Compact Scope for travel?

[jimieee]

Hi All,

I'm going on holiday soon to a part of Tenerife with reasonably dark skies and wanted to take a scope with me.

Currently I've only got a 6inch newt, on an EQ3 mount - so a bit large for hand luggage! I was thinking about buying a cheap-ish 70-80mm refractor (for about about £100) and compact enough to fit in a backpack.

I already have a range of lenses, filters etc, so I think I can get away with buying a "tube only" setup and either using my existing EQ3, or Camera tripod (if compatible).

I've just been looking over the Astronomia website and I've spotted a few options:

Celestron Travel Scope 70 (Comes with camera tripod) £70

Sky-watcher StarTravel 80T (Tube only) £109

Sky-watcher StarTravel 80 (With EQ1 table top mount) £115

Sky-watcher Skymax 90T (Tube only) £129 - Maksutov-Cassegrain

Any thoughts on this?

Which travels better? A Refractor, or a Mak?

I also have a pair of 10x56 astronomical binoculars, which are great but don't give me quite the magnification that I would like.

Thanks in advance.

James

[nightfisher]

I would suggest the star travel80mm, they are pretty good scopes

[Ganymede12]

I have a Sky-Watcher Mercury 707 refractor. It's light and portable, I carry it around in a large football kit bag (the kind with wheels on the bottom).

[Stevie816]

Hi James

My vote goes for the Celsetron TravelScope 70. It feels like a toy being mostly plastic but it's therfore very light. It performs really well and gives great views. I can see dso's quite well and planets are recognisable but no real details( I often see m13, 81 31 82 and others Alberio is cool ) but it excels at wide views. The tripod is poor but it fits straight onto my camera tripod. And again it's small light and cheap.

Regards Steve

[x6gas]

The tripod that comes with the Celestron Travelscope is utterly useless so that shouldn't come into your decision... I bought mine for £45 new so if you go down that route it's worth shopping around...

[Daz1974]

The travel scope 70 is £52-£53 in currys dixons pc world John Lewis and amazon.

Ive just ordered one to take to the Lisbon coast next week along with my 10x50 Meade binocs.

[Spacerock]

The travel scope 70 is £52-£53 in currys dixons pc world John Lewis and amazon.

Ive just ordered one to take to the Lisbon coast next week along with my 10x50 Meade binocs.

Funnily enough I've just got a travelscope 70 and am taking it to Ibiza next Saturday along with my Meade 10 x 50s! Might well get a new tripod as the one that comes with it borders on unusable.

Anyone got any suggestions?

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have a travelscope 70 and i want to go to the Lisbon coast next week.

[jimieee]

Thanks Guys.

I think that although the 80-90mm are very tempting, the £54 Celestron is too much of a bargain to ignore!

I've just reserved mine online, at Currys. I'll definitely checkout the mount before I go - I have a camera tripod, so I will try to see if that is any better.

[Paulb3098]

Hi James

I've recently got the startravel-80 tabletop for the same reason. Not managed to get out at night yet. I've have made a solar filter and managed to take some pics, so far I'm impressed with the scope. Also comes in a compact carry bag.

Paul

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

We're off to Menorca later in the year and I seriously thought about a startravel80.However,I happened to be in Aldi last thursday buying a duvet cover (got to keep the wife happy),when I found a Optus 60mm 20-60 zoom spotting scope on a table tripod for £24.99. Of course I couldn't resist.After all,I could try it out and if it was rubbish,I could always get my money back.Did a bit of research on google,and archiving on this site.Reviews are mixed,but what can you expect for 25 quid? Ithink that I've been lucky and got a good 'un.I expected a lot of chromatic abberation,but it seems surprisingly good even at x60.SO far,astronomically,I've only looked at Jupiter,and could see 3 of the Galilean moons,and a definate disc,but no features.Previous posters have reported to be able to see Saturn's rings.There's a short video of the full moon through this scope on utube.Brilliant scope for birdwatching.

[Moonshane]

I made one of these http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/144863-6-f5-suitcase-dobsonian-project/

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

A bit more about the Optus.It has a standard camera tripod fitting and also comes with a neat carrying bag.Just a shame that it can't take conventional 1.25 eyepieces.

[jimieee]

Just picked up the 70mm Celestron, which has the flimsest tripod I have ever seen. Will definitely take my own photographic tripod, which is far more sturdy.

[ikorodu]

I too have recently got the travelscope. The tripod is very poor indeed but overall I'm happy with the scope on a cheap photo tripod that I already have. I've made a solar filter for it, more details here

Ikorodu

[Daz1974]

picked up my celestron travel scope this evening. i see what you all mean about the included tripod, mine has legs more wobblier than bruce grobbelaar in a penalty shootout.

I have another photo tripod which is far from excellent but a helluva lot better than the one supplied.

for a little bit of casual observing and something to do in the evenings in a villa in the middle of nowhere in portugal it will be more than sufficient.

[jimieee]

I've made a solar filter for it, more details here http://stargazerslou...p/#entry1589853

Nice! Might have a go at this myself.

[ikorodu]

Nice! Might have a go at this myself.

Thanks! It's easy enough to do and I was rewarded with some good full disk views of our nearest star.

Rob

[jimieee]

Hi Guys,

Just a follow up.

For those of you who bought one - how did you get on with your small scopes?

I had problems with transparency (we had a haze hanging over us most of the week) and a narrow view of the sky from my balcony - but still managed to get a really good view of Saturn + rings.

I found one advantage with the travel scope being a spotting scope and my having a sea view, was that I could look out to sea and see what was going on during the day.

I didn't have any problems with British, or Spanish, security and customs.

Overall I'm glad I didn't spend very much money, because the observing conditions were pretty poor, but it was fun to see Saturn - so I think it was a good buy.

[LukeSkywatcher]

The Travelscope is fine for widefield observing and day time observing. The tripod is useless. I use it on an 8115.

I cant say that i have been happy with observing planets with this scope. Its not designed to be good with planets.

Glad you saw Saturn with it.

Overall a greart scope for low cost.