Beginner requires portable new telescope £300 - 400 - beginning to go crazy !

[Rigel-7]

I have read the Philips book and have been trying to narrow the field for ages - I really need some good advice....

I have the list down to the following:

Skywatcher SkyMax 127 on SupaTrak

Skywatcher 150p on EQ3-2

Skywatcher 200p on EQ5

Currently I am favouring the SkyMax 127 as it appears portable but am unsure of the stand (can I plug the laptop in) and unsure what the difference between the scope pictured and the Black Diamond OTA model is ?

I like the 150p and the 200p but am unsure if they would get car sick from a weekly ride over country roads.

I am looking for good views of the planets and DSO's and would like to dabble with photography also.

It's raining tonight, please help ....

[coxy322]

Hey Rigel.

I have the 200p on EQ5. Its my first scope, got it new in May.

Must say I am more than impressed with it. Before committing to purchase I borrowed a friend's 10 inch Orion and can confirm the 8 inch Skywatcher gives me the same quality views of DSOs and I can get comfortable magnifications of 317x on the planets (when seeing is good). The moon is very good at high mag too. I have upgraded the finder to a Telrad and must say it is worth its weight in gold - salesman should pitch it as so when buying your first scope.

I know the scope lends itself well to photography, but you'll need extra budget for add ons.

Hope some of these points help re. the 200p!

[hemihaggis]

127 mak any day for a first scope ,

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Ya Rigel, Welcome to the SGL. Now you've really entered a minefield you know. Depends on how much light pollution you have??? Most people say that aperture is what you need. I have a Celestron 127 that I take on me hols, really excellent scope and for its size, the views are excellent. I live in the very light polluted west Midlands - but still get by. I own a Meade LX90 (Goto) and also a 12" Revelation dob, the dobs really easy to set up and away you go, great for deep sky, but then you need filtering to enhance detail in light polluted skies. If you have really dark skies - or you can travel to dark skies, for price you cant beat a large dob - purely for deep sky - a really good star chart (I have Sky Atlas 2000) and a must is a right angled finder (which gives the same view as looking at the charts) so no mirror images, Right/wrong way round or inverted. But with the dob - no tracking - so no imaging for the planets. If your looking around at all the great images of the planets - bear in mind most are digitally enhanced - not the view through most scopes, and also, your always fighting light pollution and atmospheric disturbances, some nights its that bad your looking through a "heat haze", so no fine planetary detail. See, told you - its a minefield. For portability and stability - a good schmidt Cassagrain takes some beating for visual/imaging ( you need a focal reducer for deep sky) - and a large dob for deep sky depending on the light pollution - if you can see the milky way on a clear night, you might get away with a slightly smaller aperture, but my advice get a big un!!!, you won't be disappointed (its all about background sky contrast - the darker the background sky your observing, the better contrast to pull out faint galaxies and nebulae). Trust me, they're very faint, also, when using filters for observation only the large aperture scopes can handle them - small aperture and OIII/UHC doesn't work, they dim the whole views, making detail hard to pick out. OK Rigel, just a few points to think about, but if you love the hobby as much as me, you'll be outside with any size scope - pity you don't live closer to me as you could try all my scopes before you buy - if you look on the site many observers have several scopes, each are better for specific use. Paul.

[DOBBY]

the 200 newt holds collimation suprisingly well...even bumping around on the back seat of the car

[Rigel-7]

Thank you, I'm overwhelmed I got so many replies so quickly.

Looks like I'm still torn between the 200P and the Mak. North Wimborne has no street lighting so you can see the milky way normally quite clearly. I currently use my father's old WW2 binoculars which allows me to view the Moon craters, Venus and make out Jupiter and three of it's moons - if I lean on the Wendy house to steady myself. However I do have a pesky tree problem and the Council get very irate if you chop any down.

I would love to buy a big Dob, but at the moment I think something I can take to Astronomy clubs and to more open areas locally would be more practical.

I am leaning towards the 200P due to the EQ5 mount, but I am worried about how long this takes to set-up and collimate and that I won't get a great deal of change from £400.

[badboybubby]

127 mak

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

[Dunkster]

I think the saying goes something like this.... if you don't get aperture, get dark skies! You shouldn't have too much trouble getting some nice drk skies out that way

127 Mak is a great little scope, very portable, Easy to setup, but can't match the big lumbering dobs for dso.

[Rigel-7]

So by the sound of it a Mak 127 seems to be the one to go for followed by a 16" Dobsonian a little down the line.

Should I go for the SupaTrak or is it worth spending the extra on a Goto or Eq mount ?

[brianmc]

Coxy322, I've just got a 200p, could you tell me what ep you recommend for those 317x views? Thanks

[Dunkster]

Should I go for the SupaTrak or is it worth spending the extra on a Goto or Eq mount ?

