Travel scope advice

[Mikejh]

Finger is poised over the buy button- good to hear that the faster scope CA is not horrendous - will be very interested how well the filter works for you.

[Brian Nordstrom]

How about something like this:

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=57198

Ideal hand luggage. Decent size for DSO,s and planets.

,

Woaw , what a beauty ? I like this .

Brian.

[Brian Nordstrom]

Hi, I didn't want to go over £100, and would prefer something that can sit on a photo tripod if possible.

The 70 Travel scope sounds good, but it worries me that it is too cheap?

Thanks to all for your help.

Thats a shame , I have a Takashei FS60C and at 300mm long it almost fits in my pocket for travel , more than once I have carried this scope on a plane in my laptop bag with my laptop and it rides easily on my photography tripod , the perfect travel scope .

Oh yes with flourite in 1 lense and typical Takashei build and optics it is a joy to use and its views are awsome , punching well above its 60mm size . From 16x thru 200x its a performer.

I love mine .

Brian.

[Nibor]

I was looking closely at the ARS80 too, great compact design and from the few reviews it's had here, it sounds like a bargain to me. I opted for a more chunky ED80 in the end.

I'd take 80mm of frac over 70mm of mak personally, if you can stretch to it... Nibor, how do you find the CA?

I wish I could have an ST80 and Opticstar AR80S side by side to get a better idea of the CA standing of the AR80S. Clearly there is CA on such a fast Achromatic but for widefield work at relatively low Mag (I generally use a Celestron 8 - 24mm Zoom - mag 50x - 17x) I haven't really found it a problem.

For lunar work I do not find the CA objectionable at lower magnifications but it obviously gets more pronounced at higher levels. This is why I mentioned that I am tempted to buy a "semi APO" filter simply to make the scope a bit more of a travel alrounder.

I really need more exposure to other refractor and APO scopes to better guage CA levels but I think the AR80S is a really nicely put together scope for the money and I enjoy using it.

Hope this helps.

[fountain]

Thanks for your help. I have gone for the C70 at £53.

I toyed with the Opticstar AR80, but at £140 it's too much for how often I'd use it.

There's no doubt that there are some good ones for not a fortune, which surprised me.

[Ifmfo]

Fountain,

Thanks for this thread which I've just come across (luckily before I posted a virtually identical one.)

I'd like to hear what you think of the Celestron Travel Scope when it arrives, I'm looking at that one too. We're going away somewhere dark in September (sounds a bit creepy, to clarify, we're going to stay in a forest cabin, hoping it will be dark sky!) but there won't be room for my SW 130M in the car after people/dog/luggage are packed in, nor is it probably the most practical thing to take on holiday.

The reviews of the Celestron 70 seem reasonably favourable on the whole, obviously for the price/mount I'm not expecting that it's going to be amazing, but hoping it would be adequate for a bit of convenient observing on the move.

As a possible alternative (I'm open to ideas) does anyone have any suggestions for half decent bins sub £50? I realise this is a pitiful budget but I can't afford to spend much more than that given that its only 6 months or so since I bought my 130, which is what I use at home, and I'm only after something for a quick observing session while out gallivanting.

Helen

[fountain]

Fountain,

Thanks for this thread which I've just come across (luckily before I posted a virtually identical one.)

I'd like to hear what you think of the Celestron Travel Scope when it arrives, I'm looking at that one too. We're going away somewhere dark in September (sounds a bit creepy, to clarify, we're going to stay in a forest cabin, hoping it will be dark sky!) but there won't be room for my SW 130M in the car after people/dog/luggage are packed in, nor is it probably the most practical thing to take on holiday.

The reviews of the Celestron 70 seem reasonably favourable on the whole, obviously for the price/mount I'm not expecting that it's going to be amazing, but hoping it would be adequate for a bit of convenient observing on the move.

As a possible alternative (I'm open to ideas) does anyone have any suggestions for half decent bins sub £50? I realise this is a pitiful budget but I can't afford to spend much more than that given that its only 6 months or so since I bought my 130, which is what I use at home, and I'm only after something for a quick observing session while out gallivanting.

Helen

Will let you know. It arrives on Monday, and I go away to Greece on Sunday, no chance of night sky here, so in that time I'm hoping to try and improve the mount stability. I haven't seen, specifically , where the problem lies with the mount, and am hoping that something as simple as a weight (bag of sugar, ), hung from the head will add stability.

[kmkyah]

Thanks for your help. I have gone for the C70 at £53.

I toyed with the Opticstar AR80, but at £140 it's too much for how often I'd use it.

There's no doubt that there are some good ones for not a fortune, which surprised me.

Where did you get your C70 from for £53?

[Ifmfo]

Kmkyah,

I got mine from John Lewis for around that price, but they're also on Amazon for under £50 at the moment.

Helen

[StarSteve]

I am thinking of getting a small scope to take on holidays abroad etc. Looking for something to carry in hand luggage, so nothing heavy, and not OTT price wise.

Any ideas?

Thanks you nice people

What I am about to write amounts to heresy but if you want to go really portable, durable and light you might want to consider a "spotting scope" (the nature variety not the finder variety).

Something like this little mak plus a compact or tabletop tripod would be about as travel-friendly as can be, even if your vacation is hiking in the Himalayas. Yes, yes even a humble ST80 might knock its socks off, is a real scope and so on, but for durability and travel-friendliness something like this might be hard to beat.

Steve

[damnut]

For me, my grab & go scope was a compromise. Something relatively inexpensive if it gets trashed, but gives me an opportunity to observe when on hols.

I had an st120, bullet proof, went in the roofbox,boot or the back seat, impervious to dog slobber, snow and sand. Yes it had some ca, yes it was on an az3, Did not matter, in the remote highlands or down in south wales could be set up in a minute and observing.

Would not go in a plane, but the st80 on a decent camera tripod would be fine.

Cheers