i cant decide please help

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Ya Wilso, another point to think about is the amount of light pollution you suffer with. I live in the West Midlands and light pollution is terrible here. I think you live in or near to Sheffield and if the light pollution is the same as I have to put up with, the 127 won't really allow you to view galaxies and nebulae below or fainter than about mag 9, which means the majority of the galaxies and nebulae won't be visible in the 127 - I have one and they're great on the planets and moon, but if you set the goto to a galaxy or nebulae fainter than about mag 9 you won't see anything - its fine on clusters, but the majority of the deep sky will be invisible. so if you suffer from bad light pollution (as I do) you'll struggle - the rule of thumb is that if you can see the Milky Way you'll be ok, but if you cant see the Milky Way (as I can't) bear in mind you'll only see the minority of the brightest Deep Sky Objects, Globulars and open clusters. Take Care and clear skies.

Paul

[BazMark]

I think as everyone has pointed out that each of these scopes has its strengths and weaknesses. I had a SW114pm before I bought my 127 Mak and there are times when I wish I still had it as there were things I could see with that, that I can't see as well with my Mak because I can't get the mag low enough with the Mak.

The Mak is far far better on the moon, planets, splitting double stars and resolving globular clusters than the 114pm was but the 114pm was better for galaxies even though it had a 13mm smaller mirror. I also preferred the wide FOV of the 114pm for viewing open clusters like the Plieades and the beehive.

My favourite of the two scopes has to be the 127 Mak, but I'm sure that in time I will end up with at least two scopes so that I can enjoy the strengths of both types.

[Quatermass]

I would go for the 150p on an eq5 having had the 130p as my first scope. Go to scopes are a luxury you dont need. You need a bigger primary mirror and a good solid mount a 150p and an eq5 combo on your budget gets my vote every time.

Sent from my GT-S5670 using Tapatalk

[earth titan]

Having owned a 127mak, I can report they are fabulous on planets, but on deep sky stuff - not brilliant. The long focal length indicates its primary usage - planets! For deep sky stuff, better off with 'faster' scopes. Most people end up owning more than 1 scope regrettably, so you are ideally looking for a compromise. A newtonian, around f6, as big as you can afford, would work for most things. If cash is tight, I would suggest mounting on an eq3 or eq5 if you can stretch that far, with one motorized axis (i recently sold one on ebay for around (£140)) so they are reasonably affordable.

Hope this helps.

[kbp]

I looked at the Skymax 127 at a stargazing event on Friday and although I didn't see the Celestron 127, I was able to look at both goto setups: the Celestron goto system (for me) was much better with its 'easy alignment process'.

good luck

Karen

[wilso31]

I live in sheffield yes and i also own a celestron 114 900 powerseeker. I havent tried viewing while in sheffield but where I lived in hincley I had good views of the orion sword area but had problems tracking it. the wife wants to be observing these kinds of things and both rothervalley optics and sherwood have both said that the 127 is good enough. Am i going to be better off with the 130p because of this.

I dont want to spend more on something that i will be dissapointed with especially when it £100 more.

the wife insists on a goto

[BazMark]

I don't think you'll be disappointed with either scope on a GoTo mount. Do bear in mind the earlier posts on the different strengths of the two scopes. They are not imaginary, they are real and neither scope is going to be better than the other on everything. The short focal length of the 130p and its supplied eyepieces will not get you anywhere near the high magnification of the 127Mak for really good views of the planets.

However, another option might be to get the 130p and invest the difference in cost between it and the 127Mak in a really good quality high power eyepiece for planetary viewing. A good 5mm for example will give you 130x. I personally use a TS Planetary HR with my Mak as it has good eye relief. However, I'm sure there are fellow astronomers on here that would suggest which would work well with the 130p.

With this option you have the benefits of the lower power and wide field of view of the short focal length 130p but also a respectable higher power option for viewing the moon and planets.

Just a thought.