Celestron Nextstar 4se versus Skywatcher Skymax 127

[russtobin]

Hi there

I'm looking for advice on which scope to buy. My own research has suggested that either of the above would do the job nicely but being new I'm not quite sure.

Main usage would be general observation and enjoyment of the night sky with maybe a bit of photography thrown in.

Portability is also quite important and I have a max budget of £400.

Would welcome your advice on the above scopes or any others that might be suitable.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Rgds

Russ

[hobsey]

Can't comment on the 4se but the 127 is a very popular scope on here and is highly recommended.

[CJ77]

Hi Russ, and welcome to SGL.

For general observation, I'd expect both of these to be pretty good, although the 127 will have more aperture (5 inches to the 4 on the SE), and the extra light gathering that this gives will usually be more beneficial. Its probably also worth chucking the Celestron NexStar 127 into the mix as well (I may be slightly biased there!) - The reviews of the GoTo systems seem to think that the NexStar is slightly better.

In terms of photography, as all 3 of these are mounted on an Alt-Az type mount, they're not really suitable for the long-exposure type of astrophotography that you get of galaxies and nebulae, since you'll get rotation of the image over time.

Many people on here will recommend a Newtownian Reflector on a dobsonian mount as an ideal first visual scope, as you get far more aperture for the money (I have seen the 8" dob for under £400). The downsides to this are that you've got a pretty big scope to store, and it is manually operated rather than being GoTo.

Hope I've not muddied the waters too much.....

CJ

[russtobin]

Thx for the replies so far.

Can the difference between 4/5/6" models be quantified and if so how?

There seems to be a massive price hike between the Celestron 4" and the 5".