scope help for a friend

[garethmob]

hello again

a friend of mine asked me if i could av a look for a scope for him with goto, but be neally as good as my dob he wants it mainly for visual, but with possiably the idea of very simple photography in the future (mainly the moon and planets)

i came across these

Celestron NexStar 90 SLT £305 (FLO)

Celestron Nexstar 102 SLT £319 (Harrison)

celestron NexStar 127 SLT £365 (ACE)

Celestron NexStar 4SE £395(FLO)

Skywatcher Skymax 127 SynScan

Skywatcher Skymax 102 SynScan

i looked up the prices (i put the cheapest next to each celestron scope)

now obv i releise that skywatcher and celestron are both made by synta and are rebadged versions of each other (what i can guess them sharing the same number) personally i like the nexstar 127 or the 4se but if i was to buy my self the 4SE seems the nicer scope but does any one have any other experiences with these scope at all?

i got my friend gladly into astronomy (he was blown away by my dob on the moon with my basic eyepeices but i just want to make sure he has the best (he dosent want a dob though)

thanks for any help

gaz

[Helen]

I'd say the SE mount is better than the SLT. I've had a 125 ETX Mak on an SLT mount and it was struggling a bit. But then you'll see more with the 127 against the 4 inch. Ideally I'd look for a secondhand Nexstar 6SE - more aperture, beefier mount and generally a very nice observing experience.

Helen

[JamesM]

As nice as GOTO is, you need to make it worth while when the kit finally points the scope at the designated object. So I would go for the largest aperture and would agree with Helen that secondhand market would be my starting point for the best deal. Your friend will still have fresh in his mind what he saw through your 8"dob which is another reason to go for aperture.

James