decisions decisions decisions - Help!

[Ellie]

Hi

First of all i would like to apologise as its another one of those "looking for some advice topics". 

I am looking to buy my partner a telescope for his Christmas. He has been going on about wanting one for ages but living in a tiny flat meant it wasn't really feasible. But now we have a house and have room for one 

So i have narrowed it down to

Skywatcher Explorer 150P or

Skywatcher Explorer 130P or

Skywatcher Skyliner 200P (as someone suggested that a Dobsonian Telescope might be good for a newbie.

So any advice would be lovely. 

Thank you

[CodnorPaul]

Hi Ellie

It depends on budget - the optical tubes are all the same just with different mirror sizes to collect more light.  The 200p on a dobsonian base gives great bang for buck, and is a very capable scope, but relies on the user to find items manually.  The great thing is if he gets into it then he can always mount that on a go to mount if he wished without the need to get a bigger tube.  That said a 200p on an eq go to mount would serve him well for immediately finding things, and then if he progresses (as long as the mount is a decent one), he could do photography or get a bigger tube.

If it were me - I would go to the 200p dobsonian - great views, easy to set up, and will keep him going for sometime as long as he has patience (oh but get him a sky atlas otherwise he wont stand a chance finding much)

[RogerTheDodger]

I'd pick the 200p dob for the same reasons as above. Buy lots of wrapping paper as the boxes are pretty big

[emadmoussa]

Right, a Dobsonian is a good first choice for beginners for a number of reasons: simplicity and aperture for the money. Let me explain.

Let me before that note that there's an element of personal choice at the end of the day.

A Dobsonian is simple to operate, up down and side ways..that's how you move it. Makes sense. Equatorial mounts on the other hand require a certain level of getting  used to them. For visual use only, an Alt-azimuth mount is the way to go - a Dobsonian is alt-azimuth.

If the choice between a 150P or 200P, I'd personally go for the 200P. The latter collects 46% more light than the former, meaning you'll be able to detect faint objects you won't be able to spot with the 150mm.

I never had a 200P Skyliner, but I had the 200P Explorer. Optically and physically it's the same tube, but I had mine  mounted on an equatorial mount instead of a Dobsonian base. I can tell you that optically the telescope was excellent, but found it quite awkward on an equatorial mount. So, a Dobsonian mount or other alternative Alt-zimuth mount is the logical solution really. Also, it's not huge and pretty manageable. I think the tube with rings, dovetail and a small eyepiece weighs around 8-9 Kg. 

I hope this help.

[PorkyB]

The 200P Dob is a great scope, but it is seriously big.  What about a 130P on an AZ4 mount?  FLO will bundle the 130PDS on the AZ4-2 for £344.  I use this setup for visual observing and if I stick the scope on my EQ mount it makes a great imaging scope as well.  The big advantage for me is that the whole setup is portable enough to carry into dark sites away from the car.

[Charic]

Ellie........ welcome to the forums. I would suggest the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P/Dob. Value for money, Very good reports too. ( I`ve messaged you with some further information?)

[AndyWB]

I recently got a 10" (250px) Skywatcher Dob which is lovely. I'd recommend the 200p of the options you mentioned on the basis of that! There is just one thing - most people when they start looking at astronomy also want to take pictures, and for that you really need a thing called an equatorial mount. However, astrophotography seems to be a completely different game, and I'd recommend starting with just visual observing, and enjoying the stars!

[Ellie]

Thank you very much for everyone taking the time to reply to my post. You have all been really helpful.

Before this i wasn't really that interested in looking at the stars (Sorry!!) but having researched telescopes, looked at pictures and everyone being lovely and friendly i am actually really excited about getting one - oops i mean getting him one!! 

I think i will probably go for the 200P Dob and he can always expand on that. 

Is there anything else i need to get? Filters etc? I bought him "Turn left at Orion" book and a planisphere

Roll on Christmas and fingers crossed its lovely and clear 

[Stargazer_00]

North Scotland + 200P dobsonian will be a dream for any one.

An 8" scope under those sorts of dark skies will be equivalent to about a 14" under light polluted skies, maybe better!  He will be very pleased indeed

Turn Left at Orion is a good start.   With a dob you'll need some sort of height adjustable chair and a red light torch to read the book by in the dark.  White light ruins night vision.

For the chair, a cheap iron stool off of amazon would probably suffice.  You can get better options but this is certainyl adequate.

[emadmoussa]

As for accessories.

I bought this pack for a friend and he's was very happy with it. It contains: a plenisphere, pocket star atlas, small book on telescopes and gear, small book on constellations and their myths. Also there's a massive star map poster included. It's a pretty good bang for your buck.  In fact, it was too good I bought myself one as well despite the fact that I have 3 big star atlases.

As for for filters, for the time being I suggest only a cheap moon filter. Once the basic observation skills have been mastered you'll know what else you require and need, rather than want.

For a beginner, the 200P, good star atlas and moon filter is all you need.

Good luck!!

