Paul_Sussex

Yet another set-up I'm now looking at. But with a £500 budget, doesn't leave anything for extras. How useable is this "out of the box"? Or would I immediately need eyepieces, diagonal, etc? I'll have to check out that thread for advice.

As a complete change in direction, I've never considered a Mak, probably because I knew nothing about them. But they were recommended by the local shop as a good start. Any opinions on something like a Skymax 102? Seems to fit the light and affordable criteria. And although I was looking for an equatorial mount, something like this could be tempting - Sky-Watcher SkyMax-102S AZ Pronto | First Light Optics - or even this for instant gratification - Sky-Watcher SkyMax-102 AZ GTi | First Light Optics

Oh, I agree. A Skywatcher equivalent (ish) is what I originally talked about. But it looks so cute and I could sit there fondling it and calling it "my precioussssss"! 😉 See what I mean about impulse buyer!

Well...so much advice. Just to clarify, my initial budget will be about £500. (And I'm an impulse buyer...I'm desperately trying to resist this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/offers/offer_starbase-80-refractor-and-mount-package_264215.html at the moment!) And would like something to use in my small garden - Bortle 4 and surrounded by other houses - and portable enough to take with me to some local open sites, which may involve some walking (and I'm not that fit). I'm more interested in planetary observation, at least initially, and no imaging apart from some basic "phone held to the eyepiece" stuff. Now, within that budget I could get an Evostar 120 on an EQ3-2 mount, but that would clean me out and I'd have a (fairly) powerful telescope on a mount that was marginal. So I'd rather go for something inexpensive* and hopefully with some change for extras. I'm looking at August some time for a purchase and will certainly do plenty of browsing on here in the meantime. By the way, am I missing something obvious? Someone mentioned a for sale section on the forum, but can I find it...☹️ *Not "cheap"

Many thanks, all, for your replies. And I appreciate that starting with binoculars could be the "sensible" approach. On the other hand, actually seeing the moon and possibly other planets through my own telescope...! I could shave even more of the budget and go for a Capricorn 70mm EQ1 - according to FLO, "...The 70mm aperture, long focal-ratio and coated optics provide pleasing views of Jupiter and some of it's moons. Saturn with it's rings is easily identifiable and the lunar surface will show a wealth of detail. Some of the brighter deep-sky targets are also within reach including the Orion nebula, M13 Globular cluster in Hercules and the beautiful double-star Albireo..." Only £115 or so and still with an equatorial mount. Whatever I got would be a learning tool for me - getting used to an equatorial mount and finding my way around the sky. And I am looking at joining one of the local groups, so wouldn't be doing this in isolation. And not that I expect to do anything like as well, but I thought this thread was interesting -

Sanity check required. With retirement fast approaching, and with an interest in space, science-fiction (heavy on the science) and astronomy, I thought it was time to dive into a new hobby. My first thought was to blow the budget on the biggest, fanciest telescope I could get my hands on - a 120-127mm refractor, a 200mm Newtonian or a big Dobsonian - but reading this thread - - made me change my mind; however, I do want to get something to start out with, to at least get me out and looking at the night sky. My thinking now is to get myself a Starwatcher Evostar 90 on an EQ3-2 mount. Please check my reasoning. This is a very affordable telescope, currently about £260, suitable for viewing the moon, planets, some stars. It should be a good match for the EQ3-2 mount. One of the downsides mention in reviews is that the lighter mounts can be too flimsy. (And I have some ideas involving steel shot and resin) I am used to using optical theodolites and levels, so I am not put off by an equatorial mount. It will be a learning curve, but one I'm happy with. This will also help if I ever graduate to something larger/more complex. And I understand the mount can be set up to operate as an Alt/Az as well? Can even have a RA motor drive attached, although one of the locals was a bit sceptical about this. Any extras I pick up could be transferred over to a replacement. So...does this make sense (or have I gone completely bananas)? Answers on a postcard please... I can't find an exact figure, but I think the combined weight comes in at about 7-8kg, so easy enough to move around.