"Light—We bend it, we bounce it. Then we savor it on our retina"
My first scope was this Meade 8" LX200 GPS UHTC. It came with more stuff than I knew what to do with. I love to use it more than anything else I have but I hate transporting it. Keep this in mind when buying a scope.
I bought my second scope used on Astromart. It's an Orion 100ED. It's a
great compliment to my SCT scope. Much easier to carry and yet still not really a grab and go scope. If I had to choose between the two, I'd keep the 8" SCT, but having both (along with the binoculars) meets all my needs.
Invest in stainless steel screws to replace the black Meade ones that rust if you set a glass of water next to the scope.
Get a dew shield and possibly a dew prevention heater.
Buy some hand screw able collimation knobs. When somebody tells you that you don't need to collimate an SCT, don't believe them. Test your collimation from time to time and adjust when necessary. It makes a big difference.
Velcro is great for keeping your wires out of places where they will get caught and pulled while slewing.
See the cart that I made for hauling this beast.
Unless your location has outlets, get a rechargeable battery for it.
Get a 2" diagonal.
New Orion 100ED Users Tips
Join the OrionED yahoo users group.
Modify or replace the focuser.
Buy something better than the eyepieces that come with it.
If you have a cement walkway from where you store it to where you can observe, Orion makes a great pier on wheels (shown here with the 16" extension).
This scope really is fun, especially for lunar and planetary imaging. A Teleview 5mm Radian is a great match for it. It's also great for splitting doubles.
