AARRGGHH! They do this intentionally, don't they?

Well, I'm just kidding about the intentionally part, but it does make
buying your first telescope difficult.

To recap, I started off looking at a 5 inch Mak from Orion. I was
going along just fine until it was suggested that the Nextar 5i was a
better telescope. So, I looked at it and decided that if it was
really better...

Then, I noticed that the price of an 8" SCT withoug all of the goto
stuff was less than the 5i and that an 8" Newtonian Reflector was less
still (in fact, you could get a goto version for less than the 5i).
So, I started looking at the 8" scopes and quickly decided that was
better, more what I wanted and within my budget. Until...

Well, people at the astronomy club were telling me that by the time I
added a dual axis drive, one with the GoTo features wasn't more than
about $100 more. Well, they were right, until I was browsing and
found out that a 10" SCT with no frills was about the same price and
that a 10" Reflector was far less even with a GoTo feature (although
the size is becomming a real issue here).

At this rate, I will have decided to buy the Mt. Palomar complex by
July.

SIGH....

I do admit that I was looking through a variety of telescopes the
other night and very much liked the extra brightness of the 10" SCT
that was there, but I also liked the 8" telescopes (they just weren't
as bright (duh)). Operature fever hits early and often.

And please don't tell me do get a large Dob. I do want the tracking
features and plan on trying some imaging in the future. In addition,
portability is a concern (I own a Honda Insight that I use as my
primary vehicle). My next telescope may very well be a large Dob (it
is the only type of telescope in the 12"+ class I'm ever likely to be
able to afford).

One note on GoTo. I've decided that feature is definitely a "If it
fits within the budget" item. One of the gentlemen out the other
night had his telescope on the Orion Nebula and a young lady was
trying to find where she was looking. I loaned her my binoculars and
the gentleman was directing her to the middle of Orion's belt while I
was trying to direct her to the nebula. The gentleman had a nice GoTo
scope and had simply entered the item he wanted to look at but didn't
really know where it was located (may have just been a senior moment),
but had he found it the traditional way, he would not have made that
mistake.

We did finally get the young lady to find the area in the binoculars.

"Edward Smith" wrote in message
...
Well, I'm just kidding about the intentionally part, but it does make
buying your first telescope difficult.

To recap, I started off looking at a 5 inch Mak from Orion. I was
going along just fine until it was suggested that the Nextar 5i was a
better telescope. So, I looked at it and decided that if it was
really better...

Then, I noticed that the price of an 8" SCT withoug all of the goto
stuff was less than the 5i and that an 8" Newtonian Reflector was less
still (in fact, you could get a goto version for less than the 5i).
So, I started looking at the 8" scopes and quickly decided that was
better, more what I wanted and within my budget. Until...

Well, people at the astronomy club were telling me that by the time I
added a dual axis drive, one with the GoTo features wasn't more than
about $100 more. Well, they were right, until I was browsing and
found out that a 10" SCT with no frills was about the same price and
that a 10" Reflector was far less even with a GoTo feature (although
the size is becomming a real issue here).

At this rate, I will have decided to buy the Mt. Palomar complex by
July.

Aperture fever is a bitch ;-)



SIGH....

I do admit that I was looking through a variety of telescopes the
other night and very much liked the extra brightness of the 10" SCT
that was there, but I also liked the 8" telescopes (they just weren't
as bright (duh)). Operature fever hits early and often.

And please don't tell me do get a large Dob. I do want the tracking
features and plan on trying some imaging in the future. In addition,
portability is a concern (I own a Honda Insight that I use as my
primary vehicle). My next telescope may very well be a large Dob (it
is the only type of telescope in the 12"+ class I'm ever likely to be
able to afford).

One note on GoTo. I've decided that feature is definitely a "If it
fits within the budget" item. One of the gentlemen out the other
night had his telescope on the Orion Nebula and a young lady was
trying to find where she was looking. I loaned her my binoculars and
the gentleman was directing her to the middle of Orion's belt while I
was trying to direct her to the nebula. The gentleman had a nice GoTo
scope and had simply entered the item he wanted to look at but didn't
really know where it was located (may have just been a senior moment),
but had he found it the traditional way, he would not have made that
mistake.

We did finally get the young lady to find the area in the binoculars.

You should hold out for a nice goto model.

I ended up buying a Meade LX200 10" and love it. The goto feature
is really worth it. Many stelar objects are fairly dim and light polution
can make them almost invisable. The goto feature allows me to point
the scope directly at the object and than try and see it. If it is too dim
than so be it, but at least I don't waste huge amounts of time searching
for something I can't actually see anyway. Also objects so dim I would
never have found them with manual scanning can be sometimes be seen
using averted viewing once the scope is "locked on" to the correct spot
in the sky.

