Skywatcher Heritage vs Explorer - Newbie help

[Apple15pie]

Ok, so my situation is: Fairly new to astronomy, been interested for ages and have got to know the night sky and I am ready to take the plunge to get a scope for Christmas. I have been looking on UK Astro Buy and Sell for half a year now for the telescope I thought was right for me - the Sky Watcher Heritage 130p Flextube. Its a small scope, perfect for grab and go and relatively simple to use (so I have heard).

Now its getting closer to Christmas, I have come up with some other options, but I need your help and guidance.

Option 1. Buy the Heritage for ~£130, its a great little starter scope, perfect for my situation, but the most expensive of the options

Option 2. Buy a Skywatcher Explorer 150p on EQ3-2 for ~£120 (I found a place...) - a more powerful scope but on a more complicated mount (some questions: How long does it take to set up a scope like this, how easy is it to use etc)

Option 3. Buy a Skywatcher Explorer 130m for ~£95 - the cheapest of the lot (my parents will be happy!), as a beginner, do i really need the motorised mount? Again on the EQ2 mount, harder to set up etc

Sorry for giving you my life story but I want to make sure I get the best first scope possible

Thanks, Dan

[emadmoussa]

I would always go for the aperture size I could afford. The 150P - being more powerful - still has slightly better optics than the heritage. If you could afford the 150P - then go for it. I'm not sure what kind of mount you mean. Equatorial?

You can always get the same scope on Dobsonian base which very easy to use and move around.  http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

[ronin]

(1) The heritage is small and you will need a table to place it on. In effect not so small as you have to take scope and table, additionally not sure how well it will hold collimation - a collapsible tube system cannot be totally rigid. You may have to collimate often.

(2) A 150P on an EQ3 is a good deal for the price you give. Seems too low and as the saying goes if it looks too good to be true it probably is. As to setting up an EQ mount, well a rough set up is OK for visual. You would get away with level the mount, set the angle to ~51 aim mount at Polaris and get viewing.

(3) Would avoid, motors are nice, very nice, but I think the scope is a spherical mirror and on that basis I would avoid.

To me (2) is the best, bigger aperture, reasonable mount to start with. You can add motors later if wanted.

If later you try imaging then you will really need an equitorial so getting used to one is something you will likely have to do eventually.

[Naemeth]

Option 2 seems the best bet, you could always make a dobsonian mount for it or get an AZ-4 if you find setting an EQ mount up too much .

[happy-kat]

1) had mine since Feb last year and only now needs a tweak but not enough that I have to do it.

Does not always need to be on any thing I sit on garden chair and use from ground or sit heritage on low stool.

[Big_Daz]

Hi, welcome to the forum. A Dobsonian telescope is the easiest to use and the Heritage 130p is a great compact scope. I'm not sure if this is near to you but I found this for £80 and near Waltham Abbey, north London.

[AndyWB]

I've have my 130p since Feb, and it does hold collimation pretty well. You can close and reopen the truss repeatedly, and it's pretty much bang on each time (although I do give the bottom of the truss arm a squeeze while I tighten it in place, to make sure it's at the end of it's movement).

I also tend to set it on the ground and sit next to it on a low folding seat. It's low, but ok. It is a pain near zenith when used like that, though.

All that said, if you can get a 150mm scope for that price, go for it. You might need to learn a little about polar alignment, but how hard can it be?

[Astro Imp]

I have option 2 and am very happy with it.

Is it complicated to use? No after the first couple of times.

Does it take long to set up? For visual only which it seems you are interested in it takes me 10/15 minutes, that's taking outside from my garage, putting it all together and doing a rough and ready alignment.

For the price you quote I would be very careful of the condition as this seems too cheap.

If you want more info. just ask.

Good luck.

[Apple15pie]

Thanks for the help guys! It looks to me that option 3 is out I suppose my main concern now is the portability and ease of use of the 150p, since that and the heritage are both around the same price

[Apple15pie]

Oh, also, do i need to worry about letting either the 150p or the heritage cool down before i used it? what does this mean?

[Naemeth]

Oh, also, do i need to worry about letting either the 150p or the heritage cool down before i used it? what does this mean?

'Cool down' just means leaving the telescope outside so the telescope is at the same temperature as outside. What this means when you are observing is that you don't get any thermal currents (making the image wobble) when observing - in practice however, thermal currents are worse when you use higher power, so as long as you use low power when the mirror is cooling down, you can continue to observe .

HTH.

[bingevader]

Yep, 3 is out, just not as good as a parabolic mirror.

To slow typing!

You don't need to worry about it! You can start observing immediately, but for best results, both 'scopes will need to cool down to avoid warm air currents in the tube degrading the view.

How long this takes depends on the size and design of the 'scope and where it is kept. If you're moving from a warm house to the garden it will take longer. My dob lives in the shed so takes less time to cool.

Yes the explorer is larger, but as for dob or equatorial mount, that's up to you! 

Cheers

[Pappy Nick]

Hi Dan ...

    I've got the Heritage 130p and the Explorer 150 on an EQ3-2 mount (except that mine's the longer PL version)

    I've had the 130p  quite happily sat on everything from a garden table, a bar stool, a garden bench, all the way down to sitting on the ground. You can pick it up quite easily and walk to a better vantage point. I quite often just chuck it out the back with a low power eyepiece in it and it's ready in minutes.

    The EQ3-2  (and probably any equatorial mount) takes a little longer to set up (for visual observing) but you should be able to do it in about 5 to 10 minutes when you've had a bit of practise. But I must admit that it's a bit of a faff to move it anywhere once it's set up as effectively you'll have to start all over again.

    I actually ended up building a dob mount for my 150pl which now gives me the best of both worlds ;-)

    HTH

[EagleC]

I'm buying the Heratige after posting a similar thread. This is a personal choice as portability and size is really my governing factor, I wanted a go-anywhere option and feared that something bulky might end up at home not being used! Doesn't matter how big your scope is if you don't use it!

Your option 2 looks great though. If I was using mine from home more often I'd go for that sort of thing. I saw them explain the equatorial mount on sky at night a few weeks ago and it looked easy enough, forgotten it now but I'm sure once you set it up a few times you'll not have a problem.

[Apple15pie]

Thanks for all the help guys. Unfortunately the 150p was sold, so im back to searching Uk Astro Buy and Sell for any more deals, but if i dont find anything decent soon, ill get the Heritage. Both seem like great scopes, so i dont mind really

[EagleC]

There was a 200P dobs on eBay for £90 earlier...

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