More purchasing advice

[darthvader]

bet you lot get fed up of questions from us n00bs !

anyway, been madly saving up for a scope + mount (saved £700 so far - aiming for £1k) - spoke to FLO before xmas about what to buy + they suggested:

HEQ5 (Pro) Synscan (includes GOTO) @ £759.00 +

either a :

Skywatcher Explorer 130P-DS OTA @ £165.00

or

Skywatcher Explorer 150P-DS OTA @ £234.00

Now, being greedy and wanting it all (hence the Death Star + attempts to take over the universe) I was thinking maybe I could buy two OTA's - one for Optical and one for Astrophotography, is this a bad idea? I was thinking of buying the following two to go with the above mount:

Skywatcher Explorer 150P-DS OTA @ £234.00 for deepsky imaging stuff

and

Skywatcher Explorer 300P-DS OTA @ £234.00 for optical planetary + planetary imaging + optical deep-sky

my main wants are:

1. GOTO

2  Optical

3. Astro-photography (I want it all !!  deepsky imaging + planetary imaging + wide field constellation imaging + moon imaging  etc...)

4. Mount that will take a DSLR + both of the above scopes (not at the same time obviously)

or am i just a heavy breathing deluded maniac with a black plastic mask ?? !

(p.s. also slowly working my way through the book every photon counts)

that's about it for now, back to repairing the Death Star..... damn interfering humans.....

[GuillermoBarrancos]

The 300P OTA will need at least a NEQ6 Pro Mount. It's way too Heavy for even the HEQ5 Pro.

A 200P OTA is absolute Maximum on the HEQ5 Pro, but for visual use and planetary (as you don't need accurate tracking for that).

For deepsky astrophotography, you better starting With a APO refractor like the Skywatcher Equinox 80ED Pro. An extremely popular Scope among the AP peeps.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/equinox/skywatcher-equinox-80-apo-pro-ota.html

But that will blow your budget tho hehe. But you could check the 2nd hand market. They come up there time to time.

[ronin]

Skywatcher Explorer 150P-DS OTA @ £234.00 for deepsky imaging stuff

and

Skywatcher Explorer 300P-DS OTA @ £234.00 for optical planetary + planetary imaging + optical deep-sky

The 300P-DS is £2 under £600, not £234.

FLO sell the 300P-DS on an NEQ6 making me suspect it is too way much for the HEQ5.

or am i just a heavy breathing deluded maniac with a black plastic mask ?? !

Not sure about the black mask bit, the rest seems accurate. :grin: :grin:

That is according to everyone at Ashbourne, Uttoxeter and Stock-on-Trent anyway.

[brantuk]

"I could buy two OTA's - one for Optical and one for Astrophotography, is this a bad idea?"

Nope - it's a brilliant idea and the HEQ5 Pro Sysncan Goto is a great scope to do it with.

"am i just a heavy breathing deluded maniac with a black plastic mask ?"

Your telescope choices would indicate the answer to this one is "yes" lol

The 300PDS is way to big for the HEQ5 mount - that's a 12" tube you're talking about and a 10" one would struggle on an NEQ6 Pro which has a much larger payload. A 150PDS will be ideal for your stated purposes (both observing and imaging).

If you wanted to take pics of  wide field deep sky objects then go for something like an ED80 refractor which is way more than capable enough. It's not always about aperture I think you'll find if you check out the scopes used in the imaging sections.

But you're mostly on the right lines - so well done with the research. Hth

[davefrance]

The 300P OTA will need at least a NEQ6 Pro Mount. It's way too Heavy for even the HEQ5 Pro.

A 200P OTA is absolute Maximum on the HEQ5 Pro, but for visual use and planetary (as you don't need accurate tracking for that).

For deepsky astrophotography, you better starting With a APO refractor like the Skywatcher Equinox 80ED Pro. An extremely popular Scope among the AP peeps.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/equinox/skywatcher-equinox-80-apo-pro-ota.html

But that will blow your budget tho hehe. But you could check the 2nd hand market. They come up there time to time.

Very pleased with my Equinox ED80 but be warned comes without diagonal, eyepieces, finderscope etc. so you can double the initial cost of the scope quite easily but IMO well worth it.

[darthvader]

why is it everytime i ask a question my budget target goes up !

good spot "white dwarf" - bit of a typo on my price for the 300p-ds !! (lazy copying + pasting) - I wish it was £234 !

can't afford the NEQ6 really unless i save up for another few months so I reckon I'll go with your advice and get the:

Skywatcher Explorer 150P-DS OTA @ £234.00  +

HEQ5 (Pro) Synscan (includes GOTO) @ £759.00

= £993 - woopee £7.00 to spend on extras   (looks like you only get one eyepiece and even that says tba on FLO website !)

and then maybe buy the Skywatcher Equinox 80ED Pro you guys recommend at a later date if requirted or something else once I know a little more ...

any recommendations for a collimating eyepiece? the premium cheshire one seems to be out of stock at the mo at FLO

[davefrance]

why is it everytime i ask a question my budget target goes up !

good spot "white dwarf" - bit of a typo on my price for the 300p-ds !! (lazy copying + pasting) - I wish it was £234 !

can't afford the NEQ6 really unless i save up for another few months so I reckon I'll go with your advice and get the:

Skywatcher Explorer 150P-DS OTA @ £234.00  +

HEQ5 (Pro) Synscan (includes GOTO) @ £759.00

= £993 - woopee £7.00 to spend on extras   (looks like you only get one eyepiece and even that says tba on FLO website !)

and then maybe buy the Skywatcher Equinox 80ED Pro you guys recommend at a later date if requirted or something else once I know a little more ...

any recommendations for a collimating eyepiece? the premium cheshire one seems to be out of stock at the mo at FLO

Sounds a good plan, the Equinox 80 will fit on the HEQ5 with ease. Don't get spending that £7 in one go.........................

[darthvader]

Sounds a good plan, the Equinox 80 will fit on the HEQ5 with ease. Don't get spending that £7 in one go.........................

lol, just realised i forgot the battery pack, there goes the £7.00 ....

[davefrance]

lol, just realised i forgot the battery pack, there goes the £7.00 ....

and the rest.....

[brantuk]

Good choice Darth - that will certainly get you on your way.

As for accessories - there's plenty of scope in there for birthday, fathers day, world peace day, etc pressies lol. And if it only takes a few months to save the cost of an NEQ6 pro then you'll have accessories coming out of your ears by then - as well as a nice dso imaging refractor.

[bingevader]

As for accessories - there's plenty of scope in there for birthday, fathers day, world peace day, etc pressies lol. 

But sadly you've just missed Dydd Santes Dwynwen. 

Best of luck!