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 19:07:25 GMT, Edward Smith wrote:

Well, I'm just kidding about the intentionally part, but it does make
buying your first telescope difficult.

To recap, I started off looking at a 5 inch Mak from Orion. I was
going along just fine until it was suggested that the Nextar 5i was a
better telescope. So, I looked at it and decided that if it was
really better...

Then, I noticed that the price of an 8" SCT withoug all of the goto
stuff was less than the 5i and that an 8" Newtonian Reflector was less
still (in fact, you could get a goto version for less than the 5i).
So, I started looking at the 8" scopes and quickly decided that was
better, more what I wanted and within my budget. Until...

Well, people at the astronomy club were telling me that by the time I
added a dual axis drive, one with the GoTo features wasn't more than
about $100 more. Well, they were right, until I was browsing and
found out that a 10" SCT with no frills was about the same price and
that a 10" Reflector was far less even with a GoTo feature (although
the size is becomming a real issue here).

At this rate, I will have decided to buy the Mt. Palomar complex by
July.

SIGH....

I do admit that I was looking through a variety of telescopes the
other night and very much liked the extra brightness of the 10" SCT
that was there, but I also liked the 8" telescopes (they just weren't
as bright (duh)). Operature fever hits early and often.

And please don't tell me do get a large Dob. I do want the tracking
features and plan on trying some imaging in the future. In addition,
portability is a concern (I own a Honda Insight that I use as my
primary vehicle). My next telescope may very well be a large Dob (it
is the only type of telescope in the 12"+ class I'm ever likely to be
able to afford).

One note on GoTo. I've decided that feature is definitely a "If it
fits within the budget" item. One of the gentlemen out the other
night had his telescope on the Orion Nebula and a young lady was
trying to find where she was looking. I loaned her my binoculars and
the gentleman was directing her to the middle of Orion's belt while I
was trying to direct her to the nebula. The gentleman had a nice GoTo
scope and had simply entered the item he wanted to look at but didn't
really know where it was located (may have just been a senior moment),
but had he found it the traditional way, he would not have made that
mistake.

We did finally get the young lady to find the area in the binoculars.

---
Gregory Phillips Seattle, Washington, USA

At this rate, I will have decided to buy the Mt. Palomar complex by
July.

SIGH....



I posted something about this very problem a couple of months ago - by the
time you figure out what you want and what's the best "deal" an so on, you
can't afford the darned thing anymore ;-)

I feel better now though... It's not just me...

Mark

P.S. My "target" expense is around $400 for starters, then mysteriously
winds up at around $1,500. This seems to be the pattern I follow every
time. What's your initial and final? Just curious? :-)

P.S. My "target" expense is around $400 for starters, then mysteriously
winds up at around $1,500. This seems to be the pattern I follow every
time. What's your initial and final? Just curious? :-)


I had no fixed budget at the beginning. I had thought between $600
and $1000, but was going to look and see what is out there.

Of course, I've already increased that by about $500-$600....

Ed,

I can sympathize (or perhaps even empathize).

I started out looking at a Celestron 80GT and ended up with an N8iGT for
Christmas.

Now here's the part no one is telling you yet. Once you get the scope,
you'll "NEED" another $500-$1,000 in accessories. I mean, why have such a
nice scope and not have the best diagonal, eyepieces and of course you'll
need dew shields, dew zappers, portable 12v batteries, ac adaptors, filters
and more.

I'm rapidly exceeding $2,000 with accessories.

Best wishes and good seeing to you,

-TS

"Edward Smith" wrote in message
. ..

Well, I'm just kidding about the intentionally part, but it does make

buying your first telescope difficult.



To recap, I started off looking at a 5 inch Mak from Orion. I was

going along just fine until it was suggested that the Nextar 5i was a

better telescope. So, I looked at it and decided that if it was

really better...



Then, I noticed that the price of an 8" SCT withoug all of the goto

stuff was less than the 5i and that an 8" Newtonian Reflector was less

still (in fact, you could get a goto version for less than the 5i).

So, I started looking at the 8" scopes and quickly decided that was

better, more what I wanted and within my budget. Until...



Well, people at the astronomy club were telling me that by the time I

added a dual axis drive, one with the GoTo features wasn't more than

about $100 more. Well, they were right, until I was browsing and

found out that a 10" SCT with no frills was about the same price and

that a 10" Reflector was far less even with a GoTo feature (although

the size is becomming a real issue here).



At this rate, I will have decided to buy the Mt. Palomar complex by

July.

I started out looking at a Celestron 80GT and ended up with an N8iGT for
Christmas.

