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[gettr]

Hello All,

Well, I've reached the end of my patience with Meade and the whole backorder thing... (No, I haven't cancelled my LXD75 AR-6 order, but I'm getting close....) The spotting scope I use is getting old so......I finally bought a used Orion ST80 off Astromart and picked it up this weekend. Excuses to the wife were portability, low cost, and "Its a Christmas present for my father".(Ok, one little white lie) The new (to me anyways) scope curse tried to get me, but I still got a few peeks in last night dodging clouds and moonlight. Surprisingly, little false color with the Meade 4000 Plossl's, a little more with the Sirius ep's on the moon. M57 was alot more defined than my spotting scope.
I would like to get a 90 degree diagonal for this scope to replace the 45. Can anyone recommend a decent diagonal that won't break the bank? I think 200 is as high as I would like to go. And anyone out there who has experience with this scope? This was my first look through a real telescope. I walked for hours at Astrofest and never looked through one...lol. I'm pretty happy with my purchase... And I'm looking forward to more with it.
Dennis

[jglover]

gettr said:

Hello All,


I would like to get a 90 degree diagonal for this scope to replace the 45. Can anyone recommend a decent diagonal that won't break the bank? I think 200 is as high as I would like to go. And anyone out there who has experience with this scope? This was my first look through a real telescope. I walked for hours at

The ST80s are really nice little scopes. I had the Celestron version, the Nexstar 80GT for about three years and it was a terrific scope. It did some color, but it was not obstrusive. Most of the time you will not use this scope at really high powers anyway, so the fact it is an achromat is kind of a moot point. One thing you can do to really help out the focusing is to clean out the factory grease inside the focuser and replace it with some good white lithium grease. That simple fix makes the Synta made ST80 much easier to use, especially at the higher powers.

While not the best for planetary use, it can be done, it just takes some patience and a solid mount to settle down the vibrations. I could 120x with mine and the views were very good. Where this scope excells though is in wide field, low power views of clusters and nebulae. Plus the portability is also terrific. You'll be pleased with this purchase.

As for diagonals, I like the William Optics diagonals, but I believe they only come in the 2" variety. If your ST80 has a 2" focuser, it's about the best deal out there. They are about $130 new but you can find them for less than $100 on Astromart. They are solidly made and very nicely machined. I've also got an Orion 2" mirror diagonal as well, but it is headed to Astromart shortly. The Orion's are also very well made and I was pleased with it....the only reason I went with the WO diagonal was price. I got a really good deal off cloudynights.com, same price as the Orion so I couldn't pass it up!

[BigTenInch]

Did you buy it from Orion? I got a 120 ST that came with a really crummy diagonal, and when I complained, they sent me a better one for free. Can't hurt to try. I love the ease of using the ST scope. I grab that one more than the others, and for what it is, the color isn't too bad. It does a fair job on the planets too, just can't get them too big.

[gettr]

Too late... ;D I just picked up a used Televue 1.25 90 Diagonal off of Astromart. I bought the scope used off Astromart also. I have mine mounted on a fairly sturdy camera tripod... grab and set-up in a few minutes. I'm looking forward to using the new diagonal...will it make a big difference? It's also replacing the Meade diagonal on the AR6.