What to advise :£300 ?

[cotterless45]

Was asked today to advise a couple interested in astronomy ( complete novices) what to buy as a scope. Kind of joint Chrimbo present.

Difficult to advise, came up with SW Startravel 102 on Synscan ; £310.

It'll do the Moon and they should with little effort find other things.

If someone presented me with that, I'd be pleased.

Any suggestions.......no use suggesting bins or a nice Dob!!!!!!

Nick.

[Ags]

Why not a dob?

I can't help feeling the startravels are a bit limited. A four or five inch mak will give far better views of the moon and planets, and give better views of smaller DSOs.

[LukeSkywatcher]

How about this:

http://www.firstligh...lorer-130p.html

Very popular starter scope and leaves a bit of cash for some accessories.

[kamikaze1100]

How about this:

http://www.firstligh...lorer-130p.html

Very popular starter scope and leaves a bit of cash for some accessories.

one of my buddies has one of 'em and for the cash it's a nicely put together thang!!

[Astro Imp]

How about:-

http://www.firstligh...150p-eq3-2.html

I use one of these and have been very happy with it and it's pretty much on budget.

[Celeste]

Skywatcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO £298

Celestron NexStar 90 SLT goto £297

Skywatcher Skymax 102 SynScan AZ GOTO £326 (a little bit more)

Celestron NexStar 130 SLT £330

[BlueAstra]

I started with one of these. Enough aperture to see quite a few things, especially the moon. The goto was great for a novice to allow me to find things easly without getting frustrated while a gradually learned the sky. Even tried a bit of eyepiece projection photography with it.

[onesmallstep]

Hi

Depending on what they want to observe what about the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ. This comes in under budget and leaves money for astronomy accessories such as a star atlas, red light torch, extra EPs and/or moon filter, and the all important warm clothing!

http://www.astronomycentre.co.uk/Celestron_Newtonian_Telescope_AstroMaster_130_EQ_p/c31045.htm

HTH!