Joe,
As always for me, I have the DINK luxury that money is not the primary mover. I do, however, like perceived value.

So, do I read this right that Mr. Aperture Is Everything is telling me to trade down by 40-50% in aperture?!? Crazy!

These scopes all have trade-offs, yes? I will not be packing this scope to the top of a mountain unless my car can take us there. We are hikers, but not backpackers. Realistically, I'll be looking for a dark site near whatever hotel we happen to be staying at. We're talking somewhere near dark sky hotels or cabins here like we had in Jamaica, Lake Superior, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Banff, or even our friends' homes in Michigan, S. Carolina, or outside Austin or Midland.

The Litescope has an optional shroud, which would help with light, heat, and dust. I think one could be rigged for the Sumerian quite easily. Both of them come with a baffle.

Sumerian setup time is 10 mins.

I would guess dust would be an ongoing issue as it is with any open scope. Enough of a problem to sacrifice 2x the aperture? Hmm.

How much of a problem is ambient body heat radiation? If it were huge, I can't see how these scopes would work at all. The review that is linked from the cloudynights thread didn't mention that at all.

That thread also says that wait time is 4-7 WEEKS for Sumerian scope, not months like for the other two. Haven't heard that from the maker though.

What Mak would you be suggesting?

A C5 on a photo tripod? How would that work?

Jordan's 5" won't fit in even the largest photography backpack that I could find. My 4.5" fits just barely.

And again...50% aperture loss?

Thanks!!!!

Aperture has it's place, but not king of all and often I reach for the 90mm/C5 for quick set-ups and imaging...leaving the C11 sleeping.

Maks are good portable scopes, as even Charles Bronson used one as his spy optics of choice in the movie "The Mechanic". Chicago Astronomer Steve has one....



Maks are nice, but a drawback is that the front corrector plate is thick...and may take longer to cool down.

Photography backpacks are overly expensive and not made for tubes. A well padded normal backpack works fine, which I used for my C5 before it's present home.


You don't see many open mirror scopes in practical usage for a reason. That large hunk of glass is susceptible to minute variations in temp and ambient conditions. A little windy? That shroud will act as a wind sail.

Still want the aperture?...then why not get a kick around Dob that you can plop down and start with minimal fuss? You can even use the 2" eyepieces too.

And all what Bill said.

I heard from Barry Peckham about his travel scope. (Thanks Bill!) Here said:

Yourquestions answered:
Set up depends on how far you break it down between uses.
It is so small that a frequent user wouldn't break it down beyond these 3 parts: travel box/rocker box/OTA, in which case set up is less than a minute. The ultimate breakdown may require 15 minutes of set-up, but in that case you will have been flying with the scope, or had it stowed away for the winter.
Collimation is the same as with any 3 bolt collimation system. Usually takes less than a minute, using a laser collimator.

So there's that. Since it is available now, I am tempted to just buy the thing and then keep pondering the Sumerian. The more I read about it, the more I really want the 10" travel version.

The Lite Scope aperture and lightness is appealing and the design ingenious, but rolling around on the ground is not. All three of the alternatives avoid that.

Michael from Sumerian says:

First. Thank you very much for your interest.
The new 10" travel telescope is not so new anymore. I have already sold 5
or 6 of them.
The weight of the telescope is 9kg and the dimensions broken down are 6,5
x 16 x 13 inches.

If I can send the telescope to a friend of yours in Den Haag it is
absolutely no problem.

The delivery time is somewhere around 12 weeks. Right now it is incredible
busy and that means the delivery time is somewhere around 12 weeks.

Kind regards,
Michael Kalshoven
Sumerian Optics

i have asked him about the questions posed here about ambient light, wind, and mirror grime, but I think these problems would be a problem for any travel dob, yes? So that seems like a trade off that must be made for portable aperture.

Imagine sitting at 9000' on Mauna Kea with any of these scopes, but especially a 10" or 12"?!!? Given enough Clif Bars, I might never come down.

Here are some CN threads that address most of these issues:
www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=reflectors&Number=4184458&fpart=1&PHPSESSID=
www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=reflectors&Number=4458950&fpart=1&PHPSESSID=
www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=reflectors&Number=4390524&fpart=1&PHPSESSID=

See especially the UTI8 reviews. The pilot that writes on there expresses my sentiments for why I want a good travel scope better than I've been able to. Now I just need to pick one...
p

Hey, more info from Michael at Sumerian with good news!

