Re: UK dealers who STOCK Meade & Celestron ?

>> Thanks Roger,
>>
>> It's very frustrating isn't it. You want to spend £2000+ but can't see
>> the products easily.
>> Holding a couple of items costing £2500 , worth $2500 ;o( , doesn't
>> sound too excessive to me. They must all be running on a tight budget.
>> They are all keen to promote them on their websites.
>>
>> I'm in the North but will make a trip if it means spending my money on
>> the right product.
>>
>> Cheers.
Ongoing to my comments, there is another 'side' to this. Do you have a
local dealer?. If so, which make does he handle?. In real terms, there is
practically nothing between the manufacturers, and 'seeing' the scope
tells you very little. Problems like drive inaccuracy etc., will not be
visible till the unit is used for some time. Personally, I just slightly
prefer the Celestron optics, their handles, and the way the drives are
actually done internally, but prefer the 'finish' on most of the Meade
models, and their software. Now a local dealer, is a much more powerful
tool when dealing with problems, than a company several hundred miles
away. If there is a local astronomical society, why not visit, and you may
be able to see some of the models 'in use'.
A lot also depends on what you intend to 'do' with the scope?. For
imaging, the Celestron, drives fractionally smoother, but the PEC on the
Meade is reliable, and works well, helping to make up for this. I would
say that _neither_, is really competent, unless you are incredibly lucky,
to image at close to their full focal length, without the help of a high
speed guider accessory like the AO7. The C9.25, has a flatter focal field
(by using a lower focal ratio primary), which also helps to reduce
sphrochromatic aberration, which is part of the reason why it has a 'good'
reputation for imaging. The variation between individual examples of each,
is probably as large, as between the two maufacturers, again reinforcing
the need to have a local dealer to help if problems appear.
If I was looking to buy for imaging, I'd probably suggest going a
different route, and buying a higher quality GEM mount (like the Losmandy
G11), and then a seperate OTA. For imaging, this is more likely to give
really good results, and (for example) the C11/G11 combination, is a great
value system.
I have worked 'through' most of these systems. One thing that stands out,
is that except for the occasional 'dog', which has got rarer in recent
years, the optics on both systems, represents fabulous value for money.
The first modern scope I bought was a C8, and it cost _less_ than I had
paid some twenty years before for all the parts to make my own homebrew
scope (including grinding the mirrors myself...), and the optics were
excellent. Latter I moved up to a larger Meade, and was very slightly less
impressed by the optics. Over the next few years I tried models from both
mainstream manufacturers, before moving 'upmarket'. In terms of a simple
fork based one-piece system, the NS11GPS, proved a real pleasure, and gave
me far less problems than the LX200-12, with better tracking too. However
the Losmandy mount, ran rings round both in terms of absolute accuracy.
Except for one thing (how much easier the NS11 is to pick up than the
equivalent Meade models), I can't think of a single thing I could have
seen in a showroom, that would have helped me to decide which to buy
between these makes. Remember also, that a scope that is 'liftable' in the
daytime, may well feel very heavy when packing up late at night. Both the
models you mention are on the upper limit of the 'comfort' zone for most
people, and the old adage (better the smaller scope that is used than the
larger one indoors), may apply more heavily at this sort of size, than the
'aperture wins' one.

Best Wishes


.

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