Sam270

Thanks all for the warm welcome. 👍

Thanks so far, my head is still spinning! I've looked into the skymax 127, these do seem impressive, I'd be willing to pay the extra I think. Anyone care to offer any more info on these as a first 'serious' purchase? or any alternative suggestions in the same price range? I also looked at the Celestron nextstar 4se but from my understanding that wouldn't be as capable for deep sky targets? Thanks.

Food for thought, thanks so far. I already read the linked review for the starsense dx130, from that it seems very middle of the road. I'm starting to see very mixed reviews and don't know what to make of it. My worry is that I'm putting money into a gimmick rather than quality optics with that one? Does anyone have this scope who can comment? At the end of the article the Celestron astro-fi 130 is suggested as an alternative, however on paper the specs seem virtually identical? - more confusion! Scousespacecadet, you suggest the Sky-Watcher SkyMax-127 AZ GTi, if that is going to be significantly better then I would be willing to spend the extra, I'll look more into this option. Any further info on this would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has any further suggestions I'd be most interested to hear them, specifically what level of detail a particular scope would be able to offer; bands and red spot of Jupiter, rings and Cassini division of saturn, level of detail of the moon. Any captured images would be fantastic (more to give me an idea of what to expect, astrophotography is not an aspiration at this stage, purely observation). Thanks again. 😎

Good afternoon all, looking for a bit of advice on a first scope. Wifey bought herself a cheap eBay telescope a few years ago, as expected a complete disappointment and good for nothing but lunar viewing. She's been banging on about a decent telescope since and with her birthday coming up I thought why not. We're both absolute beginners so I've spent a bit of time online reading and learning. First things first, budget! I'm looking ideally to spend around £400 but am very aware that I'll probably need to upgrade eyepiece, add filters etc so maybe £500 in total. My first choice would have been the Celestron Starsense Explorer 130DX mainly for the app and the ease at which we'd be able to locate targets as we are both completely new to all this. However, the more I read, watch and learn, the more interested I am becoming and have realised that I would really love to observe Saturn and it's rings in as much detail as possible. To be able to see the Cassini division under optimum viewing conditions would be amazing. It's this realisation that's lead me to think twice about the 130DX, is it up to the job? I see many people recommending 8" dobs... We are fortunate enough to live near hillsides and farm land and can easily walk 10 minutes or so to nice dark spots from which to view so size and weight have to be a consideration as well. Can anybody chip in with and advice or specific reccomendations to fit the above criteria? Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help and advice offered. Cheers, Sam. 👍

New boy on board so please be gentle! 😶 Located in Manchester, totally new to all this but wifey's been banging on about a telescope for years. She bought some cheap eBay rubbish that totally disappointed but with her upcoming birthday I'm looking to get her something a little better and see where that takes us. Obviously I'll go post newbie questions in the appropriate section. Cheers. 👍