Sadiestorm

Excellent. Glad the dark skies made a big difference, although it's a shame your EP and finder didn't come in time. You have given me the urge to get out of central London and test the Mak.

I got a Skymax 127 as a first telescope. I adore it but mine came with a much better finder which I would have struggled without. Mine has a 9x50 right angled erecting finderscope and although it is heavy compared with the scope is great for me and I highly recommend investing in a decent one early on for someone getting this scope as a beginner. Like @Tiny Clanger I have mine on a AZ5 mount as I enjoy visual and a bit of cellphone photography for my instagram to try and get friends interested. I love the simplicity of it and I am glad I never went equatorial but I know some people love the challenge and want to be able to set themselves up to image in the future. It is super portable, light and easy to transport. The photo below shows my case for it which is 54cm x 42cm x 22cm so pretty small and light. Here's a photo I just got with my cellphone held up to the eyepiece. Nothing special but this is with the stock 25mm eyepiece and trying to get a quick shot before the moon moved out of view.

@Basementboy Since you are so close to me in Camberwell and I am in Lambeth if you want to rule in/rule out a Mak I am happy to meet in a park on a clear night for you to have a play with my Mak127.

That was my thought as the AZ5 is good enough to take a 150 if I need to. Although I have secret hopes that if I move like I intend to, to be able to get something that is a bit bigger like a 200 dob. That is encouraging that it will keep my busy for a good while! I luckily have the S&T pocket already. Just waiting on a red torch!

I haven't actually looked into it a huge amount. I was sure I read somewhere that light pollution filters are a bit more limited for visual viewing so I haven't prioritised it in my budget. The first thing I need is a couple more decent eyepieces.

@Tiny Clanger Thanks Heather. Yes, it was purely just luck that this scope came with the finderscope it did, I would have struggled a lot more if it didn't. I was looking at the sky and could only see the brightest of stars with the naked eye and then looking through the finder scope suddenly there were many more! That's good advice about the quality of eyepieces. I do tend to be a 'buy once, buy right' person and luckily at the moment I have a bit more disposable income. I am going to get as much out of this scope as possible and then perhaps for all the DSO's and Messier objects that are just too big for the FOV on the Mak I am thinking another scope to catch those. Before finding the Mak I was tossing up between it and a SW 150 explorer. If I catch the bug I am sure I will want something else. Do you find the Mak and the 150 dob a nice combination to complement each other?

Not yet. I live right across the river from Westminster and a lot of the parks around here are locked at night. So my go-to is my balcony or the roof of my apartment block. But my Mak is small enough to put in a backpack when I remove the finderscope. And I could easily carry the mount and tripod to a park if I wanted to.

@Basementboy Yeah, it was a lucky find in a pawn shop who had it advertised on FB marketplace and didn't know what they had! Hahaha. I figured I could frustrated about my Bortle 9 skies and never try. Or I could just accept that for now my best bet is the moon and planets and the brightest of objects and be grateful for what I can see. And then get my mind blown when I take my little scope set up out to dark sky areas post lockdown.

Also to jump (late) on this question but as a complete rookie I can possibly give my thoughts. I got a Mak 127 on a AZ5 mount with one 25mm eyepiece and a decent finderscope 5 days ago. Last night I managed to stick it up on the balcony and have a quick play before the clouds came in. It is definitely doable - I had my moments where I couldn't figure out where I was but the more I did it, the more I got the feel for how much my scope moved when I turned the Alt/Az dials. I also had my phone out with Stellarium on it so if I got lost, I would look at the brightest stars in my finder scope to try and find that pattern close to where I expected I was. So my first night I found the moon easily, went straight up to Mars which was directly above it. I then found Sirius and star hopped (vaguely, also using Stellarium) to the Orion constellation moving through the brightest stars of Saiph, Rigel, up through the brightest stars of the Orion nebula to the belt (I faffed about here for a bit and got a bit lost). I am going to save up for the AZ Gti mount as I live in London and so the light pollution isn't going to be my friend when trying to star hop using smaller fainter objects. TLDR: It's doable but my better-than-stock finderscope was key. And the challenge was enough that I wanted to do more rather than getting frustrated and giving up.

