Celestron 127 SLT ?or? SkyWatcher 127

[autonm]

Having had a Meade ETX-70 for a few years I am looking at a new scope. Based on my budget I have narrowed it down to a Celestron 127 SLT MAK or a SkyWatcher 127. Both taking the Goto option.

From my research they are physically the same scope? so except for price can any one advise me on which to go for?

SkyWatcher - FOR's

I read that the SkyWatcher softwre comes with several 1000 more items in the software, but in all honesty I really dont think i will get to use them or even the ability to see them.

Has a better viewfinder, where as the Celestrons has a poor red-light viewfinder.

Celestron - FOR's

GOTO software has more and easier alignment options.

Other questions:

Which is the easiest to power externally?

If I do not power them - i.e. no batteries of external power, am I am to still manually more the telescope? Even when my ETX-70 has no power, I can still move it. I am a little unsure on this question.

Do both scopes use the same accessories? or are their more accessories - camera mounts, webcam mounts etc available for one that the other?

Could I upgrade both scopes to a EQ3 / EQ5 mount in the future?

Anything else that may swing my choice?

Many thanks !!!

[autonm]

If no one can give me a comparison, is there anyone with either of these scopes who could tell me, are hey have with the one they went with or for some reason or other would have gone with the other ?

Thanks.

[Leebert]

I don't know about the Celestron but have a Skywatcher 127 on an Alt Az Goto mount. It is my grab n go scope and I really like it. I made up a power lead that connects to a 12v battery. I have seen similar leads on a website whose name escapes me for the minute. The mount has a clutch for alt but not Az so you can't really use it with the power off. The tube has a standard dovetail mount and I use it on a HEQ5 for planetary imaging with a webcam. As for accessories, it came with 25mm and 10mm eyepieces and a 2x Barlow.

I was originally going to get a Nextstar 5 or 6 but, for me, I'm glad I went for the 127 as I already knew the handset controls.

Which ever one you go for - have fun

[Leebert]

Found the power cable site...

http://astronomiser.co.uk/index.htm

[autonm]

thanks Lee, just had a look at your SkyWatcher 127 Flickr pictures - amazing especially saturn !!

thanks for the link too. 'if' I end up with a similar setup of (either) 127 hopefully you can pass me some advice on recreating similar pictures.

..... I understand that I would need (hopefully) a SPC webcam and I get the idea of registax.

[ismangil]

Last week I was choosing between 130p SLT and SynScan.

Originally was willing to pay a bit more for the fabled easy align three bright stars, however I saw a video explaining how it really only uses two star, and the third star is used to identify which two it is.

So he actually advised against using Skyalign as "you're being penalised having to slew to a third star because you don't know the name of bright stars"

So he advised just use Polaris, because it's always there and it's lonely, and the second star you don't have to really know exactly where (unless you don't have 360 view) because the scope will slew there on its own and it will be fairly obvious which bright star it meant.

On mobile (excuse the strange predictive words...)

[autonm]

Last week I was choosing between 130p SLT and SynScan.

Originally was willing to pay a bit more for the fabled easy align three bright stars, however I saw a video explaining how it really only uses two star, and the third star is used to identify which two it is.

So he actually advised against using Skyalign as "you're being penalised having to slew to a third star because you don't know the name of bright stars"

So he advised just use Polaris, because it's always there and it's lonely, and the second star you don't have to really know exactly where (unless you don't have 360 view) because the scope will slew there on its own and it will be fairly obvious which bright star it meant.

On mobile (excuse the strange predictive words...)

thanks. so that being said with my ETX it was aligned with Polaris + 1 other star and 90% of the time it worked. I suppose it looks that this is basically coming down to which scope I can get at the cheapest £/price.

Skywatcher is coming in at £364 with the Celestron at £399. Rather £35 in my pocket.

[Leebert]

thanks Lee, just had a look at your SkyWatcher 127 Flickr pictures - amazing especially saturn !!

thanks for the link too. 'if' I end up with a similar setup of (either) 127 hopefully you can pass me some advice on recreating similar pictures.

..... I understand that I would need (hopefully) a SPC webcam and I get the idea of registax.

Thanks - glad you like them. I must admit to being very impressed with the little 127 for planetary imaging.

An SPC webcam, the barlow lens that comes with the scope and registax is indeed all you need. It's fairly straightforward once you get the knack. Once you're set up, feel free to ask any questions - There are loads of people that successfully use the SPC series webcams to produce some fantastic images!