Now here's the part no one is telling you yet. Once you get the scope,
you'll "NEED" another $500-$1,000 in accessories. I mean, why have such a
nice scope and not have the best diagonal, eyepieces and of course you'll
need dew shields, dew zappers, portable 12v batteries, ac adaptors,
filters
and more.

I'm rapidly exceeding $2,000 with accessories.

Telescopes are like girlfriends. It's the accessories that cost so much.

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

************************************

Best wishes and good seeing to you,

-TS

"Edward Smith" wrote in message
. ..

Well, I'm just kidding about the intentionally part, but it does make

buying your first telescope difficult.



To recap, I started off looking at a 5 inch Mak from Orion. I was

going along just fine until it was suggested that the Nextar 5i was a

better telescope. So, I looked at it and decided that if it was

really better...



Then, I noticed that the price of an 8" SCT withoug all of the goto

stuff was less than the 5i and that an 8" Newtonian Reflector was less

still (in fact, you could get a goto version for less than the 5i).

So, I started looking at the 8" scopes and quickly decided that was

better, more what I wanted and within my budget. Until...



Well, people at the astronomy club were telling me that by the time I

added a dual axis drive, one with the GoTo features wasn't more than

about $100 more. Well, they were right, until I was browsing and

found out that a 10" SCT with no frills was about the same price and

that a 10" Reflector was far less even with a GoTo feature (although

the size is becomming a real issue here).



At this rate, I will have decided to buy the Mt. Palomar complex by

July.

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 14:15:05 -0600, CLT wrote
(in message ):

From: "CLT" not@thisaddress
Reply-To: "CLT" not@thisaddress
Newsgroups: alt.astronomy

I started out looking at a Celestron 80GT and ended up with an N8iGT for
Christmas.

Now here's the part no one is telling you yet. Once you get the scope,
you'll "NEED" another $500-$1,000 in accessories. I mean, why have such a
nice scope and not have the best diagonal, eyepieces and of course you'll
need dew shields, dew zappers, portable 12v batteries, ac adaptors, filters
and more.

I'm rapidly exceeding $2,000 with accessories.

Telescopes are like girlfriends. It's the accessories that cost so much.

Ain't that the truth?

Celestron power pack - $59
Case for 5i - $20 + $30 = $50
Celestron eyepiece set - $100
BOOKS and atlases - $120
batteries (before getting the power pack - $30 (do these things eat batteries
like candy? Heck yes!)
Adapter for Camera - $60

And I have only had my telescope for a couple of weeks.

I still have to decide on which software to use. (And with at least 10 gigs
of it to choose from... - just one package I found for the Mac X is,
literally, 5.6 gigs, YIIIICKS! I think it includes just about everything I
would ever need, other than the 5 high-speed connections to download it
within a reasonable amount of time.)

--
Harry F. Leopold
aa #2076
AA/Vet #4
The Prints of Darkness

The Internet is full, we can not accept any more posts until further
notice. Thank you. - Kalinka Djnepropetrovska

And girlfriends are like sailboats, the rigging costs more than the hull.


"CLT" not@thisaddress wrote in message
...
I started out looking at a Celestron 80GT and ended up with an N8iGT for
Christmas.

Now here's the part no one is telling you yet. Once you get the scope,
you'll "NEED" another $500-$1,000 in accessories. I mean, why have such
a
nice scope and not have the best diagonal, eyepieces and of course
you'll
need dew shields, dew zappers, portable 12v batteries, ac adaptors,
filters
and more.

I'm rapidly exceeding $2,000 with accessories.

Telescopes are like girlfriends. It's the accessories that cost so much.

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

************************************

Best wishes and good seeing to you,

-TS

"Edward Smith" wrote in message
. ..

Well, I'm just kidding about the intentionally part, but it does make

buying your first telescope difficult.



To recap, I started off looking at a 5 inch Mak from Orion. I was

going along just fine until it was suggested that the Nextar 5i was a

better telescope. So, I looked at it and decided that if it was

really better...



Then, I noticed that the price of an 8" SCT withoug all of the goto

stuff was less than the 5i and that an 8" Newtonian Reflector was less

still (in fact, you could get a goto version for less than the 5i).

So, I started looking at the 8" scopes and quickly decided that was

better, more what I wanted and within my budget. Until...



Well, people at the astronomy club were telling me that by the time I

added a dual axis drive, one with the GoTo features wasn't more than

about $100 more. Well, they were right, until I was browsing and

found out that a 10" SCT with no frills was about the same price and

that a 10" Reflector was far less even with a GoTo feature (although

the size is becomming a real issue here).



At this rate, I will have decided to buy the Mt. Palomar complex by

July.