Cheap Guide Scope.

[Stargazer33]

Hi,

I am looking at getting myself a cheap guide scope to go with my newly aquired StarShoot AutoGuider and was wondering what people think of the Celestron Travelscope 70. It looks quite quick at f5.7 or so and is nice and small as I am maxing out weight wise on my CG5-GT mount.

I know the Skywatcher Startravel 80 is a popular scope but I was wondering what people thought of the Travelscope 70? I have seen a few for sale on the bay and at half the cost and below of the Skywatcher.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts/opinions.

[laser_jock99]

Almost any cheap scope will do if it has a 1 1/4" eyepiece fitting and at least 60mm aperture. The ST80 is popular because it's short and light and has a nice 80mm lens. To be honest it's a bit overpriced (I think the manufacturer has cashed in on it's popularity as a guide scope) it should really be about £50-£60 I reckon and not £90+ for just the OTA!!

[Stargazer33]

Thanks laser_jock!

That is good to know, especially as I have found this through a bit of on-line research: Travelscope 70 Portable Telescope at Tesco Direct £49.97

I think I may go for this before the reduction runs out.

[simonmc]

That looks interesting, from the specs on amazon it weighs 1.5kg. Its the same price at john lewis and Amazon by the way. How much does the Skywatcher weigh?

[Stargazer33]

I can' t find the weight of the ST80 published anywhere! Even the Skywatcher site doesn't have a figure for the tube weight.

[StarRaver]

Finder scope as a guide scope is always an option, saves on weight and penny's

the st80 weight is 1.3kg http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/documents/100.pdf

[JamesF]

Yup, I was going to suggest a 50mm finderscope and 1.25" adapter, too.

And if you're being really cheap you can even make your own using a binocular objective

James

[Stargazer33]

I was actually thinking of a 50mm finderscope before I got the StarShoot AutoGuider. I was going to use a web cam as the guide cam.

Would a 50mm finderscope give enough fov to find a star bright enough to use as a guide star though? I suppose being as short as they are they would be pretty fast scopes so the image would be bright despite the smaller aperture.

Is there a finderscope that anyone would recommend for guiding?

[JamesF]

Plenty of people seem to use the Skywatcher 50mm finder successfully.

James

[Stargazer33]

Thanks James!

I will have a look at that one.