New Telescope, budget 2000 euros. some advice please.

If you are going to get the ED80 you should give Stephen over at KTech Telescopes a shout, he is selling the same scope for €399, see here:http://www.ktectelescopes.ie/Refractor-Telescopes/ED-Doublet-Refractors/

He's a great guy to deal with and won't steer you wrong. He has a great after sales service and delivers for free.

Paul

going round and round in circles Dave, eh.

oh the joys!

As you probably have figured by now, there are different types of telescopes for different needs.
There's no one-size-fits-all.

The one that comes the closest is the goto fork-mounted SCT, hence why they are so popular.
It can do most things very well, except long-exposure astrophotography.

Out of curiosity, if you had 5 clear nights inb a row, what ratio of observing to photography would you like to do?
50/50?
80% observing / 20% photography? or some other figure?

Yeah i do seem to be Michael. I even got measurements for a 16" Dob last week and did some maths to see how much of an angle i would have from an 8x8 shed with the roof off!

I have looked at the fork mounts and yes they look good but as you say you need a wedge to long exposures and I have had no end of fun using the wedge on the Nexstar!

Having only come back into the hobby in the last year, in answer to your question, at this point in time it would be 80% observing and 20% photography. But i know that would change very quickly. the frustration right now is everything looks like a small blur in my telescope. Im taking my photography Fetac later in the year and i see this as an extension of that.

If Im honest, I am seduced by a lot of what i read in the Astronomy media, everything looks better than the last thing! So thats why i wont be spending anything for a few months, after i get a look at some more equipment and learn some more. So i may (will) be doing your head in for a few months yet!

Saying that if i win the euro millions, it will be that 20" SCT Meade are doing first thing Saturday morning with a full set of Televue eyepieces.

In terms of the fork mounts:
Personally, I'm not a fan of the wedges.
* They are cumbersome to use for vvisual use
* Most wedges on the market are not rigid enough
* The weak point remains the gears in the mount, which in general, are not good enough for long exposure astrophotography.