Starblast vs. ST 80, 100, 120?

I have never owned any of these but am considering gettng a grab and go scope and am leaning tgoward the Starblast but would like to consider the others also. Can anyone compare them optically, mechaniclly and especially ergonomically? Convenience is really important to me.
Thanks,
Bill Meyers

Bill:

I think these are all interesting options and part of choosing has to do with other scopes you might have.

A couple of thoughts:

1. If you don't already have a terrestial/birding scope, an ST-80 or the Orion 100F6 would be a good choice. Personally I think the Orion 100F6 is a nice choice, I recently acquired an Orion 100F6 objective and it does provide some nice views and even does a decent job on the planets.

The ST-80 is smaller and more portable, will work better on a photo tripod. OPT has some Celestron 80mm F5's for $130 (not in the special section)

Jon

I borrowed and star-tested a Starblast. The optics
in this sample were essentially perfect. I'd give
it a very high recommendation.

Bill Meyers said:

I have never owned any of these but am considering gettng a grab and go scope and am leaning tgoward the Starblast but would like to consider the others also. Can anyone compare them optically, mechaniclly and especially ergonomically? Convenience is really important to me.
Thanks,
Bill Meyers

I just bought a Starblast and it is a blast to use. Ready to go out of the box. Nice views. Price is real good. I have pushed it with my TV 3-6 zoom. The two EP's it came with are satisfactory. I think I like it better than the ST80 and 90 I've had. I set it up on my portable craftsman workbench and can still use my Astro chair. IT's not my NS11, NS8 or Vixen FL102S, but it has it's pluses.

I bought a Starblast because, well, it's so darn cheap. It's convenient to be sure, but does require that you put it on something so it's tall enough to use. I use a big weighted bucket as a base, and use mine seated. So, it's possible that a ST80 on a light tripod might actually be more "convenient".

Mechanically, the Starblast isn't exactly built like an heirloom, but works realy nicely. Optically, mine works well at high power (Jupiter looks pretty good at 160x), but it's certainly designed to excel at low power rich-field views. I think it'll beat the pants off of an ST80 all around. Robert Davenport has a "shoot out" among a Starblast, XT4.5, and ST80 that you should probably check out:
http://www.astromart.com/articles/article.asp?article_id=217

The 100 f/6, on the other hand, might be a good compromise, although you'll end up spending quite a bit more for it and a decent mount.

Bill Meyers said:

I have never owned any of these but am considering gettng a grab and go scope and am leaning tgoward the Starblast but would like to consider the others also. Can anyone compare them optically, mechaniclly and especially ergonomically? Convenience is really important to me.
Thanks,
Bill Meyers

Hi Bill,

I've owned both the Starblast and the ST-80. I vote for the Starblast. No false color (ST-80 was bad), more appeture, and ST-80 dewed up more. The only down side to the Starblast is the mount. Unless you are a hunchback. you have to get it higher to view through comfortably. I added table legs. Otherwise, it's a nice grab n go.