New scope options for a new/old amateur astronomer

[lonick]

Hi All

All help and advise is welcome. A bit of background, i have used telescopes in the past (until i was about 16) but stopped. I've been doing a bit of research, I've also used some scopes that friends have, i now want to buy my own. Looking at spending approx £500,  £350 on scope plus £150 on any needed bits and bobs.

The one problem i have is the scope will need to be reasonably portable as i live in a converted warehouse so no garden of my own also its in a very light polluted area of Edinburgh. 

I'm down to three telescopes that I'm looking at right now so any advise any do's and don't will be very welcome. I've decided against Dobsonians on the basis of portability, not about weight but about fitting in car, but if I'm wrong please put me right, the three I'm looking at are;

Celestron Nexstar 130 - http://www.firstlightoptics.com/slt-series/celestron-nexstar-130-slt.html 

While i would prefer to spend my money on the scope and not the computer, I've used one and its easy to use.

Celestron Omni XLT 150 - http://www.firstlightoptics.com/omni-xlt-series/celestron-omni-xlt-150.html

So spending the money on the scope rather than the computer I'm just not sure how practical the mount will be as i'll always be travelling to use the scope.

Skywatcher Explorer 150P with AZ4 mount - http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-az4-mount.html

Again spending the money on the scope but i know that the mount (its like the Nexstar 130) is very easy for set up.

As i said any help would be great and it does not have to be the three scopes i've mentioned.

[Gino Arcari]

hi, i would most definitely go with the omni 150, i have a cg4 mount with motor drives and it is brilliant for a beginner, its an eq mount so if you ever want to do a little astrophotography, the option is there. the mount is surprisingly  portable too. Thinking about it now, if you would want to do a bit of astrophotography, i would get a cg4 with single axis motor and i would get either the 130pds or 150pds. The reason i advise you to use one of these scopes for astrophotography instead of the omni xlt 150 is because it's much easier to obtain focus with a dslr or ccd. the focuser on the pds scopes are also brilliant.

[lonick]

Thanks for the advice, will the mount on the omni 150 (CG-4 German Equatorial Mount) be easy to transport/store fully made up?

[happy-kat]

How far away would your car be to where you keep the telescope?

[Gino Arcari]

Yes, its very easy to transport...I always keep mine assembled, even when transporting. (Apart from counter weights)

[lonick]

How far away would your car be to where you keep the telescope?

The car is just in the car park some 10/15 yards from home

[Alfian]

I have the CG3 mount which is more an equivalent to the EQ2 so I' assuming the CG4 is more like an EQ3. Either way to be honest (and at odds with Gino - sorry) I find the 130/CG3 a bit of an awkward  lump to cart around any distance let alone fiddling with the counterweights, although that said, once together and set up the benefits of the EQ type of mount are clear. In balance though (pun unintended) if I was to start again I'd go for an AZ4 in fact I'm thinking about such an acquisition at the moment.

So I'd go for the AZ4/150P - looks a great combo and acceptably portable. The AZ4 could also provide handy if you get another scope OTA in the future (Mak/Frac?) The 150P is  a good scope and at F5 will nicely give some wide field views but will be harder on eyepieces. 

Just to play devils advocate though, a 150 Dob at F8 is a good all rounder and dissembled  although a few Kgs heavier (I thinK) should be reasonable portable! A word/email to FLO might be helpful to get another opinion.

A good idea to budget for "extras" - often forgotten.

[lonick]

I have the CG3 mount which is more an equivalent to the EQ2 so I' assuming the CG4 is more like an EQ3. Either way to be honest (and at odds with Gino - sorry) I find the 130/CG3 a bit of an awkward  lump to cart around any distance let alone fiddling with the counterweights, although that said, once together and set up the benefits of the EQ type of mount are clear. In balance though (pun unintended) if I was to start again I'd go for an AZ4 in fact I'm thinking about such an acquisition at the moment.

So I'd go for the AZ4/150P - looks a great combo and acceptably portable. The AZ4 could also provide handy if you get another scope OTA in the future (Mak/Frac?) The 150P is  a good scope and at F5 will nicely give some wide field views but will be harder on eyepieces. 

Just to play devils advocate though, a 150 Dob at F8 is a good all rounder and dissembled  although a few Kgs heavier (I thinK) should be reasonable portable! A word/email to FLO might be helpful to get another opinion.

A good idea to budget for "extras" - often forgotten.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm looking roughly £350 for the scope and £150 for a barlow and a couple of eye pieces and a filter.

[Alfian]

A couple of other thoughts, not sure whether you had thought of buying second hand but many a bargain can be had from here: (in this instance the link is to reflectors)

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?typechoice%5B%5D=Telescope-Reflector&titlechoice%5B%5D=For+Sale&statuschoice%5B%5D=Active&minprice=0&maxprice=300

You can save a bundle and get a good scope.

The other thing is in terms of extras such as EPs and Barlows its good to get your scope, get used to it for a while using the supplied "standard issue" EPs, THEN when you have a slightly better idea of where you want to go with your astronomy - buy EPs/Barlow accordingly.

[lonick]

Thanks for the link