What's a good refractor on a budget?

Hey everyone,
First of all I want you to know that I am a college kid, and I haven't been into astronomy for very long. That said, I currently have an Orion XT8 that I use with a few TV eye pieces (19mm Pan, 35mm Pan, and 7mm Nagler 6) and I have really loved the views. However, I am looking for something with better quality, and I thought a refractor would be the way to go. I have spent a lot of time reading over forums about everything from Orion's 80mm ED to the Megrez 90 Doublet APO to the Televue-85. I have around $2000 saved up to spend on the mount, scope, and accessories. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
David

David, I think the first step will be to decide what you are looking to get out of the refractor. You state you are looking for better quality, so does that mean you are expecting better views from the refractor, or do you mean a better build quality?

I think a small refractor can be a great companion to an 8" DOB. If it were me I would be looking for a small light grab and go on a simple ALT/AZ mount. On the high end of the scale something like a TV76 on a Panoramic mount.

If you have a good sample of the 8" scope it will provide better views than the smalller refractor. If you are disappointed in the reflector I would diagnose whatever the problem may be if one exist.

I have owned a bunch of scopes, and they have been sold. One of them I really miss is an 80mm Megrez Achro. It was light, and ready to go in a minute. I used it for low power wide field viewing, which is where you should be looking to compliment the reflector.

Good luck,
Richard

David Hahn said:

Hey everyone,
First of all I want you to know that I am a college kid, and I haven't been into astronomy for very long. That said, I currently have an Orion XT8 that I use with a few TV eye pieces (19mm Pan, 35mm Pan, and 7mm Nagler 6) and I have really loved the views. However, I am looking for something with better quality, and I thought a refractor would be the way to go. I have spent a lot of time reading over forums about everything from Orion's 80mm ED to the Megrez 90 Doublet APO to the Televue-85. I have around $2000 saved up to spend on the mount, scope, and accessories. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
David

David, $2000 is a nice budget for what you want, but let me ask you, does this budget includes the astrophotography camera/accessories, or this is just for the scope/mount for now?

Depending on what you want to do, Astrophotography can get expensive, and requires beefier mounts... if taken seriously.

Astro-Tech has been advertising an 80mm APO triplet for $650 and a 90mm for around $1,050 I believe. There have been few reviews of AT products, but from what little I've read they appear to be on par in build quality with the WO scopes.