Spier24

What are the benefits of having a Schmitt cassegrain over a maksutov cassegrain? I've been trying to find out for a while but I haven't actually come across anything? The only assumption I've come to so far is that Schmitt's tend to have wider apertures which make them slightly better for deep sky objects.

You've given me some food for thought there, my plan right now is to go for the celestron 6 inch Schmitt cassegrain on the GoTo mount. I do like the look of that flextube one but unfortunately I don't think my budget will stretch that far. Would you mind telling me how that 150 you showed me works? As it seems to be a combination of a normal mount and a go-to mount.

Really appreciate the amount of advice from everyone on here. After some consideration I've decided to go with a celestron nexstar 6 slt. Seems like it'll give me the a decent all round experience whilst also having a GoTo system.

That's definitely something I've noticed, I'm actually surprised in the price difference. The best GoTo scope that's within my budget for me is the that Celestron 6 slt. Don't get me wrong, a 150 Schmitt cassegrain with a decent focal length should get some nice views of various objects. But yeh, you definitely see price difference when you can get a 250 Newtonian for over £100 less.

Yes, from the original 3 that I listed I thought that the nexstar gives you a decent taster of both worlds. The focal length of the Mak with the aperture of the Newton. The reason I'm keen on a GoTo is that I've used telescopes owned by friends and family before. A 200 manual Newtonian and the 127 mak GoTo. I found the GoTo system to be more enjoyable but that's just me I guess.

I could get a 250 dobsonian for just over £500. The idea of not going for a GoTo mount is becoming tempting...

I've always liked the idea of getting a dobsonian, some super views through the bigger ones. Unfortunately it's the price of their GoTo's that put me off.

I don't live on a busy street. South facing garden with no street lights on either side. However there are some street lights to the south of the garden behind the hedge.

My budget is around £680 but prepared to stretch it to just over £700 if anyone knows of something very good available at that price range. I'm only interested in scopes that have a GoTo mount. Portability is not an issue for me. I'll be using it in the back garden and don't mind having to travel with a big scope to dark spots. Imaging is not something I'd be doing to start with but is something that I may pursue later down the line. So it would probably be best if I did get a scope that is capable of that in case I decide to go down that road later.

Really enjoying all the feedback. From what I can tell you're all saying that the nexstar 6 slt Schmidt Cas won't be much better for observing deep space objects than the 127 mak? I want to know what advantages the 6 slt has over the 127

I appreciate all the feedback, the reason I've narrowed it down to 3 totally different types of scopes is because I'm still a bit stuck on weather I want to focus on the planets or deep sky objects. That's why I added the nexstar 6 slt into the mix. From what I can tell, it would be better for observing planets than the 150 Newtonian and better for observing deep sky objects than the 127 mak. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's the right.

Hi all, I've been interested in astronomy for quite a few years and have studied the topic pretty well. However I've never actually gotten round to buying a telescope before, until now. After doing some research I've narrowed my choices down to 3 and would appreciate some feedback on which telescope you think would be best. The celestron nexstar 6 slt Skywatcher skymax 127 Skywatcher star discovery 150p At the moment I'm leaning towards the 6 slt. Mainly because I want something that is equipped to give me good views of the planets whilst also being able to have a nice view of some deep sky objects. I'm happy to stretch my budget for the 6 slt if that's the one that gives the best of both worlds.