Gum Tree telescope

[Jaywillis78]

Hi, could anyone tell me if this scope is worth looking into on gum tree please? The mount looks more like the one you get with a 150p not a 200p. It doesn't seem to have any branding either?

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/8-reflector-telescope-new/1007616546

Thanks

Jay

[Cornelius Varley]

Personally I would not buy it. The telescope has quite a short focal length for a 200 (@750mm) which would make it difficult to accurately collimate. The mirror is also probably spherica, rather than parabolic, so the views aren't going to be great, the view at the eyepiece would be sharp in the middle but would become less focused further towards the edge of the mirror. The mounts nor great either.

[Hypernova]

Hi, could anyone tell me if this scope is worth looking into on gum tree please? The mount looks more like the one you get with a 150p not a 200p. It doesn't seem to have any branding either?

http://www.gumtree.c...-new/1007616546

Thanks

Jay

It looks suspiciously like a "Seben" telescope. They are often sold new on eBay for around £100 and are generally thought to be poor quality. Best bet to avoid like the plague and put your money towards a SW or Celestron.

[upahill]

Hi,

Its a little late, I bought it a few weeks ago as my first scope.

Its chinese, very poor build quality, awful to collimate and the mount is well...... its like jelly.

I think in your case, this a good example of 'bullet dodged'

I am trying to improve it with a few modifications though, so I am not completely dispondant about it - theres just a lot of tweaks it needs.

Someone kindly posted to a link with a rather unfavourable review of these scopes... and ill let you get the rough idea from that.

http://www.vcastro.com/reviews/helios/

[triton1]

There,s one of these for sale on ebay,again no marking.Thinks it might be hyoptic.

http://www.hioptic.com/telescopes/reflector/EQ-equatorial/f800x203eqiv-a.htm

try the site above

regards Jonn

[Jaywillis78]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

Upahill, hope your mods/tweaks workout for you, and you get some value out of it. Looks like it was a good dodge thanks to people like you on a great forum like this!!!

I'll keep saving for now! FLO will get an order one day!

[upahill]

My main suggestion after having this scope would be to focus on the mount, even if you have to get a smaller scope with a better mount.

Avoid tripods with rubbish lightweight aluminium legs.

You are more than welcome to try out this scope to see if its something you would want, but my first upgrade will be an EQ5

[Jaywillis78]

Thanks upahill, having seen the link from John (thanks John) it doesn't look like a scope I would want to buy now compared to the SW ones.

I wanted to get either a 150p or a 127 Mak. But the problem with these ones is that they come with the EQ3 mount/tripod, so I'm thinking of holding out and save up for either the 200p or and evostar120 to get the EQ5 mount/tripod. Why is choosing a scope so hard! :-)

[upahill]

I have a beautifully clear sky tonight, and im getting very stressed at the scope (its probably user error I know but...)

I looked at the 127 Mak, looks like a nice scope.

[Jaywillis78]

Patchy cloud this way, had a quick ten minutes with the bins earlier.

Yes I like the Mak as its compact and should sit ok on the EQ3, plus cheaper EP's will work ok with it. However I still keep going around and around and ending back at the SW200P on the EQ5.

Anyway due to a nice expensive central heating issue straight after Xmas, the scope is put on hold till I save up again! Oh joy......

[upahill]

If you want to try out this scope your more than welcome, I dont know much about it but it might give you an idea of what you want/dont want.

I have heard very favourable reviews of the 200P

After my back playing up tonight im considering a big DOB, being 6' and peering over is giving me all sorts of grief.

[Jaywillis78]

Thanks for the offer, I'll keep in mind cheers!

The 200P does seem to be highly regarded on here doesn't it.

Funny you should mention the dob. I only crossed them off the list as I thought I'd spend too much time bending over all the time as I thought they were lower. But I guess as long as you use a chair it could be quite comfy. Maybe they're taller than they look, I've never seen a big dob in the flesh.

[upahill]

Me either, I figure if I get a large enough aperture then I will either be standing or sitting on a stool lol.

Maybe a bigger tripod would be cheaper

[Jaywillis78]

Ha, joys of only being 5' 8" I don't have to worry about bigger tripods!

[upahill]

Just incase anyone is interested I have decided to pass this on and get a Celestron Nexstar 127 until I can afford better, so its back up on Gumtree.

I should point out that when I figured out how to collimate it has drastically improved the performance. I still think the mount could do with a bit of work, but might be suitable as a cheap project for someone.

[nederman63]

There seems to be a scope for sale on gumtree all the time from the same area as this scope.

[Jaywillis78]

Hi upahill, I met up with the Cardiff Astronomy society last and had a look at a few scopes, I liked the newts, but personally I loved the fracs. So I'm going to keep saving and get either a startravel or evostar setup as I preferred the wider field of view and the over all view it gave.