger scopes going with a smaller scope.
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~jon
SparkCast Ustream
CGE1400XLT w/HyperStar
90FD 66SD C6-R SN-8
CPC1100XLT Hutech 20D
Manny-Mod Vixen Porta
Mallincam MCHP
SPC900NC
CG-5 GT
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the universe." --Albert Einstein
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Joe Bergeron
Vendor - Space Art
Reged: 11/10/03
Posts: 843
Loc: Upstate NY
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You know, most everything that we do has already been done better by an awful lot of other people. If we limited ourselves to doing only what we can do better than anyone else, most of us would be lying inert in our beds waiting to die. Unless somebody has already died better than us.
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Seven telescopes of a diverse nature.
Multiple chums glittering in the sky. New friends await.
My Web Site
English Lessons for Amateur Astronomers
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Brooklyn
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/08
Posts: 870
Loc: Central New Jersey
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Quote:
You know, most everything that we do has already been done better by an awful lot of other people. If we limited ourselves to doing only what we can do better than anyone else, most of us would be lying inert in our beds waiting to die. Unless somebody has already died better than us.
HAHA Oh man that was so perfectly stated.
I only meant that statement in regards to photography, not in all aspects of life.
Pictures are different than first hand experience. Even if someone viewed something with their eyes better than you did, you cannot relate because everyone's eyes are different. Also, you cannot share first hand experiences when it comes to doing something with your own body.
All pictures made by astrophotograhy are more or less very similar to one another, that is why this is an exception to the rule. A picture taken in 1999 by some random person, is going to look almost the same as the picture taken in 2008 by a different person, even if the two pictures were taking with completely different gear and telescopes. Sure the brightness or contrast might vary a bit, but the picture itself will be identical (except for the angle of course).
Its only because of this, that I chose for myself to be a visual observer first and foremost, before I ever venture into the astrotography arena. And likewise, finances have much to do with the decision as well.
I never said that taking pictures through a telescope isn't fun or great or exciting, I just meant that for me in particular, I don't find it that interesting, so far.
But who knows, maybe in 2 or 3 years you'll see me posting pictures of my own...eating my own words from years ago. 
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Meade 8.25"(209.55mm) LX-90 EMC (SCT)
Albert Einstein =>
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”
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