Celestar 8

Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened box? Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
news
Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened box? Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Kind of an odd question, considering that one could get an instrument with
more features for about the same money. May I ask what prompts you
to seek that particular model, and in an unopened box?

Cheers,
Larry G.

The Celestar 8 telescope is (1) an inexpensive, (2) very portable (3)
Celestron with (4) a simple, motorized fork mount. What other scope out
there right now has these features? Answer: None.


"LarryG" wrote in message
...
"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
news
Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened box?
Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Kind of an odd question, considering that one could get an instrument with
more features for about the same money. May I ask what prompts you
to seek that particular model, and in an unopened box?

Cheers,
Larry G.

Have you forgotten the Meade LX10?

Al


"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
link.net...
The Celestar 8 telescope is (1) an inexpensive, (2) very portable (3)
Celestron with (4) a simple, motorized fork mount. What other scope out
there right now has these features? Answer: None.


"LarryG" wrote in message
...
"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
news
Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened box?
Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Kind of an odd question, considering that one could get an instrument
with
more features for about the same money. May I ask what prompts you
to seek that particular model, and in an unopened box?

Cheers,
Larry G.

You can probably get an Ultima 9.25 used for about the same price and end up
with a nicer but similar scope ...

"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
link.net...
The Celestar 8 telescope is (1) an inexpensive, (2) very portable (3)
Celestron with (4) a simple, motorized fork mount. What other scope out
there right now has these features? Answer: None.


"LarryG" wrote in message
...
"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
news
Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened box?
Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Kind of an odd question, considering that one could get an instrument
with
more features for about the same money. May I ask what prompts you
to seek that particular model, and in an unopened box?

Cheers,
Larry G.

Thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate it.


"Chuck" wrote in message
...
You can probably get an Ultima 9.25 used for about the same price and end
up
with a nicer but similar scope ...

"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
link.net...
The Celestar 8 telescope is (1) an inexpensive, (2) very portable (3)
Celestron with (4) a simple, motorized fork mount. What other scope out
there right now has these features? Answer: None.


"LarryG" wrote in message
...
"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
news Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened
box?
Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Kind of an odd question, considering that one could get an instrument
with
more features for about the same money. May I ask what prompts you
to seek that particular model, and in an unopened box?

Cheers,
Larry G.

Well, I've always been kinda partial to Celestron. )


"Al" wrote in message
...
Have you forgotten the Meade LX10?

Al


"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
link.net...
The Celestar 8 telescope is (1) an inexpensive, (2) very portable (3)
Celestron with (4) a simple, motorized fork mount. What other scope out
there right now has these features? Answer: None.


"LarryG" wrote in message
...
"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
news Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened
box?
Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Kind of an odd question, considering that one could get an instrument
with
more features for about the same money. May I ask what prompts you
to seek that particular model, and in an unopened box?

Cheers,
Larry G.

At the risk of starting one of those, "my Ford is better than your Chevy"
threads, I find that there is little if any difference between Celestron and
Meade. Over the years I've owned at least a dozen of each and find them to
be _very_ similar. Both have the same problem that plagues all SCTs (mirror
flop/image shift), and both have customer service departments which are
excellent on one day and suck a lemon on another. Both are about the same
price and the same degree of quality. If you absolutely cornered me with
this question, I would say that Meade has the edge on electronics and
mechanicals and Celestron has the edge on optics. Both, however, are quite
capable of delivering a lemon on any given day.

Al


"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Well, I've always been kinda partial to Celestron. )


"Al" wrote in message
...
Have you forgotten the Meade LX10?

Al


"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
link.net...
The Celestar 8 telescope is (1) an inexpensive, (2) very portable (3)
Celestron with (4) a simple, motorized fork mount. What other scope
out
there right now has these features? Answer: None.


"LarryG" wrote in message
...
"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
news Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened
box?
Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Kind of an odd question, considering that one could get an
instrument
with
more features for about the same money. May I ask what prompts you
to seek that particular model, and in an unopened box?

Cheers,
Larry G.

"Rank Amateur" wrote in message hlink.net...
The Celestar 8 telescope is (1) an inexpensive, (2) very portable (3)
Celestron with (4) a simple, motorized fork mount. What other scope out
there right now has these features? Answer: None.

I took mine to Costa Rica the week before last and
had a ball with it. The mount was a little bouncy
when polar aligned for 10 degrees north, but it
settled down quickly and I got some great pictures.

For visual observation I stood the mount straight up
and used it as an altazimuth.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

Anyone know where I can buy a brand new Celestar 8 in an unopened box? Is
there one still "out there" somewhere?

Hi:

Make the rounds of the dealers and you might find one. As for which is
"better," the Celestron or the Meade (LX10), I've tested both extensively. My
feelings? They are very close to being equal in my opinion.

Strengths of the Celestron:

I feel the optics of the Celestars I've seen are just slightly better. But this
is SLIGHTLY, and that's subjective, anyway.

I much prefer the feel of the Celestron focuser (and this goes for all the
Meade/Celestron OTAs). Some people may prefer the slightly stiffer Meades, but
not me.

Meade pluses:

The separate wedge. I do not like the Celestar Basic's combo tripod/wedge
"wedgepod." Frankly, the tripod and wedge on the LX10 ain't anything to write
home about, either, but they are better than the wedgepod.

I thought I would prefer the LX10's worm-gear drive system, but, actually, the
spur gear drives on the Celestars seem to track as well--if not better--than
the Meade setup.

Don't get me wrong. I like the LX10 very much, and have been using 8 of 'em
with my beginning astronomy students for the last 6 years. But I would probably
choose the Celestar, all things being equal, but only by a nose. ;-)

I've written reviews of both scopes--see
http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index4.html if you're interested.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html