Is Celestron worth £60 more?

[lfc t]

Am tempted with the Sky Watcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO for £269 but also tempted by the Celestron NexStar 130SLT for £329.

Is the quality of the Celestron worth the extra £60 or would you recomend the Sky Watcher and £60 worth of extras?

Is there much difference in the GOTO equipment?

[manofscience]

They are both made by the same parent company and the sort of products that they each make a similar version of seem almost identical.

Having said that, Ive recently bought a celestron 127mak SLT and the GOTO & optics are identical to the SW, but I heard from a few different retailers before I bought that the celestron is marginally better due to it's better build quality (ie mount) But im sure the difference is negligible. I went for the celestron purely because I knew I could get one of these quicker and Im an impatient man!

E2A:

By the sounds of it, if you're willing to still spend the £60 difference and dont mind waiting for the stock to come in (Most telescopes seem to be in short supply atm!) get the SW and spend the £60 on eyepieces/barlow etc as the supplied EPs with any new scope are usually pretty naff

[richbyers]

SW and extras...or whatever you can get first!

[lfc t]

That's very interesting, sounds like the extra £60 is for a designer label lol. Unfortunatly both are out of stock at the moment so im learning to be patient.

[Cornelius Varley]

The SLT and Synta AZ GOTO mounts look similar but are completely different. The SLT GOTO system (Skyalign) is a bit better than Synscan because you don't need to know the names or location of any star, similar slew the telescope to your chosen alignment object (can be a planet or the moon even), then slew to the second and third alignment objects and the software identifies the objects you have aligned to and maps the sky from them. The Synscan software requires you to select a region of sky and then you need to slew the mount to the coordinates the handset gives you to locate the brightest star in that region. The system works but is a bit more complicated. The SLT mount also has a built in battery compartment - no dangling wires with this one.

Peter

[JamesM]

One difference that I can see between the two scopes is that the Celestron has a 'Starpointer' finderscope with a red LED instead of regular straight through finder that is included with the Skywatcher variant. Does that account for part of the £60 difference? No idea.

I would certainly give First Light Optics a ring to find out if maybe we have missed another difference that would account for the price variance.

Clear skies

James

[lfc t]

I don't mind waiting, i planned on getting 1 20years ago and i'm just getting around to it lol, so a few more month isn't gonna make to much difference. If i get the SW and save the £60 would you recommend the revelation eyepiece kit? i think it's about £120 and comes with a case, 5 lenses and a few filters. If it's a half decent kit then i should have a good selection of equipment to get me started without breaking the bank.

[Joguj]

I brought a SW 130p goto a few months ago. I can't comment on the alignment processes being different but the celestron does sound easier from the previous post. It took me 2 or 3 setups with the SW synscan before I got the hang of it, you need to locate one star by name and centre the eyepiece and then it will slew to a second for you to centre. Bit confusing at first but second nature now, and it forces you to at least look at some star charts and learn the names. After that part, I shouldn't think it differs from the Celestron goto in terms of operation much. And I love the Goto, set it up carefully and it keeps objects centred in the eyepiece for 30mins or more without adjustment.

I also purchased the Revelation eyepiece kit believe it or not! It's good value, but in retrospect, I would have maybe been better off buying separate eyepieces as I progressed. Don't really use the filters apart from the moon, and the 20mm and 12mm don't come out of the box much. The 9mm gets a fair amount of use, and the 32mm is always a favourite. I have just ordered a better quality 5mm however for planetary views without a Barlow. The Revelation kit is good value but, as others will probably confirm, you should make use of the supplied eyepieces first for a while and you'll have a better idea on how you want to upgrade.

As for the scope, I don't have experience of any others so I can't really compare, but I am satisfied with the views from a fairly low budget piece of kit. Detail on Saturn and Jupiter and moons, beautiful Lunar views and a reasonable effort with M42 and a few galaxies on very clear nights so far. I have some posts on this forum with pictures of Saturn and Jupiter taken with a Philips webcam if you search. The tripod supplied is a bit flimsy, but I never extend the bottom section and place a heavy rock on the eyepiece tray after its levelled which helps steady it down. The focusser is also a bit of a pain, pretty course and especially difficult to use with a webcam - so better focusser is also on my wanted list. But considering what you get for your money, I couldn't really complain too much. If the Celestron build and focusser improve on the SW then it may be worth the extra - if the supplied eyepieces are better than the SW then even more so but I can't comment there, maybe someone else can.

[Jon Sales]

Doesn't the Skywatcher synscan handset also have far more objects in the database than the equivalent Celestron?

[Joguj]

Not sure, it could have but how many out of 40,000+ will you actually be able to spot? I don't think that alone would persuade me to fork out more money to be honest. I'll be lucky to get through 500 in my lifetime.

[spaceboy]

Doesn't the Skywatcher synscan handset also have far more objects in the database than the equivalent Celestron?

I doubt it would make a great deal of difference with a 5" newt as this and LP would be the deciding factor to how many things could be viewed in the catalogues. They are as for the best part the same scope but the mounts are slightly different. The SLT has a guide/ AUX port, on/off switch, concealed battery compartment and different dovetail clamp. The SW version has no on off switch, AUX port and uses an external power pack and a single thumbscrew dovetail lock nut. Both come on a flimsy tripod and kill batteries. The nexstar HC of the SLT I feel offers more than the synscan in that it will give you a small scrolling text of what you are looking at upon request. A nice little touch for beginners I think. Both require you to have some knowledge of brighter stars in the sky at any present time to align the mount so they are on level ground there. Although the mount and Nexstar of the SLT is more appealing to me given the choice I would wait for the SW version to come in stock as for me I just do not rate these mounts for the loads they have to carry and paying an extra £60 would be better spent on EP's and a bag of sand to help dampen vibrations in the flimsy tripod.

[Jon Sales]

That's true unless you travel with your scope intercontinental a lot you're very unlikely to see even a quarter of them.

Going by personal experience of looking through a lot of scopes at viewing events the Skywatchers are lovely to look through but for planetary viewing the Nexstar 5SE was amazingly clear.

I had a Celestron C9.25 sct about 15 years ago and the optics on that scope were excellent. Even back then without Starbright coatings it was so clear DVD resolution on the planets and the moon was amazing.

[lfc t]

Thanks everyone. Plenty of pro's, con's & food for thought there. I've sent an e-mail to FLO to find out when they'll have any stock of either.

[lfc t]

No answer as to when they'll have any stock but i did get this answer as to which scope was better.

Hi Tony, Thanks for contacting us, yes your right there is a UK shortage at present of both these models and others, The Celestron is by far the better quality scope and has more options within the handset etc also easier to use, they are both similar, but the celestron is the superior.

I hope this helps, if you have further questions don't hesitate to ask away.

Regards

SteveB