help please

[Lee85]

a lady in work told me her husband is selling his reflector telescopeso ive been to see it and on the side it says its a orion 280 model with:

910mm F

114mm D

ive tryed to look for reviews or anything that tells me abit more about this telescope but i cant find any at all.

he wants £150 for it

it comes with a eq mount and eye peices so i think its everything id need to use it but is it anygood or worth the price he is asking for it.

many thanks

[JamesM]

If you can't find any reviews, that might tell you all you need to know. As a reflector 114mm is pretty small as apertures go. Sure it will show you some objects (light polluted skies less so) but it won't sustain you for long and I guess this is the reason why its being sold. The problem for these scopes in fairness isn't the scope itself but the flimsy mounts that come with them that are impractical to use and are very twitchy. My personal view would be not to buy the scope. For around £200 you could get a Skywatcher 6" dobsonian 73% light increase) or better still for £270 an 8" dobsonian that would last you a long time and is popular enough that when you sell it to upgrade, you can get a good price for it to help fund the next purchase. Now, it easy for me to sit here and spend your money but clearly a decent aperture will yield better results and there is no escaping that fact. My personal view is that 8" is when observing starts to get interesting and that would be what I would save for. No rush - the stars aren't going anywhere but it is worth the wait to obtain the best value for money.

James

[John]

I think thats a high price for a 4.25" newtonian. Half of that and it might be worth a punt just to get used to using a scope.

[nightfisher]

for a little more than that you could get a new 150mm dobsonian

[brantuk]

£150 will get you a nice Skywatcher 130P, EQ2 mounted scope wich in my opinion is much better value for money:

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Explorer 130

For £30 more you can have it with a Right Ascension motor for easy tracking. Or for £190 ish a Skywatcher 150P Dobsonian scope. Hope that helps

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

[Lee85]

thanks for the help i think it would be better to leave this telescope then. ive just had a look at the skywatcher 130 that brantuk recommended and it seems pretty good but i might just pay a little more and get the 130p for the better optics. id like to have a dob but i need to be able to fit it into my car (i got a classic mini) so that would never fit

[nightfisher]

the 150 dob will fit in the mini lay the tube across back seat and the base will prob go in the boot

[Lee85]

ahhh my bad i think ive been looking at something totaly different.

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2

is that he right one? that should be ok to fit in.

[brantuk]

That ones a great starter scope that would fit in the mini nicely. It has a sturdier mount and a 6" aperture - pretty much what I started with (I had the older model). Highly recommended

[robbie c]

Hi there was a second hand tal-1 that just sold for £85 on e-bay and the tal is a very good telescope so i'v been told and it looked in very good condition there are two more for auction one is at £46 with loads of extras and the other is at £50 at the moment they will go higher but might not go for more then the one you are looking at might be worth a look I'm sure the more experienced guys on here can tell you more about them good luck. Robbie

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lee85]

It's all sorted now I've orderd a skywatcher 150pl from first light optics cant wait till it arrives.

---

I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.579385,-1.785125