@TerraC thanks! Ha, I feel lucky you live a bit further away and hadn't come down to get it. It is a very nice little scope! The skies were clear early on last night so worked my way from the moon, to Mars and then over to Sirius, Rigel and through Orion's belt to get a feel for star hopping.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions and support. Now I know a bit more about the upgrades I feel very lucky to have snagged this. I have been trawling through all the posts I can find when searching 'Mak 127' and finding some great stuff. What a resource you guys are! I am sure I will have lots of questions in the future.

@Stargazer33 I ended up bargaining them down to £330 from their £350 asking price. Which when compared with the new prices seems like a bargain for a perfectly functioning scope and AZ5, minus one eye piece. Can spend what I saved on an eyepiece or two or save up for the AZ Gti mount.

So, a local pawn shop has been advertising a Skywatcher Mak 127 on an AZ5 for a pretty good price. I went to have a look, being a bit wary of a scope with no background on it and turns out it was a steal. Took it out of the shop, focussed on a few things in the distance, checked the mirrors and all seemed pretty perfect. No scratches, focussed well. OTA is in perfect condition. Looks like it retains its stock 1.25" diagonal (labelled Dielectric coated 1.25" 90 degree mirror diagonal). The finder scope I think is a 9x50 sky-watcher right angle finder scope (same metallic sheen of the OTA) which is also in perfect working order. Only comes with one eyepiece which might be one of the stock ones (Super 25 wide angle long eye relief) so will need to figure out the next best additions to use with it. The AZ5 deluxe mount is perfect except for one of the plastic adjustment knobs of which part is broken off but still works adequately and I am sure there must be replacements. For a first scope that I can grab and go to get to darker areas and set up quickly or take on holiday with me I am very happy. Definitely have a dew shield on the 'need sooner rather than later' list. Does anyone have any eyepiece suggestions? I was thinking perhaps a good quality zoom eyepiece to start with so I can figure out what magnifications I most use? Any suggestions are welcome! The sky looks vaguely blue outside so I have everything crossed that I might be able to use it tonight.

Hi Everyone, I recognise that I am yet another beginner asking for advice here so I appreciate any advice you take the time to give. I have been fascinated by space and astronomy for a long time and have decided that it is a good time to take it further than just compulsively reading about it and having an entire twitter account purely for following NASA, astronauts and publications to do with space. I have spent countless nights researching and have narrowed my list down to 4 telescopes and I was wanting to ask for feedback. Here's a little bit about what I am hoping to do and my situation. 1. I live in London in an apartment and for my regular viewing I will be bringing the telescope up to the roof. I am also hoping to go every other month or so down to the South Downs Dark Sky site to get away from the light pollution. So it needs to be portable. 2. I am hoping for an all round telescope for viewing purposes - lunar, planetary, bright deep sky objects etc (although I realise much of this will depend on getting away from the light pollution of London). If in the future I can invest in upgrading the mount + get the necessary motors and have a basic little astrophotography setup, even better but not essential. 3. I am not adverse to steep learning curves in terms of how to set up and use various mounts. I am also not adverse to GoTo mounts but for now I would much rather put money into a decent OTA and upgrade to a good mount/goto system later. 4. My budget is probably £400ish My list of options: 1. Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2 2. Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian 3. Orion Astroview 6 EQ 4. Orion Spaceprobe 130ST EQ Let me know any thoughts. Even if you completely disagree, I just want to learn 😃. I am very happy to have other telescopes suggested as well. Edited to say: I have considered binoculars for their portability and ease of use. However, I actually have some decent ones back in NZ that I used at night quite a bit when I lived there so I would much rather upgrade to a telescope.