If you had £500 to spend....

[Welrod50]

Hello all,

a purely theoretical question and just for fun. If the Mrs reads this - I am quite happy with the scope I've already got dear so no, I'm not looking for another one!!

OK, so if you had £500 to spend and not one penny more - what would you buy and why??

Refractor, Newtonian, Dobsonian etc

I'm interested in what scopes are out there, what folks would choose and the reasons behind it.

Lets see who agrees, who disagrees and which instruments (if any) appear to be firm favourites.

Oh and one last bit, I imagine that some retailers will sell some scopes at a higher price than others, so to qualify, you must have seen the scope on a website sometime very recently.

Off we go.....

[pajr777]

I'd get something suitable for packing up small and taking camping with the family as the 150 Newt is on the large side to pack! I don't know much about refractors so I'd have to do some research and find a great astronomy forum to ask some opinions

[stevetynant]

Hello all,

a purely theoretical question and just for fun. If the Mrs reads this - I am quite happy with the scope I've already got dear so no, I'm not looking for another one!!

OK, so if you had £500 to spend and not one penny more - what would you buy and why??

:

cases and cases of Chablis, Sauvignon Blanc and Caffreys before the damn Govt spoils all our fun

That aside - and it was someone else's money - 1 or 2 really good lens Naglers perhaps just to see whether there is actually "that much" difference.

[swamp thing]

If it had to be on a scope, then I guess a RFT of some description maybe:

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Explorer 150P DS OTA

I'd either make a Dob mount for it or mount it on top of the scope I'm building to act as a super finder.

Regards Steve

[mik]

Hmm perhaps a couple of TV eyepiece's

Mick

[wulfrunian]

I've just spent £429 on a 10" dob, so there's your answer! Because it takes two minutes to set up, it makes me find my own way around the sky, there are no electric to worry about, it gives great views, and it fits across the back seat of the car

[Starlight 1]

I spend it on the wife ,Then next time I would like to do a upgrade it will hard for her to say no.

[robbie c]

A second hand HEQ5pro that I'm looking for but can't find anywhere and a Bottle of jd to celebrate if I had some money left over when I found one

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[twotter]

TAL100RS on an EQ5.

A compliment to my SW 200P dob. The TAL has a good reputation and I would use it to indulge my interest for lunar and planetary obs. The EQ5 as the biggest GEM the budget could afford, though if a tracking or goto mount was available secondhand I'd go for that instead. I'd like to see if I prefer the mount to do the work rather than manual nudging as I do with my dob.

[Catweazel]

A second hand HEQ5pro

+1 on that

If it had to bew something new, I would go for a Canon 600D camera body.

[wheresthetorch?]

I think I'd go for a C6 OTA as it would fit on my mount and be a good aperture increase. Admittedly they're a bit over £500, but maybe I'd get a trade in . . .