skywatcher 150 pds eq3 pro synscan go to.

[Tiberius]

Hi all,I'm new here and would like to know your opinions on the skywatcher explorer 150 PDS eq3 pro synscan go to.I'm seriously considering this as my first scope.

I've always been fascinated by the night sky and have finally decided to get a better look.I appreciate I'm not going to see things as well as pro scopes,but if anyone has one of these, what could I expect to see with it?

Eventually I would like to get into astrophotography,I've read some old posts about the eq5 mount for this,but that would smash my budget:(

I've seen the scope and eq3 mount for £609 including delivery,and if it wasn't for the missus going halves as a birthday present I doubt I'd even be looking at this one.

Many thanks, Darren.

[Chris]

Hi and welcome to the forum:)

Some great images have been taken with the 150p/pds on here and it will be a fairly good allrounder as a visual scope. I've just picked up a 150p and I'm looking forward to imaging with it on my HEQ5. I'm a bit concerned about how a 150 would handle on an eq3?, I think it would be at its limits for visual work and beyond its limits for DSO imaging, although it should be fine for planetry webcam imaging. Also with reflectors you will need a collimator such as a cheshire or laser collimator, I think a cheshire is about 30-35 quid. Collimation is not too difficult to learn, and newts give you a lot of aperture for your money, and the 150p/pds is f/5 so it has fast optics which are ideal for imaging so its a good choice of scope:) its just the mount in my opinion:( would you consider getting a basic eq5 and adding the motor kit, you would abviously lose the Goto but you would a have a more robust mount which tracks and for less money than the eq3 pro.

[Tiberius]

Hi starfox,thanks for the welcome.

I was going to get the goto as I don't know my way round yet and thought it would be the best,easiest,way to get started.Maybe once I'm more competent in knowing what I'm looking at I'll upgrade to an eq5 for imaging.

Also,how portable would you say this is? There's a fair bit of LP where I live,but I don't have far to go for areas without LP.

Regards,Darren.

[Chris]

Hi Darren, A cheaper and in my opinion more effective way to learn the sky is to down load Stellarium (free to download) and use this to star hop, this also gives you a sense of achievement when you locate the chosen target:) I would say that the 150 is portable for a reflector but if I wanted to have a portable scope which had imaging capabilities further down the line I would go for a refractor, they are smaller, lighter, and don't need collimating. A small good quality refractor won't be as good on DSO's as a larger reflector but its portability means that it might get used a lot more. I only got a 150p as I'm having it fixed to a pier on my HEQ5 in a shed observatory, for portability I use my small good quality refractor (zs66).

[Daniel-K]

sound advice from star fox. imaging you will need a eq5 the eq3 is to unstable with a newt like that it would only take a gust of wind and it will be over on the deck with £££ smashed all over it would be ok for visual get the best mount you can afford.

[Tiberius]

Cheers for the advice guys:hello2:.

I'll definitely download stellarium,looks smart,if I take out the street light 20 yards from my back garden conditions would almost be perfect

I have found a site that does the scope with eq5 goto for £680,considering some places sell the eq3 goto for more than this,It's seems too good to miss.

I'm sure I could persuade my better half of the benefits of the eq5,after all, she will be enjoying the starry nights with me;)

Once again,thanks.It's good to get opinions from people who know what they're on about.

[Chris]

your welcome:) The 150 with eq5 goto sounds like a good option to me:)

[Tiberius]

Thanks starfox,for a little extra money spent now on eq5 mount should mean not having to upgrade for a while.

The scopes themselves don't seem to be too expensive,once I've got myself started maybe I'll start looking for a refractor scope as well.

Got a few weeks till my birthday,hopefully the missus will let me get the sw 150 early.

[Daniel-K]

The scopes themselves don't seem to be too expensive

wait till you want a triplet refractor

[Tiberius]

Oh dear,definitely one slow step at a time I think.

[Ags]

Welcome to the forum!

[Tiberius]

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome Agnes,everyone's so friendly here:hello2:

Going to order scope at end of the month and I'm off work second week of June so will have a whole week to play around. Can't wait.

Regards,Darren.