New telescope advice... but live in London

[ntansey]

Hi all,

I decided to try and get the advice of fellow stargazers in the search for a new scope. I have had a Meade ETX80 about 4 years and have managed to do the basics (lunar and some planetary) but I am really keen to progress further and maybe it's time to upgrade.

I was thinking of getting a reflector mainly to do with the pricing as My budget is up to around £400 region and I was thinking about the skywatcher explorer series either the 150p on the eq3-2 mount (£295) or 200p on eq5 mount (£405).

But the issue is that I live in London although in the suburbs of the city and while i can get access to some areas of relative darkness light pollution is an issue. but not sure if it would be even advisable getting one of these scopes. What would be advisable with this sort of budget?

Thanks all,

Nick

[Schorhr]

At least with a with a stable eq mount the same aperture telescope would be heavier then a dobsonian.

Depends on what you are going for of course, but for visual, a dobsonian is probably the best choice. OR get a 6" on a more solid eq mount. Would make a nice photography setup as well as visual upgrade.

Without a car I find the heritage 130p amazing, and of course my Sumerian. I hope something like their travelscope or the Litescope just in 8" would come out at a good price. I was tempted with one available in Germany, but it's 8kg is just 1kg lighter then my 10"...

Good luck finding the right telescope. Don't underestimate the weight of the telescopes ;-) I'd recomend a 10" if you can get it in your car, amazing what it will show. Though even 5" will be so much more fun for deepsky...