IntelliScope vs GOTO

[Jayded87]

Hi there,

10 months ago I bought the SkyWatcher Heritage 130p as my first Scope. Wonderful little telescope with decent optics, and it has whet my appetite enough to want to see more.

I'm a big fan of the Dobsonian Scopes, and I'm considering an Orion Skyquest 10i. Crucially, I want some kind of system that helps me find objects in the Nightsky a lot quicker rather than star hopping as I am now. I know that GOTO and IntelliScope are both available on the model I'm looking at, and I was just wondering as to which is the better option? Or is it purely down to personal preference?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

[CountBorgula]

I was asking myself the same questions as I was choosing a Dobby.  I think the main issue comes down to tracking.  The intelli will help you find the objects you are looking for, but a Goto will keep them in your field of view.  An intelli will require less power through the night though.  I plan to share my scope with a lot of friends/family, so tracking seemed like a good option.  In the end I went for the Skywatcher Skyliner 300P Goto, let's see how it performs, tonight is the first potential observing session this I bought it!

[John]

The Intelliscope system does not drive the mount but does sense the position of the mount on both axis and gives you directions to find a selected object, "left a bit", "right a bit" that sort of thing, until the object should be in the field of view of a low power eyepiece. It's a "PushTo" system if you like because you supply the motive power.

GOTO is a driven system that moves the scope on both axis until it is pointing at the desired object (assuming that the GOTO mount and system have been set up reasonably accurately). Once the target is in view it tracks the object while you view it.

Both systems work well and are popular judging by the feedback I've seen here and elsewhere. Intelliscope has the lowest power requirements as there are no motor drives involved.

[Tinker1947]

I found the Skywatcher 300P GoTo to be very accurate, tracking objects very well and quick to (align 2 stars) align a 14Ah Tracer will run for around 16 hours between charges....

[Jayded87]

Ok, thanks for your help guys

[CountBorgula]

I can also confirm that the Skywatcher 300p is really accurate!