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LTD

By LTD
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LTD

LTD

Posted
Posted

Good evening everyone. 

Just thought I'd introduce myself! My name is Lee, I'm 26 and I live in the North West of England, not too far away from Bolton. 

I have always been interested in stargazing without ever having a proper scope to do anything about it. I did get one for a birthday when I was younger but it wasn't very good and I didn't know how to work it so quickly forgot about it as a hobby. Anyway, I have my own family now and although my son is very young, I would like to get into stargazing properly myself so that if the time comes where he, like me, takes an interest in it, then I can help! 

I don't actually have a scope and the way that I found this forum was by looking for some advice on what I should be getting. Already this evening I have read different pieces of advice that have changed my mind from initially wanting a refractor to a dobsonian. I'm still not 100% sure what I should be looking for so I will list some information about me and what I would be doing with it and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Firstly, and most annoyingly, I have limited storage space and limited funds to buy a scope. As mentioned I have looked at some Dobsonians and like the look of this one the most: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html because it seems to be relatively inexpensive and appears easier to store than others. Is this decent for a beginner? Or are there others you would recommend around this price range? I would guess that most of my star gazing will be done in my back garden - if this is recommended? I don't know. Would I not need a tripod for this?

I also read in a review of that one that I should get a Barlow x2 for viewing some planets, is there a particular recommendation for one of these? I saw one on Amazon for around £15.00 with some decent reviews. Do I need one?

Anyway, apologies for the long and winding post, I look forward to browsing the forum and thank you in advance for any advice that you may have

Lee

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Fish

Fish

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Posted

Hi Lee and welcome. The scope you are looking at represents a good starter scope, Im pretty sure that you can even mount it on a tripod if needed otherwise you will need a table or raised area to use the scope. The absolute finest starter scope is the skywatcher 200p dob as you have probably read, again they dont take much storage space but are quite tall. The problem with astronomy is once you start the need to upgrade leaves a lot of the original kit redundant, so you get the 130p then you get to thinking what if I had the 200p. Take your time deciding you may even find a pair of binoculars will be a good enough start to enable you to learn the sky.

Good luck with choosing :-)

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Pondus

Pondus

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Heya Lee and welcome  :smiley: .

The Skywatcher Heritage was my first telescope and for me its a keeper. It is more than decent.

I was pleasantly surprised how well it performed considering the size and price. 

Easy to carry, and doesnt take up much storage space.

I also like the red dot finder on the Heritage.

You can use the telescope without a table, but you will need a small box or a bucket to sit on.

However : a low table and a chair gives me the best comfort when I use this scope for observing.

If you decide on the Heritage I would recommend you to buy a collimation tool before spending money on other eyepieces.

Regards

Rune

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Lee and welcome to SGL, the Heritage is a popular small scope , but for the available money, have you searched such as Astro/BuySell, a dedicated s/h Astronomy site,  you just might be able to improve on scope choice :) 

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DeepSkyBagger

DeepSkyBagger

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Hi Lee and welcome along. I'm not far from Bolton myself. The Heritage looks like a nice little starter scope - one where you can test your interest without laying out too much dosh. You can decide later if you want to spend more (and make more room!). Lots of advice here in the meantime...

Cheers, Patrick

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LTD

LTD

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Hi Lee and welcome to SGL, the Heritage is a popular small scope , but for the available money, have you searched such as Astro/BuySell, a dedicated s/h Astronomy site,  you just might be able to improve on scope choice :)

I did think about looking for a 2nd hand better quality scope, but I assumed the better they are the more complicated they are and I don't want to overcomplicate things for myself and get annoyed!

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LTD

LTD

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Hi all

Just to let you know, I did purchase the heritage 130p (from Amazon) but when it arrived one of the legs underneath the mount had snapped off in the box. Most frustrating as I now have to wait for them to receive it back before they issue a refund which is longer for me without the scope! argh

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