Is the Meade DS-2130 any good for a noob? or any better suggestions?

[smiley_smile]

hey everyone,

I've been looking at various threads on here about telescopes for newcomers. My mind is still unmade about what to get, although I'm leaning towards the Mead DS-2130

http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?name=Meade%20DS-2130%20ATS-LNT%20Goto%20Reflector%20Telescope&prod_code=PON07H000040

its the upper end of my budget range, but I believe Mead to be a good make from what I've heard before, it has goto, which will take the edge of hunting around for stuff in the sky, and a good aperture for starting off (or from what I've gathered). I'd like a good alrounder telescope, as I don't know what I'll prefer looking at yet. Although having said that looking at planets or the moon and taking photographs of them is important to me, its more a question of if I'll become more interested in other things. So I don't want to limit myself.

I intially was quite tempted to buy a Celestron Nexstar 102 SLT, as it being a reflector it could take some sharpe photos of planets, but I then read about the field of view being too wide and the tripod wasn't a very good build quality.

Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

thanks for looking.

[radioactive]

Honest reply coming up I had one of these My second scope I gave it away

I think it was okay but maybe try getting something else

£350 aint too bad budget but I dont think you would be advised to use it on that model I did not spend that kind of money mine came via Ebay

why not have a scan through FLO top of this page and see anything you like then shout again

Can I just say this reply is only my personable opinion

[barkis]

I agree with Martyn, the Meade SCT looks very attractive, but there are a lot of extras that are pretty superficial.

A common drawback with the SCT, particularly the smaller aperture models, is the central obstruction becomes to intrusive.

Due to the design of the scope, the secondary has to be larger than a Newtonian configuration. I would do a bit of searching.

Look around the For Sales on Astro Forums, you could get a nice bargain for a little more than half of what you will spend on the Meade.

If you see something that interests you, come back and ask the opinion of SGL members, and if you can post a link to what it is you are looking at buying, opinions as to it's worthiness can be give.

Ron.