Skywatcher 127 GoTo Mak

[Jon Sales]

Hi all,

Does anyone have one of the Skywatcher 127 Synscan maks here that could offer some advice?

Looking for a good general purpose scope that I can use with my girlfriend at night as well as taking abroad with us.

How big is the OTA and mount for airline travel?

I know it is well under the weight limit fur hand luggage for the airline we use but want to know if it will fit in a purpose made hand luggage bag for storage in the hand luggage compartment of a plane.

Or should I be looking at an alternative?

I won't be needing to do AP other than the moon and planets occasionally with it but do need the convenience of a GoTo mount and be easy to transport on a plane so size/weight must be kept to a minimum.

Thanks for your help.

[RikM]

The OTA will probably go as hand luggage but I doubt the mount will.

[Jon Sales]

The other aternative would be to get a short tube refractor on a GoTo

[RikM]

It's not the OTA.

I don't think any GoTo mount will go as hand luggage, the tripods are just too long and heavy. The Skymax Supatrak mount is the better part of 3.5 feet long at it's shortest. (110cm), but I have Vixen legs on mine, so they are a bit shorter and stronger than the standard SkyWatcher ones.

[Jon Sales]

Thanks for the advice.

Might be moving to Cyprus soon so I'll drive it down. May well get a smaller mount for trips to Kenya with it tho, just have to forego the goto option.

The kids in the orphanage over there will be amazed at what's above them at night