Hugo hazendonk

Now I'm  working on a skywatcher 130 ota with rings for future astro potential.

Also considering trying to find used astromaster 114mm for the mount.  I'm guessing people disgusted with into department store scopes may try to get rid of those.  The mount may work at least for visual work for the time being.

Nearly forgot, my  other mountable scope is a celestron astromaster 60az.  I've got a skywatcher 200, obviously not going on mount.  So a fast scope (F5 4.5 TO 5 Inch reflector) combo might be an option too, often bundling has its advantages.

Thanks for the advice.  I as you might of guessed I'm trying to get a decent mount for my vintage Tascos 9te-5 and my 10te for visual and planetary astro down the line.  Now it sounds like the specs for visual and astro are likely too dissipate.  I might just try to find a used astromaster 114 for the mount and hope it has a prior parabolic mirror, but that's a gamble.  The mount looks passable for my 10te  - weight 10 lbs.  But a long 1200mm tube may pose other problems.  Still considering a goto, but that's a lot of money to start with.  I do realize the mount is fundamental, especially for medium to heavy scopes.  Hugo 

Around 10 years ago I lucked out on a $150 antique store vintage tasco 10te.  Its a great scope and has great and versatile optics. It has potential for planatery astro. Unfortunately the mount is a problem.   Heavy, sloppy controls and no reasonable way to motorize. I'm only doing visual so I thought a German mount with upgrades for motor and guide scope in the near future.  My first step would be to put a long dove tail plate on it or get 76mm rings and plate combo. Im considering explore scientific german mount with or without the 4.5 inch f4 reflector.  Mount rated to 15 lb.  My tasco plus guide scope would weigh 10.5 lb max.  Any thoughts?  Thanks Hugo

Hi, I'm relatively new to astronomy.  I've got several scopes which  all could use a better mount.  Doing visual now but would like to branch out to astro.  If i had my druthers id get a goto, but that seems like cheating.  The explore scientific 114mm on German mount looks promising for visual.  Would it be difficult to get components to upgrade this mount for astro (i.e. drive system).  And is explore scientific gso or better?

Thanks again.  Good to know the z114 is fully collumatable and has less obstruction.  Would a home made collumation cap do?  That's what I use for my dob.  I have 10mm celestron ep that came with 60 mm astromaster LT I could lend him but I think it may be a kelner.  I thought of suggesting a 7 to 21mm zoom for warmer nights.  Would a 2x barlow be best?  He could even unscrew barlow lens and use it on the zoom to make 4.66 to 14 mm equivalent.

Thank you very much everyone  for your experienced input.  I've already recommended  the z114.  Good all round scope.  Best to recommend scope that also emphasizes wider views.  He lives in very dark skies, so I think 100 plus DSO targets rather than just 6 planetary and lunar targets  are  important  to impress on a young potential future astronomer.  Planets are cool, but there's  much more out there! As for planetary views this will be fine at 100 mag, very comprable to intro 80mm long refractor.  Eventually,  I could lend him my 76mm vintage tasco if he's serious about plantary.  I used to get great views of jupiter.   Again, thank you all for your input, but quite overwhelming, since this is my first experience on sl. Its proper ettiquete to end thread?

Thanks again every one.  Would a table top zhummel in the 100 to 130mm range compare in quality?  It would be more in the $200Can range. It's dso as far as I know, just like skywatcher.

Thanks for you input.  I originally considered a zhummel 130 table top for myself when I bought the skywatcher.   However I thought a young teen may be better off with a refractor, much less fuss. Though a short scope also has its pitfalls. 

Hi, I have just begun my astronomy journey after a decade long break.  Finally bought my childhood dream scope a f5.9  8" dob after giving up on my classic '69 tasco 76mm 1200m due to problems with the mount.  I recently acquired a ? Early 70s tasco 60mm 700mm and converted it to 1.25" (huge headache, had to cut 35mm off ota to accommodate .965 adapter and shorter mirror diagonal.)  Now a colleague has asked  my advise on which scope to get her son for Xmas, under $200can.  I'm leaning toward suggesting a 80mm short scope 400mm or so.  Thought the powerseeker azs  would be good start except I'm not sure if it would satisfy a 13 yr olds planetary expectations.  I was looking at several travel scopes too, zhummel, svbony, celestron 70 to 80mm but I wasn't sure camera tripod would hold up.  I'd appreciate any suggestions. Thanks hugo