Meade lx65 8" (ACF) vs Celestron 8se

[popeyespappy]

I found a used Celestron AVX and went ahead and bought it. It won't work as well for astrophotography, but it should be a lot easier to move around for viewing. One big plus is it is already in a pelican case.

Yes, they do make a field flattener for the ED102. I plan on slowly working into the photography and had hoped to not have to buy a second mount but may have just fucked that plan up. The AVX should work for viewing and to start the photography on though, and it cost about a fourth what I was looking at for a new CGX.

Unfortunately, it looks like all the Explore Scientific telescopes went up in price recently (by 30%), so you aren't getting a good a deal as you would've a month or two ago (unless you ordered before the price increase).  That might make other scopes competitive.

The AVX is a cute little mount.  You will likely find it acceptable for visual.  It probably isn't good enough for the best photography results, but you can at least try something out. 

There is something to be said for portability!  I have a heavy mount (tripod and mount each over 20 lbs) for my refractor, but I really like a perfectly steady view.  However, I might get an alternate lighter mount for grabbing the scope for backyard views.

The idea was easier to use = more use, but we'll see...

Right now I'm into this used equipment a couple of hundred more than I would have been if I had bought a new LX65 or 8SE. But that just includes the refractor, mount, and a single 14mm 82 degree eyepiece. What I'm trying to figure out right now is if I need a finder and/or polar scope for alignment or if I can get away with just an illuminated reticle eyepiece to perform a polar alignment.