|
Quads
sage
Reged: 09/07/08
Posts: 296
Loc: Central Sands, Wisconsin
|
Re: An ETX-80 Buyer's Checklist
06/26/09 06:17 AM
|
|
|
I love mine. That being said, I don't own any other scopes, aside from some long-forgotten dept. store reflectors that I never could get to view anything acceptably. And I actually have never met anyone else that owns a scope, so I have nothing else to compare to. I'll try to give my opinions on a few of your questions in the quote below.
Quote:
• What in particular do or do you not like about the scope? Nothing really. It's what I expected, and more.
• How reliable are the RA/Dec brakes (prone to slippage, wearing, breaking, etc.?) They seem pretty reliable. The only time I have slipped the clutch is when I didn't have it tight enough with my camera piggybacked on it.
• How about the motors (noisy, loose, do they "chatter" like some of the older GoTo units, how is battery consumption, etc?) Yes, it's kind of noisy, but mostly only when slewing. When tracking it just "talks" and "chirps". Keeps the bears away! There is a little play/slack, but doesn't seem to bother. I get many short nights of observing from my NiMH batteries before recharging. Up to 20 hours probably. Freshly charged they should easily go all night, plus I keep a spare set in the backpack.
• Are you satisfied with the optics, resolution, flatness of field, contrast, etc.? How pronounced are any chromatic or spherical aberrations? Yes, I'm satisfied, but don't really have anything to compare to. It's better than my binoculars.
• How is the focuser (too tight/loose, twitchy, tough to get at when the scope is at extreme declination?) It's more loose than tight. Not hard to get at. When switching on the internal barlow, it requires A LOT of turns to refocus.
• How accurate do you find the GoTo/Autostar for this scope? Can you use the AS #497 with the 80, or must you use the #494? If properly aligned, everything it Goes-To will be at, or very near, center of the 26mm eyepiece. From what others have posted here you can use the 497.
• How sturdy/stable is the supplied tripod, and if need be, can it be mounted on the more robust 884 field tripod of the ETX-125? It's sturdier than any of the photo tripods I have. And yes, I think the 884 tripod was listed as an option so can be used with it.
--------------------
I'm a "just for fun" photographer that also takes nighttime sky pictures.
Meade ETX-80AT-TC-BB
Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Affordable Astrophotography
Powered by Ni-MH Rechargeable Batteries
|
|
1 registered and 4 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: Shadowalker, oldsalt
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Rating:
Thread views: 410
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Flat
Edit
Reply
Quote
