Meade lx65 8" (ACF) vs Celestron 8se

[PopeyesPappy]

We are thinking about getting a telescope again. I've pretty much got it narrowed down to either a Meade lx65 8 ACF or a Celestron 8se. Anyone with experience with both have a preference one way or the other? I'm leaning towards the Meade because of the Advanced Coma-Free (ACF) catadioptric-variant optical path.

[Baruch]

We are thinking about getting a telescope again. I've pretty much got it narrowed down to either a Meade lx65 8 ACF or a Celestron 8se. Anyone with experience with both have a preference one way or the other? I'm leaning towards the Meade because of the Advanced Coma-Free (ACF) catadioptric-variant optical path.

Soo techy.  Other than getting a good electronic camera, or the ability to interface with a good smart phone ... don't have a clue.  But to enjoy it, you have to usually leave your home area because the night sky is shit.  I didn't see the Milky Way until I was 9 years old.  Had a refractor with naked eye and a solar projection plate, enjoyed moon watching and the occasional sun spot observing.

[SGOS]

I prefer the Hubble, but I can't afford one.

[drunkenshoe]

Do you want to take pics, or just stargazing? You want to be mobile or just in the back yard?

I'd get a Dobs if it is just start gazing in the back yard. A big one. If you want to move around that's different. Though I don't think it would be a problem for you to carry a dobs, POP. It's for me, lol. But if you are going to take pics, as you know it is completely different thing.

In my experience, I have found that the crude-simple designs are the most fun. I mean chasing the objects by yourself is better fun than going with a computerised one. But I don't have any telescopes myself. Limited experince.

[Baruch]

Orion 10016 StarBlast 6 Astro Reflector Telescope ... for $105 could be my choice, for naked eye observing.  I won't spend too much money on something I won't do very often, or take any photos with.

[PopeyesPappy]

Do you want to take pics, or just stargazing? You want to be mobile or just in the back yard?

I'd get a Dobs if it is just start gazing in the back yard. A big one. If you want to move around that's different. Though I don't think it would be a problem for you to carry a dobs, POP. It's for me, lol. But if you are going to take pics, as you know it is completely different thing.

In my experience, I have found that the crude-simple designs are the most fun. I mean chasing the objects by yourself is better fun than going with a computerised one. But I don't have any telescopes myself. Limited experince.

I thought about a big truss tube Dobsonian. A 12" Meade Lightbridge is almost 20% cheaper than either of the 8" go to scopes we are looking at. But we do want to do some photography, and getting us out of the house is one of the reasons we are thinking about this again. Plus we really need to get out of town to get away from the light pollution. Plus at 65 kg the Dobs is almost 4 times as heavy as one of the 18 kg we are looking at.

Having said all that this may be on hold for a while. Karen had a mild heart attack on Tuesday. She is OK and hopefully will get to come home today, but I need to wait and see what the bill is going to look like before we spend a bunch of money on a telescope. The good news is she has good medical insurance, but we still may be looking at 20% of the bill which could easily run into the thousands.

[drunkenshoe]

Having said all that this may be on hold for a while. Karen had a mild heart attack on Tuesday. She is OK and hopefully will get to come home today, but I need to wait and see what the bill is going to look like before we spend a bunch of money on a telescope. The good news is she has good medical insurance, but we still may be looking at 20% of the bill which could easily run into the thousands.

I'm sorry to hear that Pop. Glad to hear she is OK. Hang in there. Hope everything will be fine and she'll get well soon. 

[PopeyesPappy]

So Karen is doing OK, and the hospital bill was only a couple of hundred bucks so the telescope project is on again. Except I took it in a different direction. I used our latest COVID check and bought a used Explore Scientific ED102-FDC100 refractor and a Celestron AVX mount. The telescope just came in yesterday, and I was playing around with getting it set up last night. It is supposed to be cloudy around here for the next several days so it will probably be a while before we get to try it out. That probably isn't a bad thing though as it will give me some time to figure out how to use the damn thing.

[PopeyesPappy]

Ready for first light. As soon as it gets dark...

[SGOS]

So what's playing tonight?  Tell us how you liked it.

[PopeyesPappy]

So what's playing tonight?  Tell us how you liked it.

Mars, and not too much. Couldn't get anything to focus. I dragged it out again yesterday in the daylight and figured out what my problem is. Not enough length before the eyepiece. I can get things to focus but only by pulling the diagonal almost all the way out of the focuser so that it was barely being held in place. I ordered a 50mm extension tube last night. That should fix things, but it is probably going to be awhile before I get another chance to try it out due to weather. 

[SGOS]

It's not the kind of product that is used by a wide audience, so it's bound to have a bug or two.

[drunkenshoe]

You'll get used to it. It's always a process to get to know these things.

[PopeyesPappy]

You'll get used to it. It's always a process to get to know these things.

I know. I expected a steep learning curve. This particular thing pisses me off a little though. Basically, this telescope was not usable out of the box. It is going to take an accessory the telescope manufacturer doesn't even make t get the thing to work.

[drunkenshoe]

I know. I expected a steep learning curve. This particular thing pisses me off a little though. Basically, this telescope was not usable out of the box. It is going to take an accessory the telescope manufacturer doesn't even make t get the thing to work.

I think I have heard this kind of speicific complaint in ths field several times before. Esp. about oculars.