Replacing my Skywatcher 200mm eq5.......

[Raju]

hi guys.....

i want a bit of advice.....at the moment i have the skywatcher 200mm eq5 which is a reflector telescope.....the problem is, because its so big i kind of find it a hassle getting it out and travelling with it......im kind of a busy person so i really should have thought about all this before i bought this sope.......

my question- what telescope is out there that is a schmidt-cassegrain that will have the same obeserving abilities and qualities as this one?

i still class my self as a true newbie but i do understand that a schmidt-cassegrain is smaller in size therefore more practical for me.

please could you guys recommend me a model.......my budget is under £700 and maybe just under £800........

thank you

[goolosh]

That's a tough one! Celestron has several catadioptric telescopes around that price range but to get a 200mm aperture at that cost and still be a good scope will be hard to come by.

[Capricorn]

To get the same as one 200mm you need another 200mm, basically the Celestron 8SE or the Meade LX (I think they re LX's).

However an SCT is not exactly lightweight either, there is a bunch of optics in them and a corrector plate. I would not expect you to really save a great deal of weight.

Really you need a smaller scope for the travelling and transportaable aspect.

I have a Meade ETX-105 and that would seem an option, same size as the 4SE.

Problem with the travelling is that these all need power.

Is it the scope alone that is too big ?

If so get an OTA and swap the scopes according to what you are doing, still means carting the EQ5 round.

Smaller scope consider a refractor as a compliment to the 200P, TS do a few 80mm and 90mm that fit your budget. They have a couple of 102mm's that just scrape in. The TSED8053 looks reasonable at 340Euro. 80mm's are often a good grab and go scope. They are a fair reduction in aperture however from the 200P.

The overall problem is that size and convenience are not always compatible partners.

[rwilkey]

If you are prepared to go a bit smaller I would suggest the SW 150P on an AZ4 mount as a good compromise, that way you lose the hassle of the weights on the EQ mount and you still have a pretty good reflector to boot on a flexible mount.

[HW Orion]

Could you not replace the OTA with something smaller? I have the same scope and certainly find the OTA to be the single most unwieldy part. I think Skywatcher does a range of Maksutovs and the 150 or 180 should be within your budget. I wish I had the cash to splash out on one of those bad boys!

[LeeB]

I'd go skyliner 200p goto dob, £760 (FLO), all the power , functionality and no weights and calapses to a single carry lump.