Advice on new telescope

[adamwebb28]

Hi all

I bought a celestron 130 eq a couple of years ago as my first telescope and now looking for a bit of an upgrade.

Some of the options I've been looking at are the celestron nexstar 6se or the skywatcher 200p flextube goto.

I like the idea of a goto system but it's not a necessity, so was also looking at some of the bigger dobsonians which are a bit cheaper than the above.

So does anyone have any thoughts on these telescopes? What sort of improvements would i see over my current telescope? I only really use my telescope in my back garden.

Thanks for any info and help!

[ronin]

The 6SE is not really a great increase in aperture - 130 to 150.

So really one of the dobsonians is the sensible step.

One aspect is to get one that you are happy to take out and use.

In general the bigger the scope the less it seems to get used.

Do you have any, even vague, distant, barely tenuous, ideas of doing any imaging?

[adamwebb28]

Thanks. I'm not really interested in imaging, more just viewing.

I'm not really sure on how the dobsonians work when it comes to alignment etc. Do you just point them north? Also what are the options for stands etc or do the telescopes just sit on the floor?

I'm looking at the 250 px now too. Which would save a fair bit over the goto.

[rwilkey]

Hi Adam, the bigger, the better, in my view.  I agree, GOTO and all that is not necessary for the enjoyment of the night sky - more of a distraction.  A bigger scope will help punch through light pollution as well.

[Dreadz]

If you do go for the 250px I don't think you'll be disappointed. Mine has shown me some fantastic views even from my garden with light pollution. As for alignment you dont need to align it to anything if you're star hopping. Put the scope on the floor outside, leave it to cool down, tweak primary collimation if necessary and off you go

A stool or bench makes viewing more comfortable or you can use a water butt stand or something similar to raise the scope if you prefer.

Sent from my GTi9300 using random spelling mistake generator!!!!

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Adam and a very warm welcome to the SGL Mate - really depends what you want to observe the most, the dobs, around F5 ish will give you wider fields, the SCT's and Maks - around F10 ish give better views for the Planets - you could use a focal reducer for the SCT (F 6.3) - but I've never really found them to give vastly larger FOV's for the more widefield targets, for me, under light polluted skies the extended - more diffuse objects are difficult for me anyway, the Dob will give you the biggest aperture, the SCT will give you comfortable seated, tracked observations with a very steady mount.  I've had EQ mounts in the past (still have one now for the Mak), but found the EQ/Newt combination a little fiddly when moving to different parts of the sky and having to rotate the tube in the mount every now and then - where as the SCT just needs an EP "swivel" from seated to standing observing.

Just a little more for you to think of Mate.

Regards   Paul.

[dannybgoode]

I mentioned this on another similar 'what scope' post but seriously consider secondhand for a first scope.

Some serious money saving to be had on www.astrobuysell.com/uk - let someone else take the hit on the depreciation and if you come to sell it on you may not even lose a penny.

If you keep it you can be happy in the knowledge you have yourself a bargain...

[animaal]

The suggestion to look at used equipment is a good one. A lot of people are putting their scopes away for the summer, so there may be less used stuff available. However, when something does pop up, there may be fewer people lookig to  buy, so you may pick up a bargain.