On May 25, 2011, at 6:14 PM, Sumerian Optics wrote:

Hi Patrick,

Indeed the Propus on the page is different from the New Propus. But the box has the same layout.

Let's call the Propus on the "Propus page" the Propus MK I and the New Propus -> Propus MK II.

The MK I (and Alkaid) is a custom made telescope. The prices on the page are without optics and focuser. But you can choose your own optics, finder and focuser. The MK II is more a serial product so I can keep the price lower. This means that I can deliver a complete telescope for 900 euros including GSO Optics, Antares focuser, primary cooling, secondary heater and RDF. Only you can not choose another optics and accessories.

The MK II is specially designed for hand luggage on the plane. The sizes or weight will never be any problem. The MK I is bigger and weighs more. This telescope can be a problem for hand luggage.

I hope this will answer your questions and take away the confusion.

Regards,
Michael

So my biggest questions are answered, leading to newer, more minor questions:

Michael.

MUCH clearer. Thank you! I was driving myself around in circles trying to figure that out.

So $1266 for a first class travel scope...that's pretty hot! If I change one thing, like say the RDF, does it automatically revert to the a la cart pricing, and thus almost double the price of the scope??

So now to nitty gritty questions, if I was going to travel with 2 Televue EPs, would there need to be any changes to the scope? I think I saw somewhere that the balance is not made for the heavier EPs. How is that handled?

Aside from weight/balance issues, does this focuser have enough travel to handle all eye pieces? What are the practical limits to get things to focus?

Do I still get to pick colors, so is it the Henry Ford system where "you can have any color you want as long as it is black"? I am OK with black, actually.

The price he quotes here drops it in HALF from the above a la carte pricing! That's much more reasonable and a much bigger aperture than the Infinity or Barry Peckham's cool scope without having to roll on the ground like the Lite Scopes!

Now what say you?

Working on my order with Sumerian Optics for my new travel scope.

For a dob, Crayford or Moonlight Crayford?

Is a red dot finder adequate? I find it worthless in the city, but in dark sky locations, perhaps it is fine?

Options are here:
www.sumerianoptics.com/price-list/

Thanks for any input. I really do listen!
p

I'm not a fan of the Red Dot finders.

I use on on the C5, but only because I got it for nothing.

It'll get you in the general area and is useful, but it tends to blot out the target with an overlapping 1 or 2 degree blot. Under high magnifications in the main tube, the alignment better be right on the nose.

I like the Zero-mag Rigels for getting to the general area. Concentric circles, dimmable and flashable. Lat night at the star party I aligned the on-board laser with the Rigel on the C11....and it got me to my target everytime - like an arrow to the target.

But zero-mags are only auxiliary and a true optical finder scope is required.

It'll work itself out....

This is very cool and I'm excited for you.

Very cool.

When you get this cool instrument, We'll do a write up and document it all.

Robert Campbell posted a cool Flickr set of the setup for his 10" Sumerian travel scope and gave an encouraging report about it on Cloudy Nights.

www.flickr.com/photos/robertcampbell/sets/72157626585129468/

Joe whistles......!

Construction worker seeing hot broad. The Sumerian scope is a feat of engineering!

This thread has me dreaming of selling my LB and flying to Amsterdam to pick up one of those works of art.

Never been to Europe. My only travel off continent was two working trips to Japan in the 90's.

I have a recurring dream of travelling to Europe and losing my luggage and passport. Sometimes I am naked. The other night I was in Amsterdam, and in the dream I said to myself, "I am really here". This was on the way back to a parking lot to get my pickup, which had somehow accompanied me, presumably not in my carry-on luggage.

I was in my socks, having somehow lost my shoes.

Last week I finally got around to ordering my MoonLite focuser: 1.5" drawtube, 8:1 dual rate, tri-knob, compression, in loverly gold.

www.focuser.com/cgi-bin/dman.cgi?page=productdetail&plugin=dstore.cgi&product=CR

It is winging its way to Amsterdam as we speak, at a savings of about $150 over Sumerian pricing & currency conversion. He is still shooting for third week in October.

Next task is figuring out safe & economical shipping from Holland to Chicago, but not too worried about that. Will get that sorted with my pal over there. Once I know when it will arrive, we'll schedule our trip up to Traverse City, MI area, which we've been pondering for a while. Quiet time with dog and dark skies. Will get giddy when the time comes.

*drool*

It's so pretty and shiny! Can I touch it?