[Chaos-l] Guide Scopes and Such

[Robert Nielsen]

A question for all the experts in the club (I readily admit I am not one):

I just saw a picture of a setup from a guy who is doing simple 
astrophotography with the Meade DSI.   He bought a "cheap" (roughly 
$75-$100 refractor ... from Meade ... one of the ones that Jon and 
John and everyone else don't buy at the mall) mounted it on his 
bigger scope and used it as a guide scope.  What does everyone 
think?   Seems like a good idea to me (since you really aren't 
working for optical clarity ... and everyone said the mall refractors 
aren't bad optically ... it's the mount that sucked).

Of course, I would love to have one of the TMB wide-field refractors, 
so I could switch and use it for astrophotography as well.   Just 
can't afford it yet.  If I get mounting rings (which yes, I realize 
might cost more than the guide scope), I should be able to use those 
later as well.

It's just a thought.   What does everyone else think?

Robert