Help with scope shopping! (1 Viewer)

I am shopping for a new scope to upgrade to, and have been surf a few sites.
I found an amazing deal on a great Celestron scope at Optics Planet.

I know it is not a Kowa, but there isn't a "Celestron" option here. I am looking at the scope, but would like to see what you think of that scope. If anyone has had hands-on action with it, I would love to hear it!!

Also, does anyone have suggestion on other great scopes, with a 80 - 100mm lens for brightness, under $450?? I know it is a stretch, but it is all I have.

I always hesitate to make scope recommendations for two reasons. Firstly, because scopes have huge sample variations and that variation is worse in inexpensive scopes. Even a model that is capable of good performance is certain to be disappointing in many cases because of poor quality control. Secondly, because experience and expectations are so variable I find that many people are perfectly happy with scopes I wouldn't buy, so my advice may be too pessimistic.

In spite of those misgivings I'm going to wade in here with some suggestions. I wouldn't expect to see what I would consider an acceptable image through the 100m version of this scope. It's a very fast and large achromat and that means a huge amount of chromatic and other aberrations. Of the three achromatic versions I would expect the best optics in the 65mm and the worst in the 100mm.

Since your budget is $450 I would be inclined to go for the 80mm ED version for $427, but there is a substantial risk with any of these that the one you buy will be optically defective. The is an old review of the 100mm ED version on Astromart.com (I think you have to pay a $12 registration fee to read it). It's enough to know that the author gave up on the scope after receiving 3 defective specimens.

These Celestron scopes are made in China by Synta and that gives them one great advantage. The zoom eyepiece that comes on the scope can be replaced with a Baader Hyperion Zoom eyepiece, which is one of the best zoom eyepieces available, easily comparable to the high end zooms from Swarovski, Leica and Zeiss. It would add about $200 to the price of the scope, but a lucky cherry sample of the ED version combined with the Baader zoom would be optically similar to the high end scopes.

One last suggestion: In these scopes the straight versions should be optically a little better than the angled versions which have a less efficient and more complicated prism system.

Edit: Out of curiosity I visited the Celestron website which has more complete specs for these. The 100mm is f/5.4, IMO just too fast for a 100mm achromat to be acceptable. The 80mm and 65mm are both about f/6, I think still too fast for an conventional achromat, but OK for an ED doublet. Unfortunately the ED versions are only available as angled scopes.