Trashing the old Tasco 4.5 Reflector, Looking for Orion Atlas 10 EQ Reflector Opinions and Criticisms

the time has come to give up on the old 1984 tasco battle horse,
looking for a new scope, thinking on this one or something similar

http://www.oriontel.com/shopping/pro...yword=atlas+10

Anyone have any direct or second hand experience with this
telescope/mount combination? The 1000-1200 price range is kind of
what im looking at right now. Have also heard good things about the
cg-5 mount. Im not opposed to buying mount from manuf A and scope
from manuf B, go to isnt really necessary, and the set up should have
the ability to do some unguided astrophotography with my future canon
digital rebel. Meade equipment looks nice, and there is the option
with meade for tons and tons of add ons, but their bigger aperture
scopes are quite expensive and the orion 10 scope looked like a decent
deal for the money and options served, in addition to the fact that im
leaning towards wanting an EQ style mount over a fork style mount.
Plus, i'd like to be able to lug the scope around.

If you dont really like the atlas 10, please list mount and scopes for
around $1000-$1500 total that are guided newts with 8-10 primaries
with decent ability to do some rudimentary amateuar astrophotography
with a digital rebel type digital camera.

the time has come to give up on the old 1984 tasco battle horse,
looking for a new scope, thinking on this one or something similar


Hi:

If you're into Newtonians, you could do worse. But don't TRASH that Tasco
(11TR?). It will still be useful as a grab n' go scope on those nights when you
don't feel like setting up the big boy!

As for the scope in question...well...the EQ6/Atlas is FINE for visual use,
but most users have reported a degree of PE that may make it somewhat of a pain
for unguided imaging.

If you're asking for _my_ advice, I'd say you should also consider a Celestron
Nexstar 8GPS, the Meade LX90, or one of the Celestron AS scopes.


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

As for the scope in question...well...the EQ6/Atlas is FINE for visual use,
but most users have reported a degree of PE that may make it somewhat of a
pain
for unguided imaging.

Before buying a 10 Newt on an Atlas mount, I think it is very important to take
a look at one in person. The XT-10 DOB is pretty big for many folks, that EQ
mount makes the Atlas 10 incher something to reckon with.

The 8 incher might be a better choice.

jon

Frankly, as one who has used German EQ mounts for decades, the bottom line
is that they are a pain when it comes to frequent portability. I agree with
Rod, if you are going to be taking you're scope from the garage to the yard
on a regular basis, a LX90 8" would be a easier choice, with GPS, even
better. You will spend more time viewing and less time setting up over the
long run. It also eliminates having to hunt for Polaris. EQ's are better
when they are set up on a more permanent basis, also usually cheaper..
FWIW.
Clearskies!
Orion

"Fu Manchu" wrote in message
...
the time has come to give up on the old 1984 tasco battle horse,
looking for a new scope, thinking on this one or something similar


http://www.oriontel.com/shopping/pro...yword=atlas+10

Anyone have any direct or second hand experience with this
telescope/mount combination? The 1000-1200 price range is kind of
what im looking at right now. Have also heard good things about the
cg-5 mount. Im not opposed to buying mount from manuf A and scope
from manuf B, go to isnt really necessary, and the set up should have
the ability to do some unguided astrophotography with my future canon
digital rebel. Meade equipment looks nice, and there is the option
with meade for tons and tons of add ons, but their bigger aperture
scopes are quite expensive and the orion 10 scope looked like a decent
deal for the money and options served, in addition to the fact that im
leaning towards wanting an EQ style mount over a fork style mount.
Plus, i'd like to be able to lug the scope around.

If you dont really like the atlas 10, please list mount and scopes for
around $1000-$1500 total that are guided newts with 8-10 primaries
with decent ability to do some rudimentary amateuar astrophotography
with a digital rebel type digital camera.


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Thanks for the feeback so far guys, did some more research today and
came back around to meade which i had been considering for some time.
this is the scope/mount im thinking about getting.

http://www.buytelescopes.com/product...10&pid=7281&m=

for 1300 i can get go to, lpi, and a second round redesigned mount
in the ldx75. i have read about the ldx55 mount problems, but seems
like most of these issues were addressed in the redesign (but also
reading some folks are having problems with new mounts also. Plus
meade has a bazillion adders. Also, im not afraid to lug the thing
around, im used to lugging my 30 lb computer and 60 lb monitor to lan
parties so im all beefed up, heh.

Yes, my old scope was a tasco 11T-R. It actually has spring loaded
collimation and was pretty easy to tear apart and reassemble
(excellent learning experience for me with not much to lose)
I was going to upgrade some things on it, but then i came out of my
psychogenic fugue and realized why put any money into this scope when
I can put it towards something better (the wife played a piviotal role
in breaking this fugue). Ive actually got some decent usability out
of the old tasco recently by cleaning all mirrors, center marking the
primary, and doing some visual collimation, but still the optics just
arent that good, especially the lenses. I May some day buy a couple
new lenses