orion apex 90 vs apex 102mm

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:58 pm

may i know where did you order the 90mm? i initially ordered the 102mm and the min eq through vpost, but the order itself came up to 570SGD. i am now considering just the 90mm tabletop set. how was your shipping cost like

Unless you are getting a GOTO mount with your scope, otherwise you can consider to just buy and ship over the optical tube assembly (OTA) only without mount and tripod, then get a more portable altazimuth mount & tripod here in S'pore. A basic equatorial mount (eg. EQ2, EQ3 etc) or tabletop tripod is not really useful or practical IMO, and it just increase your overall cost and shipping cost.

aquillae · Post by **aquillae** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:41 pm

Yeah I agree with rlow, a portable altaz mount and tripod should be good enough for the 90mm.

You'll need another platform to "mount" the tabletop tripod and it will add extra hassle.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:32 pm

In fact, for a 90mm MCT used at low power for deepsky objects, a simple camera/video tripod with combined 3-way head or ball-head may even suffice for ultra-portability!

StrifeYun · Post by **StrifeYun** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:50 am

branzzz wrote:may i know where did you order the 90mm? i initially ordered the 102mm and the min eq through vpost, but the order itself came up to 570SGD. i am now considering just the 90mm tabletop set. how was your shipping cost like

u wana trade ur 102mm for my 90mm n i top up? hehe but i want 2 c e size first if your interested :p

what do you mean by the orderitself ? which item ... got shipping n tax anot ?

ermm i now in California (Orion HQ also there) my total cost of the 2 seperate items
apex 90mm & min-eq is SGD 511.74 (USD 316.62)

hmmm but i also ordered the solar flair 4 my 90mm ...hmmm

StrifeYun · Post by **StrifeYun** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:21 am

hmmm think i just keep the 90mm scope ... use for travel ... next time after bonus will c how again hahah :p ... prob after a few years ... must get some exp points first hee :p

branzzz · Post by **branzzz** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 10:02 pm

haven't ordered yet... still researching. wah you in us now so good. bloody vpost and vconciearge got this and that cost. bloody hell now a normally cheap scope become so ex. wanna help me bring back for a small fee? hehee

Post by **Airconvent** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 2:17 am

ok...I have used both the ETX90 as a spotting scope and also owned an etx105 previously.
my take is the 90mm is super compact and fits into a small camcorder bag.
coupled it to a manfrotto 410 head and 110D tripod, the configuration is super compact and grab and go. ideal for when you go overseas.
but for aperture, the 105mm would be the absolute minimum for portability.

5" scopes are of course better but my experience is its still just a little too bulky for grab and go and there is alot more vibration if you are using an alt-azi mount.

so my recommendation is stick to a 102mm with 410 and 110 for grab-and-go and an 8" SCT for more serious work.