which small mak

[johnboy999]

Hi Finally starting to narrow which scope to buy and after reading

up on various scopes I have decided on a small goto mak to start, the reasons being mainly portability and ease of use.

I have narrowed it down to the following three mainly because I

want to stay with bigger manufacturers.

meade etx90

celestron skyprodigy 90

celestron nexstar 4se

A few questions, if anyone knows the answers id be grateful

When reading a meade etx 90 review the reviewer stated it was quite noisy when finding and tracking objects, Im worried this may be a problem as I intend to use this scope at campsites and don't want to hack people off at midnight.

So does anyone know which would be quieter or am I worrying

too much .

Which one is the best quality , due to the high price there are hardly any reviews of the sky prodigy , in general who are better meade or celestron for quality.

the lens on the 4se has starbright coatings is this better than the lenses on the other two.#

The skyprodigys main feature is the setup speed is it really a lot faster and more accurate than the other two.

thanks in advance johnboy999

[Capricorn]

The Meade's make a decent noise when they slew to the next target, this is because they go at full speed. Like most motors being pushed they make a noise.

There is in the menu of the Meade ETX the option to set the scope to Quiet Slew, simply the scope slews at about 80% full speed. A lot quieter and you don't really notice.

Simply set this option to On and the Meade will make less noise. Not sure how much noise, but somewhat less.

I think that the Celestrons have a similar option whereby you tell the unit the Max Speed to use. Again set the Max to say 80% and it limits it's speed to a lower rate and makes less noise.

Suppose this is alittle mor eflexible as you can limit the speed to whatever you like so possibly 50% of Max for even quieter operation.

Meades have a habit of retaining settings, Celestrons have a habit of not retaining them after power off.

[John]

Optically the Meade's are good but I've read a lot about issues with the build quality of the ETX mounts. The Skyprodigy range are very new which is perhaps why there is little reported on them, as yet. The extra aperture of the Celestron and the decent reputation that the Nexstar mounts have would sway me towards that one I think. These are small aperture scopes though so it's worth bearing in mind that the views of many of the deep sky objects will be rather dim, if you can see them at all.

[DoctorD]

Have you considered the Synscan Skymax 102mm from Skywatcher - I'm very pleased with the performance of mine and it's easy in the mount which is usually fitted with the much heavier 127mm.

Clear skies

Paul

[rowan46]

If you have the cash for a sky prodigy why not spend it on larger apparture instead a 127mm mak is no less portable than a 4" mak and gives much better views. the skymax 127 has goto and is cheaper than any of your options

the celestron 127 mak ais about the same price and if you really want to splash out the nexstar 5 is cheaper than the sky prodigy. I like goto but the ones on the market work why pay a fortune just so that you have a couple of less buttons to press

[Ags]

Of these options, the 4SE. The skyprodigy seems a lot of money for automating an alignment procedure that only takes 5 minutes with the 4SE.

But I would also consider the skymax 127...

If you have the money for a skyprodigy, have a look at the nexstar 6SE :-)

[johnboy999]

Hi,thanks for the replies , as I want to start out with planetary and

double stars , I read that maks are probably the best all round choice for this and that it may be even beneficial to keep them to around 4 inches, this size also makes them more portable for travelling,

The quick set up is to make the scope more usable as the sky is clear one minute and cloudy the next.

I may get a larger home scope in the future once i'm sure I will stick with the hobby .

Anyway it seems the best choice is the se unless anyone can persuade me of the benefits of the sky prodigy , also saves a couple of ton which can be used for accessories.

[John]

Maks are good for planetary and double stars but require some cool down time before they give their best images, eg: 30-40 minutes or so, so allow for that in your plans. You will also need to budget for some dew prevention gear (ie: heated dew bands and / or a dew shield) because maks are "dew magnets".

[rowan46]

this is the the same scope as the 4se. the software on the mount isn't as sophisticated but it works very well and is a lot cheaper

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skymax 102 SynScan AZ GOTO

[johnboy999]

hi, is the cool down really that long for such a small telescope.

If so it totally rules out the skyprodigy I think as its main selling point is its quick set up.

[johnboy999]

sorry this may be a stupid question for you experienced stargazersbut if I keep the telescope set up in the shed which is cool already this will reduce the time to cool down. I hear the term cool down a lot , is it also the same in reverse ie on a warm night does the telescope have to reach the air temp before it give its best results.

[John]

Keeping a scope as close to the outside temp as possible, ie: in an unheated shed or garage will really make it much more "grab and go". Maks are an enclosed design so it takes longer for the tube to reach ambient temperature than other types. You can use them at low power while they cool though.

The scopes with the quickest set up time, in my opinion, are those on simple, undriven, non-GOTO alt-azimuth mounts like dobsonians and similar. No messing with alignment, cables or anything like that, just plonk them down and get viewing (assuming they are cooled !). You do need to find objects to view yourself and track manually but loads of us do that so it can't be that difficult.