Celestron 6se

[langman78]

Hello fellow stargazers.

Was given a celestron 130eq as a gift a few months back. Apart from thinking the tripod being made a little on the cheap side I think it's a great scope to begin with. However, I am keen to upgrade soon. Have read various reviews on many scopes and I'm leaning towards the celestron 6se as a bit of a all rounder. Originally I thought the 6se to be out of my price range. They are retailing in Australia anywhere from 1700 to 2000 Australian dollars but my sister is traveling to the USA and I'm thinking of asking her to pick one up for me for around $760. The last leg of her trip before heading back to OZ is Vegas. Scope city I have read would be the place to go. So to my question. Is it practical to get my sister to bring back a 6se for me coz I'm hearing mixed reviews on the weight of the scope and not to mention, it will be packed away in a box so don't know the dimensions of the box for carry on luggage. And any opinions on the 6se itself. Any feed back or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[Pig]

Hiya Langman and welcome.

I have one of these scopes and I am over the moon with it ( forgive the pun)

It is very light and portable and takes no time at all to set up, the tripod is the heaviest part but that is a good thing as it maintains the stability,

The optics are really good and it performs as good, if not a bit better, than my brothers Skywatcher P200.

I would recommend that you get a power pack to go with it as it will eat batteries.

The red dot finder is also very good but can be a bit fiddly to set up, but once done its accurate. ( I set it up during the day on a distant object and then fine tuned it on a star).

I rate the scope very highly.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to ask and I will be happy to assist

[langman78]

Thanks for the reply pig

Yeah I think I've made up my mind in getting it but its just the concern if getting my sister to bring it back for me and if its practice for her. The 6se is just far too expensive in Australia and I'd have to wait some time to save up for it if she can't bring it back for me

[nephilim]

Sounds like a good idea to me mate, here in 'not at all great britain', we also get ripped off on the price of astronomy kit, then again our government rip off us when we buy anything so I dont see why I'd be suprised that its the same with astronomy . In my mind, doing anything that keeps our hard earned money out of the pockets of the crooks who pretend to run the country is great idea so go for it.

Steve

[Pig]

It comes in one box approx 2.5 x 2.5 ft x 1.5 deep, I cant remember the weight - It was also very well packed - goes together in 10 minutes.

[langman78]

Well ill see how I go guys. My sis don't leave for the states until next week so when arrives ill get her to go to scope city and see what she thinks. I guess she could get the scope checked in as normal luggage but don't like the idea in case it gets damaged. Wish I was going, I'd bring back 3 or 4 of them and make a tidy profit of them lol

[Mike Hawtin]

Have you considered having your sister buy it there and then shipping it to Oz, the carriers would probably collect from the retailer for her. It would save the hassle and worry about damage being thrown around as normal luggage by baggage handlers.

[langman78]

Hi mike and thanks for the advice. I did think about that but I guess it comes down to how expensive it would be to ship it here. Having looked online at various American company's who sell the 6se at around the 750 aust dollar mark, after shipping it here the price jumps up dramatically as you could assume and defeats the purpose of buying online in the states. I'd prob be lucky to save 100 to 150. Just not worth it. See how she goes and it too much of a hassle and too big for her might see how much it will be for her to send it to me but I can't imagine it being that cheap. I hear the the nexstar series can easily be damaged during transport

[knobby]

I think it would be far too bug to carry in as hand luggage, how about unboxing it at the store and buying a decent bag to put the ota in. She could then carry on the delicate ota but pack the tripod /mount as normal luggage...

Just a thought.

I reckon that a good 50 % of the size is packaging

[langman78]

Yeah prob the way to go thank you Knobby.

I'm sure scope city would sell a decent bag at a reasonable price.

[CSM]

I would say that far more than 50% is packaging. It is not only the shipping costs that put up the price here but the cut that the distributors get so maybe it wouldn't be that expensive to ship over. And yes, having had a 130 I would vouch for the extra mm and GOTO making quite a difference to what you can see and do.

[Dunkster]

The box is huge for its payload So long as she's travelling with a decently sized (ie large) suitcase, the tripod should be OK, but the base of the mount is quite broad also, so it'd need to be well padded so that the mishandlers don't smash it when the suitcase hits the concrete

[Cath]

I wouldn't like to try lugging a complete 6SE around town etc myself, not sure how strong your sister is but it's not that light weight really when trying to move it any great distance.

[langman78]

Any idea how much it would cost to ship this scope from Vegas to Melbourne Australia?

[Dunkster]

Probably more than the cost of the scope

[langman78]

Hmmmm well not looking good then. Such a shame if I miss out. They are sooooo cheap in the states