Hello:
I've been struggling myself with a portable. Here is what I have found
since I've had many of those scopes you listed.
I got the ETX, the optics were very good but probably not as good as a
standard refractor. The drive system was terrible. It worked fine as long as
you didn't go to another object. The reason was that it takes about 20
seconds before the drive kicks in (takes slop out) this is normal according to
the Meades manual. Everytime you move to another object you have to wait.
The "F" stop is very high, so you get much power, and not so good with deep
sky objects. It is very portable for the scope and drive. (Mine had a defect
in the corrector, small chip that Meade tried to conceil, I sent it back for
refund)

Next I had a Pronto. Very nice workmanship. about 6-7lbs, not so light for
its small size. It does exhibit quite a bit of false color (purple) on bright
objects, even land objects. Didn't seem to be a problem with Saturn or
Jupiter however. This was the primary reason I returned this scope. The
scope was able to take up to 200x but that's probably it. I must say that
Saturn and Jupiter looked fantastic through this scope. However I had to use
my 6.7 / 4.7 mm with 2X barlow to get enough power. The scope is far sharper
than the ETX and much faster "F" stop. Wide field was great. I had my
friends Ranger and it was virtually Identical in optics. It was however much
lighter, but dosen't take 2" eyepieces. One drawback is you have to get a
mount if you want to do photography.

I recently bought a C5+ and am pleasantly surprised with it. The OTA weights
about the same as the Pronto 6lbs. The OTA can easily be mounted on most any
tri-pod and has with it a proper mount and handle. The OTA part alone is very
portable, short 11" and light (easy carry on). The mount and drive is the
heaviest part (I think the mount, base with OTA about 23lbs). The drive works
very well and the quality appears very good. I carry the whole unit out and
can set it up on a table or car, without using a tri-pod. Everything works
well. So far, the optics look great. Same diffraction pattern fore and aft.
Handles 250x no problem. Very sharp on the moon. Haven't viewed any planets
yet. No false color/none. The 5" aperature size makes a big difference. The
greater light gathering capability between this and the other two scopes
dosen't even compare. With a fairly lit sky, I was able to see M51.

There are many other scopes out there also for consideration.

I wound't buy a 35mm camera because just because everyone else is using it. I
have a Nikon and it works great for astrophotos. I would first try to use one
of your current camers which you now have. The most critical element is to be
able to keep the shutter open for extended periods. Just get the proper "T"
adapter for your 35mm.

Good luck
Ralph G

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