Celestron CPC800 Edge HD - Setup & Overview 

It sure is!

Thank you! :) We moved house yesterday and once the house is sorted the Obsy will follow. The 11" might have to wait a while until funds recoup though lol

@@Astrolavista is this the 11 inch you are referring to? www.celestron.com/products/edgehd-11-optical-tube-assembly-cge-dovetail

@@e-entrepreneur5831 Yes, that's the one! This or the 9.25" version on a Celestron CGX mount would be nice.

Very good choice mate. I hope you enjoy it, well I'm sure you will! Cheers!

Hi Jim, I stored it fully assembled in the spare room and only used it in the garden so no case needed. Geoptik do a case for the CPC800 if you need one :)

Thanks Eastern, I'm afraid not. I know Skywatcher have some scopes with Freedom find which can do that, but I can't think of any Celestron scopes that can do that unfortunately. It would be cool though.

Hello! If you are mainly an observer and or do fast frame rate planetary/Lunar imaging then the CPC is perfect because it's very sturdy and the eyepiece maintains a good orientation. Alt azimuth mounts like the CPC track in a zig zag fashion which is fine for short exposure imaging or observing. On the other hand the AVX mount can put the eyepiece in slightly more awkward positions but the AVX would be the way to go if you do any kind of long exposure imaging because this type of mount rotates in a smooth arc with the stars thus tracks very smoothly.

@@Astrolavista Great Advice. But I wanted to go into both long exposure and short exposure. what do you think about it?

Thanks Azomic, well there are a few differences. The price of course. The CPC800 Edge is several times more expensive and has sharper optics right out to the edge of the field of view, and it also has about double the native focal length so it's easier to get 'up close' to planets and smaller deep sky objects. The Goto Dob is fantastic value for money, it has the same light grasp and resolution. The optics soften towards the edge which is perfectly normal (The CPC800 EDGE has a built in field flattener) The Dobsonian is a Newtonian design so will show diffraction spikes on brighter stars and even faint diffraction spikes on planets, but with it's shorter focal length it has a wider field of view for framing exptended objects. You can always use a Barlow lens to get more focal length and a reducer to get less so that's not a deal breaker. Both are great scopes, but If I was starting out I'd probably go with the goto Dob purely because it's much less money. My logic being that if it's a new hobby I would probably want to test the water before dropping 3K. It does entirely depend on you budget off course. 3k is a huge amount to some and not as big a deal to others. Are there any others you're considering?

@@Astrolavista Thx for the detailed response. No not really, I was interested in the Skywatcher dob 8" goto exactly for the reasons you stated - cheaper and good for starting. Just loved the compact design of this CPC, did expect it to be a bit dearer than a dob though. Im currently in Australia where a skywatcher synscan 8" dob retails for around $1900 AUD. I think its quite a lot cheaper without the motorised tracking... but I like the idea of motorised tracking, especially with longer exposures needed on a dobsonian :)

@@grayfoxv You mention long exposures. The two scopes you're considering will be good at fast frame rate lunar and planetary imaging but I must mention they are unsuitable for long exposure deep sky imaging because they are both alt/az mounts i.e. they move simply up down left right, so when they are tracking they zig zag. For long exposures you need an Equatorial mount which smoothly follows the rotation of the Earth in a ark.

Hi, shocking as it sounds I've sold all my kit to fund a house move (getting a garden big and un obstructed enough for an observatory) I just have the loaned Astro FI currently. I did love the CPC Edge, and would have another one permanently setup when I have the obsy. I bought this one in the Celestron sales for £1699 (2145 US Dollars), but they usually cost around 3K! I'm not sure I would buy one at full price but if you find one in a sale or second hand at a good price and condition then I would recommend going for it.

@@Astrolavista hi there, you meantion Celestron sales, as these random events or usually at a certain time of year? I know there is high demand for telescopes at the minute, so sales won't likely occur for a while! Thanks

@@XV24 Yeah spot on. Celestron used to have spring sales like every year, but in 2020 so much has changed and there is like a 40 day lead time on Synta (Celestron/Skywatcher) products out of China. I've never seen second hand prices so high due to the current demand.

@@Astrolavista thanks for the info. Looks like i picked the wrong year to want to upgrade my astromaster!

@@XV24 It's the wrong year for many things I've noticed. Here's hoping for a better 2021!

Everyone has a different out look and a different situation. I have 3 kids ( 5 year old identical twins and an 8 year old) Most of what was once my money goes on my kids to be fair. Kids are more expensive than you imagined before you have kids. That's the best way I can describe it. I raised 3k to move to our final family home where I know we will be happy as a family to raise our kids. But it's a good job I sold everything I owned because if I hadn't I would have needed to take out a loan on top of the mortgage, on top of the upkeep of 3 kids! On top of that our boiler needed replacing as soon as we moved in and we live in a cold country. We needed to get a loan for that I'm afraid. All I'm saying is never say never. You don't need to feed, cloth, educate, and house 3 kids from what you have said. You wouldn't have wrote what you did if you had a clue, hence me trying to educate you rather than just getting annoyed at you. It will take us a long time to recover financially. I probably won't have another obsy for a long time but I need to be selfless and put my family first. It's hard to be a good dad but I need to try at least.

I agree, as soon as you sell something, you find in the future you need it. Been caught like that a few times

lol I'm affraid so Chris. All Synta (Celestron/Skywatcher) Goto mounts are pretty loud, although some of the newer belt driven mounts are a bit quieter. iOptron mounts are pretty quiet but generally a bit more money.

@@Astrolavista Well that's a shame. It seems like in videos I've watched the motorized EQ mounts are much quieter. Does all of the hollow plastic structure of the fork mounts account for some of the noise, or is it just the drives themselves?

@@chrislj2890 Maybe a little, but after owning a number of these mounts E.g. the Celestron AVX, SW HEQ5 pro amd NEQ6 Pro they are all faily noisy. The Celestrons seem to have noisy servo motors instead of Stepper motors and the gearing on the Skywatchers make then sound like a coffee grinder when slewing at speed 9. You can reduce the slew speed down to say 7-8 which can make a big difference to the noise I've found. The EQ3 Pro was probably the quietest, more high pitched but quiter :) I'm seriously looking at iOptron for my next mount, but if I can't afford it I'll be back to good old Skywatcher and Celestron lol. Actually the Celestron SE range wasn't too loud compared to the CPC's. I had the SE4 and SE5 for a while.

@@Astrolavista Thanks for the prompt reply and info, it's really appreciated. Hopefully you can get what you want in the future, and I guess I will keep on watching videos to get a bit more educated before I make a purchase like this. Have a nice weekend.

@@chrislj2890 Cheers Buddy, and try not to be too put off by the noise. Like said you can select quieter slew speeds via the hand set. The only downer is it just takes a little longer to get there :)

I would love to help you out Hank but the CPC800 was sold along with anything else I owned in 2019 when I needed to fund a house move. I miss the Edge 8 HD optical tube, great optics!