Until recently I'd mostly been absorbed in photographing the planets and trying to get some detail recorded. I am not very good at it yet, but my best efforts so far have been using 6 to 9.25" SCTs or my 180 mak. My seeing is infrequently better than 3/5 except on the very occasional, usually very much unexpected, night. Visually I don't like the amount of contrast on Mars features with these scopes... although the 180 Mak does the best job of this group of scopes. Jupiter is a bit washed out in the SCTs but is also a little better in the Mak.
I have an SVX-140T which is convenient for visual as I can use it on more forgiving mounts than my MYT or G11 (which are great but which come with more complexity in software, polar aligning, setup and takedown all of which eat up more time than simpler mounts). In spite of this, I usually leave it setup for deep sky imaging. The 140 is a great scope but it really excels at what I bought it for... namely deep sky imaging.
I've been nosing around for a scope that I could handle and mount adequately that would be really nice for viewing Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. I finally decided to get a 152 f/8 refractor with decent apo optics. There were a few choices including TEC and Stellarvue and I also considered a couple of used Starfire scopes that were available. Being a creature of habit, and liking my SVX-140T... I eventually decided on getting the Stellarvue.
Anyone know what planetary views I can expect when it arrives (as compared to the SCTs and Mak I've been using? Will I really gain contrast and was the move from a 140 to a 152 worth the extra trouble? I'm also thinking about eventually buying an ERF (energy rejection filter) and using the 152 for solar imaging with a Quark Chromosphere filter from Daystar.... maybe this summer when it isn't so freezing outside and the sun isn't so low to the horizon most of the day.
Rick