On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 18:34:27 GMT, "Del Johnson" ...reflected:

You are correct in that an 8" reflector is too much telescope for any GP
mount. I would not go down that road myself. Consider instead a far
superior driven Dob solution.

Celestron, Orion, Skywatcher, et al are placing 8" f/5's
on Chinese GP-copies. Of course, that's Celestron and Orion.
Also, Meade doesn't seem to be above doing that sort of thing
themselves, thus...

Who am I to be so stringent?

8^)

Dobsonians are attractive, but at this point not as attractive
as equatorially-mounted alternatives, as cost is a factor in my
decisions, but not primarily so.

Del Johnson



"Alan W. Craft" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 24 Jul 2003 14:14:36 GMT, "Del Johnson"
...reflected:

The 8" f/6 is not too slow for deep sky objects. In fact, it is perfect
and
the tube is not really that long.

I agree, and would LOVE to have the 8" f6, but
wouldn't the tube overwhelm a GP-DX mount, let
alone a standard GP? As it is, I'm thinking that
the f5 would be a bit cumbersome in its own
right, but certainly less than the f6.

I've seen the pictures. Parks places the 8" f6
on either their 'Precision,' or, more appropriately,
on their 'Superior' equatorial mounting, and not
at all onto their 'Astrolight' which bears enough
of a resemblance to either the GP or GP-DX
as to preclude their collective considerations.

Alan