Getting Started Equipment - Help Sought

[AndyWB]

Oh by the way, amazon US has different scopes (and 10 times as many), different manufacturers I saw. Have some of you gotten shipped your stuff from the US?

Is not a question (just looks like it), I said the prior was the last. Am just wondering, what the experience with US scopes and shipment was...

To be honest, from what I gather, most common scopes appear to be made by a handful of companies in China, and then rebadged differently for different markets. So, for example, my "Skywatcher Heritage 130p" used to be a "Bushnell Ares 5" in the USA, but has recently been re-released as a Celestron. Closer to home, the GSD880 that you can get from Germany is sold over here a Revelation 10" scope. It does get confusing.

I gather that sometimes order eyepieces from the US - either 'cos they're not available here, or they cost difference makes it worthwhile. A scope is much bigger; I doubt ordering one from there would be a good deal.

I would also stick to a proper telescope shop rather than Amazon; you'll get better help if you need help/advice. Google 'Telescope Shop' and you'll get a good range of retailers.

Also, note, I think your point about terrestrial viewing has been lost a bit in the discussion. If you wanted to use a scope for terrestrial viewing that would normally be a refractor, and note that the image would normally be a left-right mirror image. Newtonian reflectors normally show the image upside down.

[rowan46]

One form of astrophotography that hasn't been mentioned yet is wide field astrophotography. you probably have enough equipment to start that right away have a look in the wide field imaging section and see if any of those pis float your boat