goto or not to go

[Greg48(newbe)]

Hello all,,,i thinking of upgrading to a new scope and i was wondering what you all think of the following goto's

Celestron NS127

Skymax 127

i like them both and have read some posts about some people having some problems with them,,,was there a bad batch made at the same time with little faults or are the users just not familiar with the goto models,,,i've been reading a lot about them and watching on youtube the results you see,,,i like planetary viewing so ap may come at a later stage,,,so is there much in the difference between the goto and the 1 i have astro130 in viewing,,,i like the goto because all you have to do is input your target and away it goes,,,once it's set up correctly,,,

thanks for your info,

greg

[Steep]

Goto plus points, once set up finding targets is easy and they will track which is good for viewing. If you're not used to finding your way about the sky they can be a big help.

Not so plus points, time consuming to set up (living in a rainy area that can be a problem), they need power to work, the handset contains way more targets than your scope can see and that can be disappointing.

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

Nicely summarized. Goto is amazing once aligned, very time saving making the most of your scarse clear nights. However sometimes i'm ashamed of my poor knowledge of the skies / constallations. Goto does make you lazy

[Greg48(newbe)]

Hi Steep,,,that's it i'm not use to finding my way around that's why i'm thinking of the goto,,i know i won't see all that's in the hand set but some would be good to look at and to tract to that location,,,

Hi Obi Wan Ken00bi,,, I wouldn't mind been lazy as long as i get to see some things in the hand set,,

[NGC 1502]

I think that it's a very tough question to answer, what suits one person won't suit another.

One thing to remember, if the go-to is an entry level, then a lot of the cost will be in the technology and not the optics, if it's any entry level basic scope like a Dob, then much more of the cost will be in the optics.

Best to buy whatever you think will get you out under the stars, that's the really important bit............

Regards, Ed.

[Steep]

I gave my summary of Goto +/- up there but what Ed says about the technology is right. My first 'proper' scope was a Celestron 127 SLT Goto, it's a very nice scope but I almost gave up on it because the goto was a pita, I bought it partly because I'm a gadget geek and thought 'oooh computer control!!' not believing what everyone was telling me about optics and light gathering. The thing about Goto is there are better ways of finding what you want to see up there! any Android or iDevice will have an app that will give you more info in a slicker nicer looking way than a goto mount and with that you can point your telescope yourself without all the faffing about. I've just (very recently) bought a 10" Dob and even though only having used it once I'm blown away by how much better the views are.

A basic 8" Dob will set you back less than £300 and most of the cost goes in the optics, adding Goto to that would double the price for absolutely no better optics.

[bendiddley]

i'm in favour of a manual telescope. it's all i've had so i don't have any experience of using a go to, however i really enjoy finding things, its been quite easy really but i have needed an raci finder and a rigel quikfinder to help and would really struggle without these, but with those accessories and a star map and starrynight software to choose my hit list for the night its actually quite simple and very rewarding. i am also slowly learning the constellations more by looking for objects manually as that's where you start and when i now look up in the sky i feel like i know it. so its a manual for me. good luck with your decision.

[simmo39]

Im a newbe with a skymax 127 goto. I have to say after a faultering start that I love my goto. I have had to learn some stars for the alignment ( not a bad way to learn ) and now find it very easy to set up. Its not the wonder thing that the hype makes and its not the dumb mans bit of kit either. I am learning all the time and think if it wasnt for the goto i may have been a ten min wonder. Im am well and trully hooked and think the goto was the thing that swung it for me. Im already looking at other scopes and my future scopes may well be without goto systems but by that time i think ill be confedent enough to star hop, but that will have been to the goto showing me th way. that my hunble newbie thoughs.

[dephelis]

I have to say that my experience of the Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT differs to Steeps. I purchased mine in May of last year and have been very happy with it as my planetary scope.

It takes me around the same time to set-up as my equatorial mount with polar align. 15-20 minutes, not counting getting everything to the garden. The Nexstar has the advantage of being able to perform a three star align which doesn't require you to know any stars, just point it at three bright stars and off you go. You will need to work out the latitude/longitude of your observing location. This is easy enough with Google Earth, make sure you set the coordinate format to degrees hours minutes first!

Both scopes you mention (they are identical btw) come on light weight alt-az mounts that will run reasonably well on 8x AA batteries for around 4-5 hours before the GOTO starts to suffer. A power tank works much better, as does a multi-voltage (need 6v at 1amp minimum) power adaptor if you are setting up near a power point.

Both scopes are very portable, I frequently take mine down to my parents home in Devon when I visit with the family. I can fit the OTA, mount arm and accessories in a backpack with the tripod in a medium case or strapped to the backpack. I'd need to take the car to get my newtonian down there, and with the amount of stuff my family packs it would still be a tight squeeze.

A downside that hasn't been mentioned regarding the Mak is that it does take around an hour to cool down due to the thick corrector plate on the front. That can be a problem if the air temperature is cooling faster than the scope can.

An additional advantage to the GOTO is that it makes observing in light polluted skies that much easier. Starhopping here in central London can be quite the challenge when you can't see the fainter stars.