[MadAlbert]

A Telrad would serve you him well, too. Makes finding things a bit easier

[AndyWB]

With a Newtonian reflector like the 200p, I'd suggest a Cheshire collimation tool of some form. "Collimation" is just a big scary word for 'aligning the mirrors', which you may have to do from time to time. A Cheshire collimator just makes that easier. There are good guides on how to online, and it's quite a frequent topic on the forum!

Other than that - a really warm jacket?

[Beardy30]

200p dob no doubt about it I would go for this one

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[swamp thing]

+1 for the comfy adjustable chair.

I use a drum throne. These are nice and comfy (big padded seat), and have large amounts of adjustment for height. In fact all one needs with a small Dob like my 10". I can sit down in observing bliss regardless of where its pointed with mine.

I'd leave the moon filter for now. Observe the moon first, then see if you want one. Many of us don't filter the moon, we are comfortable enough with its brightness without one.

[TwoPi]

Regarding the chair, another option is a gas-powered beauty therapy / massage stool. Don't laugh - they're cheap (I think I spent about £30 on one from Amazon) but quicker to adjust in height than a typical drum throne assuming we're talking the type that you twizz round to adjust height (which I find myself doing quite a bit with my 200P as you move from looking at something near the horizon to overhead).

In any case, having a comfy chair to sit on whilst observing was the best thing I did to increase the length of time I spent observing, aside from warm clothing.

As Andy says, you probably do want to invest in a Cheshire collimator too to ensure the scope's mirrors are aligned & stay that way - promise it's dead easy after a couple of goes and will make a difference to what you can see. Plenty of help here if you struggle at first.

Have fun

[Chris]

Hi Ellie, +1 for the 200p Dob from me. I've owned one with a telrad and it was fantastic for visual observing, quite something for the money and perhaps the largest aperture scope you can easily carry in one, I'm 10 stone wet through and could carry it.

I'm pleased to here you are also looking forward to looking through the scope, one thing I should perhaps point out if you have been looking at the fantastic astro pics on SGL is that visually things don't look like this through the scopes as the camera sensor is much more sensitive than the human eye and the camera also accumalates the light for sometimes many hours to form these detailed colur images. This is not to put you off its just that sometimes people think astro pics are what you can see with you eye. Aperture is important for seeing as much as possible so the 200p is brilliant and has plenty of aperture to give some nice views. Bright objects like the planets and the Moon will wow you, Jupiter will show browny red cloud belts and a hint of the great red spot, also the moons orbiting it will show nicely. Saturn will show its rings nicely giving a hint of the Casini division which is a gap in the rings. Mars will show as a small red disc with the icecap showing and hints of surface motling. Brighter deep sky objects will look good also: The orion nebula will show up green to our eyes, I think this is perhaps the only nebula to show any colour to our eyes, on pics it shows up as red/purple. Things like globular clusters look very nice and the ring nebula looks like a smoke ring hanging in space, M81 and M82 are a great galaxy pair though the 200p also. fainter objects tend to look like faint grey smudges without pushing for even more aperture and darker skies but then it becomes more about the challlange of finding these illusive objects which can be very satisfying when you look up how mind bogglingly far away some of these things are!

Anyway, just to give you a realistic idea, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do

Chris

[Charic]

North Scotland + 200P dobsonian will be a dream for any one.

An 8" scope under those sorts of dark skies will be equivalent to about a 14" under light polluted skies, maybe better! 

Aaaarrrggghhh!!! .....all the foliage has fallen from the trees now, so its even easier to read at night in my garden with the street lights. I`ll have to re-arrange some structures here to try to block the direct lighting to my eyes, even though I can still see Jupiter clearly. Secondly, I  tried a random dark site last night, out in the Country, and still there was direct spotlight pollution from my City, a few miles North. Grrrrrr! was windy too, I couldnt stop my eyes from watering, but there was  better contrast to the Milky way and a full 360` panoramic view ( not available from my garden ) Also why was someone else there in the middle of nowhere when I drove up and stopped, I think we spooked each other, we never even spoke? They either walked away or waited till I left ( I didnt see or hear anyone else after lights out) It was dark enough at the car, but bright lights over the fields in the distance ( I still never got the telescope set-up!) But there is a special site nearby that shields the City lights, but not a member yet, still investigating. So Ive still yet to fully enjoy what my 200P has to offer at the perfect site on the perfect night.  But  happy with the results I`m getting now. All the extras that can be purchased  as mentioned in this thread are all worthy in one way or another. You have the option to view the 200P  The accessories will work with just about any scope of the future, so there is sufficient time to make your choices, as both of you may get fully involved with the hobby. I had a list of lenses to buy 2 Months ago. Ive only bought one, and not sure whats next if any.

[todd8137]

You need a good knowledge of the sky and constellation with any new scope do not go for the 150 p,lots do,and soon find all the hype was hype and they not great ,the 200p is a great scope you will need to learn to fettle this scope as moving and bumping them around can mess the mirrors up that said,you can not call a scope your own till you can sort the mirrors out good luck with your purchase

Pat

[brantuk]

When he starts to complain that the finder makes his neck and back ache from bending at a weird angle to look through it - you can be very impressive and tell him what he needs a RACI (right angle correct image) finder - or simply a right angled finder (RAF). It leaves him something exciting to get for himself - and it makes you look like an absolute expert lol