meade, celestron, skywatcher or orion

[Nick cb]

I have been trying to figure out which telescope company for some time now but each one has so many telescopes i dont know which is best

[mister_wavey]

The best advice anyone can give you is to get yourself to a local astronomy society where you can try out different scopes and see which ones work for your interest level and budget.

[John]

It's probably best to try and work out what design and size of scope might suit you best and then look at the offerings each brand has of that type. A number of the Skywatcher, Celestron and Orion (USA as opposed to Orion UK) scopes are basically the same made by the same manufacturer.

You need to think about:

- Interests - visual observing the moon and planets and / or deep sky objects, planetary imaging or imaging deep sky objects ?

- Practicality - storage, portability, transportability ?

- Cost - budget for the scope, mount (if bought separately from the scope), accessories ?

There is no scope that does everything and some of the interests above need different types of instruments so you need to start narrowing things down a bit so that we can help you start to assemble a shortlist of candidate scopes.

There is almost too much choice when you are starting out !

[Nick cb]

right now i have a celestron astroaster 130eq but the mount i have given up on i think a meade goto telescope could be good but also a celestron nexstar but i need advice if dobsonions are good for astro imaging

[John]

Dobsonians are great for visual observing but not suitable for imaging.

[ollypenrice]

I think you should start out by telling us what you would like to do. Imagine the question, 'What is the best car?' If you'd like to win the world driver's championship a Formula One car would be a good idea.  If you would like to cross the Sahara off road you might get a different suggestion - or I hope you would!

Olly

[Owmuchonomy]

Also, pick a local retailer (you can find reviews on this forum) that you can visit and will then advise you on what equipment suits your needs and budget. The 'company' is secondary in most situations.