I have a foot in both camps, they both have their place.

[Greg48(newbe)]

Thank you all for the feed back,,,it won't be for a few months if i decide to go for either of them,,i know they are the same its just for taking it off somewhere darker then my back garden,,

Would you have to input everything every time you set it up or taking it to different places,,it wouldn't be miles from where i live just to a family members house where he has good views from his back,,,,

It would work out cheaper if i was to buy from FLO because the only astronomy shop here in dublin is a bit pricey and they don't sell the ones i mentioned only the celestron 4/5/8se models and there twice the price,,,,

I would buy the power tank for them and also have batteries inside in case when it is moving the cable might get caught up a bit or pop out for some reason,,,

It's like everything else some like them but others don't,,like marmite,,,

As long i get to see some of the Messier i'd be happy or some DSO,,, they might not be as clear as if you look tru a big scope

Thanks again

Greg

[Steep]

They don't have any memory so when you switch off they forget everything. This isn't a bad thing because in reality unless you leave it set up in one place you'll have to align it again each time anyway.

Powertank is a must have, I see Lidl or Aldi are doing one just now for £39.99.

[adrianelliott]

I started off (and still am) non go-to.

I originally wasn't interested in it as I felt it would get between me and the stars But I am starting to soften to the idea of getting it now. The main reasons are that star hopping from a light polluted location can be a bit of a pain a) because the stars referenced in 'Turn Left at Orion' etc can be hard to see and because the target is that much harder to see. You could potentially end up spending hours looking for a galaxy (I have). Also, even in a dark location, there are some objects which star hopping isn't great for.

So far I deal with this by using Stellarium to make my own star hops, but this means a laptop in the field which isn't great for casual observing.

The recent run of really cloudy weather has further pushed me towards go-to as it will let me see more in a night out. I may compromise by using Go-To on my scope, but make a point of looking at each area with binoculars as well to get context of where objects are.

[Steep]

Adrian another option to consider would be a tablet of some kind, a Nexus 7 will cost less than £200 and there's a whole raft of free software that will guide you round the skies. There's even an option in some to piggy back the tablet/phone onto the scope as a kind of guide camera.

[dephelis]

Thank you all for the feed back,,,it won't be for a few months if i decide to go for either of them,,i know they are the same its just for taking it off somewhere darker then my back garden,,

Would you have to input everything every time you set it up or taking it to different places,,it wouldn't be miles from where i live just to a family members house where he has good views from his back,,,,

It would work out cheaper if i was to buy from FLO because the only astronomy shop here in dublin is a bit pricey and they don't sell the ones i mentioned only the celestron 4/5/8se models and there twice the price,,,,

I would buy the power tank for them and also have batteries inside in case when it is moving the cable might get caught up a bit or pop out for some reason,,,

It's like everything else some like them but others don't,,like marmite,,,

As long i get to see some of the Messier i'd be happy or some DSO,,, they might not be as clear as if you look tru a big scope

Thanks again

Greg

Regarding DSO's:

Globular clusters: fine

Open clusters: the narrower ones are ok (owl cluster) but the wider ones won't fit in the standard 25mm fov (beehive cluster)

Nebulae: orion is fine, but others will be very faint if visible at all.

Planetary nebulae: So far my faintest is the Cats Eye Nebula which I have managed to view from central london on a night of exceptional clarity.

Galaxies: ok, aperture bites here

They don't have any memory so when you switch off they forget everything. This isn't a bad thing because in reality unless you leave it set up in one place you'll have to align it again each time anyway.

Powertank is a must have, I see Lidl or Aldi are doing one just now for £39.99.

Untrue in the case of the Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT and I'm pretty sure this is the case for the Skymax 127 on the Alt-Az mount also.

The last coordinates used are retained between uses. Even date and time of the last align are retained even though the date and time information has to be re-entered each time you align.

I started off (and still am) non go-to.

I originally wasn't interested in it as I felt it would get between me and the stars But I am starting to soften to the idea of getting it now. The main reasons are that star hopping from a light polluted location can be a bit of a pain a) because the stars referenced in 'Turn Left at Orion' etc can be hard to see and because the target is that much harder to see. You could potentially end up spending hours looking for a galaxy (I have). Also, even in a dark location, there are some objects which star hopping isn't great for.

So far I deal with this by using Stellarium to make my own star hops, but this means a laptop in the field which isn't great for casual observing.

The recent run of really cloudy weather has further pushed me towards go-to as it will let me see more in a night out. I may compromise by using Go-To on my scope, but make a point of looking at each area with binoculars as well to get context of where objects are.

It all comes down to how you use it. Sometimes I starhop instead of using the GOTO and I have yet to use the GOTO to view the Owl cluster, I've viewed it so often that I can now line it up in the red dot finder

If you have an iPhone I would recommend purchasing StarMap Pro. It has an ocular view and finder line/arrow that allows you to starhop. The ocular view is also configurable so that stars appear in the view with the same orientation as they do in your eyepiece.