First scope...

[TKO]

Hi,

Please excuse my ignorance as i am new to star gazing, but i cannot decide which telescope to buy.

I have done some research and narrowed it down to 2.

Either the Sky Watcher Capricorn 70mm EQ1, or the Sky Watcher Evostar 90 (90mm EQ2).

Price is only £40 difference but i wasnt sure if the Evostar would be more complicated to use, and if it was worth buying the 'starter' scope first?

Any help/advise would be appreciated.

Tommy

[Carbon Brush]

First. Forget money. Sounds daft, but.....

Tell us about how you will use the scope. Are you lugging kit down 3 flights of stairs? Are you observing from your garden or travelling to a dark site? Is the scope just for you? Any problems lifting heavy kit?

The best scope is the one you make most use of. Anything that is not suited to your use is no good. Regardless of optical performance and price.

David.

PS.almost forgot. welocme to SGL. ask away lots of people only too happy to help.

[TKO]

My girlfriend and I have just moved from a 2nd floor flat into a 2 bedroom house (part of the reason we want to start star gazing - nice size garden, no stairs to lug equipment up and down etc). Lifting is no problem anyway (25 and fitness consultant/crossfitter so pretty healthy lol)

We just want a half decent scope to observe planets, stars etc. Nothing too serious just something good enough for some breathtaking views

[Carbon Brush]

Good start. You can carry a scope and don't need to travel!

You would I'm guessing like something fairly quick to set up and use.

With a newtonian reflector scope, you get lots of light gathering for your £££ spent.

If you start looking at more complex scopes, or goto packages, you start sharing the money around optics, mount & electronics.

A general purpose scope would be a 6" or 8" (150mm or200mm) dia reflector. You get lots of light for your money. Size is not too big to handle. Now for mounting. A dobsonian is quick and easy to set up. You need to move the scope around the sky, it won't auto track (unless you start spending again. With either scope you have something that is easy to set up and get started, and can be put in the car if you want to observe from elsewhere.

You could a lot worse than the Skywatcher range. Link here for a 150 at FLO.

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian

Now we all have different ideas about scopes, so wait for more opinions to come in!

[633_steve]

Another vote for the 150P dobsonian from me. It really is a tough scope to beat for a beginner.