so hard to make a choice

[johnboy999]

So far the hardest thin g in astronomy is not locating objects but

deciding on the write equipment , i've been tooing and throwing

from one type of set to another but now think i should just bite the bullet and take the consequences if I screw up.

So this will be my last post before buying .

I was dead set on a small mak goto but got put off by the

cool down times for maks and reading reviews of various gotos

it seems none are faultless especially in my budget range.

I have now set my Total budget at £800 this is for scope , mount and eyepieces.

My first decision (and please don'

t put me off) is to go back to basics and buy a non goto mount, after reading all the reviews the most simple and high quality mount in my range is the skywatcher az4 steel tripod, I cant find a bad word against it.

It seems it will manage a fair load which suit scopes in my range.

But what do i put on it, I cant find any packages with this mount

so it seems I need an ota that will fit it well.

Please throw suggestions at me.

I should point out that I have no interest in photography at the moment and that I want something fairly portable.

The mounts 179 which leaves around 621 but i would want a couple of decent eyepieces that I can keep for ever so maybe I have around 500 for scope.

Thanks and please put me out of my misery.

[Jon Sales]

I'd buy a skywatcher 150 or 200 P Newtonian on the EQ3 Synscan mount for that money.

[basher0010]

i was in the same dillema however ive decided the 200 newtonian on the eq5 mount for £390 from wex photographic is looking pretty good

Sky-Watcher Explorer-200P (EQ5) Parabolic Newtonian Reflector Telescope (10923/20464) - wex photographic

it does not look too portable though maybe with a larger car who knows..

[E621Keith]

The most simple and quality mount is a Dobsonian mount.

You should consider the £520 SW 250p Flextube dob First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 250px FlexTube Dobsonian

You can spend your remaining £280 on some quality eyepieces, finders and accessories.

[sticks]

Cool down times aren't much of an issue with my MAK127 and the goto works brilliantly............

[johnboy999]

Thanks for suggestions so far, Dobs are not for me unless it's a smaller one which is more transportable, so far I am considering a tal100rs I know it's not the smallest but they have good reviews and I can then spend balance on quite decent bits. and in the future maybe upgrade to an apo or something but I will still have the decent bits.