Any suggestions on a small telescope?

[sallystar]

I have booked a week away at Kelling Heath in the summer and want to take a

telescope as it will be the first time I will of experienced dark sky.

As my two sons are over 6 feet tall the space is limited in the car and I don't

think I will be able to fit my Skywatcher 200P in.

I have two options. I could leave the boys at home but I really need to take them

with me to ensure I have a home to go back to or I could buy a smaller travelling

telescope.

I have got a budget of about £400 and would welcome any suggestions.

[Oily]

The Heritage 130P Flextube at £130 ish should fit the bill

[Naemeth]

How about a Skywatcher Heritage 130P? It's pretty compact in it's box, and it's not too much of a drop off in terms of aperture from a 8".

Plus, it's way under budget .

[Pig]

Cant you put the boys in the boot - surely the scope takes priority

[perrin6]

maybe get a dobsonian mount for your present scope, or would it still not fit in the car ?

[Spikey]

How about a roof rack and a roof box and put the scope in that ?

[foundaplanet]

Are you just looking for a smaller scope and planning to use your existing mount?

[rowan46]

there is quite a few options for that sort of money the heritage as has been suggested, A good pair of binoculars

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/barr-stroud-binoculars/b-s-savannah-ED-56.html

http://www.firstligh...t-az-mount.html

a fair bit of false colour on bright objects but easy to set up und use and quite portable

or this one on a good photo tripod

http://www.teleskop-...ord-Auszug.html

very little false colour and very compact and probably a dozen more i haven't thought of

[Monty]

I bought the Skywatcher ST102 so it can fit in the motorbike trailer when camping.

[garethmob]

id go for the 130p heritage dob

[starman1969]

If you get a roof box, your boys can go in that! This will leave plenty of room for your 200p in the car.

Seriously though, maybe a 4" Maksutov on an alt-az mount.

[ollypenrice]

I'd go for something you don't have already and that will do things the 200P can't do. The Heritage is really only the 200P but less. So that would be a small widefield refractor on a camera tripod or used alt az of some kind. I bought an old but lovely TeleVue Pronto and later a Telepod mount on here within your budget. The widefield views are astounding. The entire Veil. The Rosette in direct vision... And this is TeleVue quality, not Skywatcher. There is quite a difference. The Pronto is unfashionable and commands bafflingly low used prices. It cost nearly a grand twenty years ago and twenty years to TV engineering is nothing.

Olly

[DazC]

Would you be able to buy a roof box and roof bars for less than £400?

Then buy a load of bubble wrap and put your 200p in the roof box.

D.C

[DazC]

Would you be able to buy a roof box and roof bars for less than £400?

Then buy a load of bubble wrap and put your 200p in the roof box.

D.C

[Pig]

There is always this one --------><--------- its so small you can hardly see it.

[sallystar]

Thank you everyone for your ideas. I have now got plenty of things to check out before the summer which will give me something to do considering the amount of cloudy nights we seem to have!

[andrew63]

i like the suggestion of having something completely different from your current setup - say a small 70 or 80mm refractor easy to mount on practically anything and great to use as a grab and go telescope for when you return. With our current weather patterns, you could end up getting more use out of it than the 200P!

andrew