Depends on how confident you are about finding stuff

I bottled out and bought the goto... don't regret it so far.

Can't really comment on the EQ, been scared off those for now

[Adz]

What kind of portable?

A dobsonian is much more simple than the weights and polar aligning etc. of an equatorial mount.

[LukeSkywatcher]

EQ mounts and me just have a love/hate relationship. So i tend to go for anything that is not EQ.

The Skywatcher SkyMax 127 on SupaTrak looks like a very nice portable scope.

[RikM]

I would say that by the sound of it you have fairly darks skies, so a 200P Dob would be just the ticket.

Also leaves you some cash to budget for all the little bits and bobs that seem to add up to hundreds of pounds quite quickly.

A Telrad or Rigel QuickFinder would be a must have!

Edit: I have a 127 Mak and an 8" Dobsonian is miles better in every respect other than the size of the box it comes in.

[Nexus 6]

Going by the performance of the 150P I have you should get the 200P. For value for money = views delivered the 200 must be outstanding if the observations I have had using the 150 are anything to go by. Is only a matter of time before I go for a 12" myself...925 for sale... anyone?

[coxy322]

Coxy322, I've just got a 200p, could you tell me what ep you recommend for those 317x views? Thanks

6.3mm with a x2 Barlow. This is on good nights and make sure your scope is in good collimation.

The 6.3 I have is a Plossl design. I am using the stock supplied Barlow but intend on getting one of the TALs as per the many recommendations by users :- however trying to get one is proving very difficult.

If you are using a Dob then the F/ratio is even higher, so you would not need such a high powered EP to reach same mag as me? (Mine is 1000mm).

[brianmc]

Thanks Coxy, yes I've got the Dob and I was thinking of a 4mm BST Explorer, but had gone off the idea because I saw a few opinions on here that 200x is the UK practical limit.

Maybe an 8mm Explorer and a barlow would be a better choice.

[Rigel-7]

Thanks chaps,

I am going to hold off the dobs as I really need something portable to start off with (I dd look at the heritage 130p but was unsure if it would give a good view of planets etc.). Reading the responses I think the Skywatcher SkyMax 127 is the one to go for; ideally I would like this on a EQ3-2.

I understand that the SupTrak mount can be hacked to connect to a PC but I have also read that the mount can be unreliable.

Coxy322 - I think I saw that Sherwoods sell TAL Barlows x2/3 at £35, I understand that the one that comes free with some of the Skywatchers is not much to write home about.

Anyone want to sell an old EQ3-2 ?

[M4lcs67]

Another vote for the Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT. Seems to tick most of your boxes. Small, compact, easy to set up/transport and also within your budget.

Yes it may not give as great an image a a large dob, but there is a saying in this world and that is you don't get anything for nothing. And that is that a large dob is like a rocket launcher and I should know. I bought an Orion XT8 back in April without looking at one in the flesh first (dumb newbie). I had no concept of the physical size of it until I had it assembled on my patio. That is when I realised that I had dropped a huge clangar as I only have a small house and could'nt have coped with such a large scope so I sent it back.

I now have the Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT MAK and it is great. Nice and compact. It may not give as good an image as a large dob, but that is a trade off I am willing to accept, also it is made in the same factory that the Skywatcher version is made in. It is said that the Celestron one is fractionally better made, but if they are both built in the same factory then I don't know. Also there is a slight difference in the accesories that both scopes come with.

[Rigel-7]

Thank you for all the feedback. I am now going to spend my Christmas attempting to find a SkyMax 127 EQ5 package deal! I see that F1 Telescopes do something like this.

I want a portable scope but want to be able to use the mount in the future for bigger things, why buy two mounts ?

[Rigel-7]

Can anyone recommend an Astronomy retail outlet in/near Dorset. The only one I can seem to find is FLO in Exeter which is a bit of a way...

[Dunkster]

I'm sure someone will be along shortly with a better suggestion, but the only one I can think of is SCS astro in Wellington, Somerset. Or Astronomia (Surrey). I've never made the trek to SCS, but have been to Astronomia - friendly, knowledgeable folk with a good selection of stuff given the size of the store. Check in the Retailer reviews section too.

Astro shops are few and far between!

[austen4]

Hello,

Got my SW 200p with heq5. Used it yesterday for the first time and its a really good scope. Wasn't out for long but used X2 barlow with a 6mm eyepiece and had a look at jupiter which was really good. Look at M42 quickly before I called it a day as I was just setting up the scope getting used to it. But M42 looked really nice and was a big improvement to a Meade refractor I used ( had a apperature of 3" or something similar). Im going to be doing some imaging with it hopefully just after christmas but I have been looking around for a scope since august and some of the imaging of DSO's that people got from the scope made it seem the best option so I went for it and IMO i think its a great scope and will be good for a very long time, espicially on a good mount.

Good luck and enjoy your scope whatever you get