Celestron or Sky-watcher

[Boyleyuk]

HI,

So i am looking to purchase either of the following scopes but which would be the better/more reliable scope?

Celestron NexStar 127 SLT Computerised Telescope

Sky-Watcher Skymax-127 SynScan AZ GoTo Telescope

regards

david

[Cornelius Varley]

Which mount do you prefer ? The telescopes are identical, they are both made by the parent company synta. The SLT mount has a built in battery box and the star alignment routine is slightly better. You can use any celestial body including planets to align the mount, Synscan requires you to have a bit of knowledge of the stars for its alignment. The Skywatcher has a database ten times the size of the SLT but most of those will be beyond the reach of the telescope.

Peter

[8472]

Aren't they both Chinese made?

[Capricorn]

Aren't they both Chinese made?

Synta (China) own both Celestron and Skywatcher, the scopes come out of the same place.

Equally lots of scope come out of China, and even more of the eyepieces.

Actually a bit strange that there are even minor differences in various aspects at this time.

[steppenwolf]

Both mounts are good, I have just bought the Sky-Watcher AZ GoTo mount for my new grab 'n go observing system but the driving force behind that decision was price. The SW is a little more basic, an external battery box and no off/on switch but a much bigger database although as already suggested, many of these objects would be 'out of reach' of any telescope you mounted on it.

I may be wrong but I cannot imagine that many people would opt for powering either of these with standard battery cells so the Celestron's built in battery box probably isn't of any great interest so in either case an external PowerTank or leisure battery would be a better bet for power.

I have found the SW AZ mount to be very quick to align and accurate in its GoTos but the Celestron is a little more 'swish' in its alignment routine. I control mine with an old Sony Clie PDA so I have a huge database of objects that I will never see through it :grin:

I suspect that you would be pleased with either one.

[Boyleyuk]

Both mounts are good, I have just bought the Sky-Watcher AZ GoTo mount for my new grab 'n go observing system but the driving force behind that decision was price. The SW is a little more basic, an external battery box and no off/on switch but a much bigger database although as already suggested, many of these objects would be 'out of reach' of any telescope you mounted on it.

I may be wrong but I cannot imagine that many people would opt for powering either of these with standard battery cells so the Celestron's built in battery box probably isn't of any great interest so in either case an external PowerTank or leisure battery would be a better bet for power.

I have found the SW AZ mount to be very quick to align and accurate in its GoTos but the Celestron is a little more 'swish' in its alignment routine. I control mine with an old Sony Clie PDA so I have a huge database of objects that I will never see through it :grin:

I suspect that you would be pleased with either one.

thanks for your help with this I have read a few posts about the quality of the motor on the sw, think ill opt for the celestron

[Alan_B]

Does the Celestron mount take a vixen dovetail ?

Does the SLT have a dovetail attached.

The answer to these would infuence me if I were considering these as it would limit the options for mounting other scopes or using the OTA on other mounts

[steppenwolf]

thanks for your help with this I have read a few posts about the quality of the motor on the sw, think ill opt for the celestron

Funnily enough, I've just read the same thing about the Celestron motors - thus confirming that everyone's mileage can differ!

[Alan_B]

Just had a look on Youtube & it would appear that the SLT does take a vixen dovetail and one is fitted to the OTA - think I was getting confused with th "SE" range

Just comes down to the stability of the tripod/mount , they look very similar does anyone know if one is more stable than the other

[Russe]

I bought my beloved 127 skywatcher a while back. I didn't like the mount at all. Very whimsical construction. If you focus you need to wait a while for the vibrations to wear off. If a tiny gust of wind comes, as well vibrations. Moved on to a heq5 and am happy now. The scope is brilliant on planets and does fairly well on DSO's. Will take a different scope in the future. Can't decide though between APO or Newtonian...