first scope - Skywatcher Explorer 150p or 200p?

[purdo]

Hi, it took me nearly three months to settle on the 8" Dob and I don't regret it.  In saying that, hubby has to set it up for me and take it apart, it's too heavy/awkward for me to do.  I have lifted the base but find it very heavy, but perhaps I'm just a weakling.  It just takes a couple of minutes to set it up so that is great.  The winter sky was great to view but now the lighter nights are coming in, hubby goes to bed early as he get up early too.  I may attempt to set it up myself but as we have three steps going out of the house to the back garden, I'm afraid of dropping it.  Anyway,  have just bought a Meade 114 StarNavigator off Gumtree for £90 so that may well be my viewing scope for the week nights during the summer.  I can lift that in and out with no problem.  But I love my 8" Dob and wouldn't ever sell it unless I went for a 8" Dob GoTo.      Here's a picture .

[Helen]

Hi Nat,  

My advice is to start smaller to be sure you can move the scope about easily.  I went the other way, and found that I just wasn't bothering to get the scope out because it was too awkward to handle.  I, like you, am rather small.  The weight of some of the scopes and tripods might be manageable, but often they are awkward shapes and lengths and this can be very difficult when you are short - eg trying to get a tripod lifted enough to go over a door sill means can be very challenging when your legs aren't very long!

I'd also go simple mount - a dobsonian or another alt az - rather than an equatorial while you learn the sky.  A good scope will hold its value and you should be able to sell for 2/3 price if you want to move on (and as mentioned above you can always take the tube from a dobsonian mount and put it on an equatorial mount later if you decide you do want to do photography).

For ease of use and handling I'd probably recommend the 150 over the 200.  You'll see loads.  Don't get into the mindset that you may not have the perfect scope - there is no such thing!  Every scope is a compromise of some sort, so just bite the bullet and get one and enjoy it.  

Helen

[Dave In Vermont]

The 200mm Dob is of the needed aperture to show you most everything you might like to see - for the rest of your lives. 200mm is the 'sweet-spot' regarding aperture, and further cases of "Aperture-Fever" can be disregarded.

As mobility issues go, you can purchase, or build, a simple wheeled-platform that can be rolled about like a wheel-barrow. So unless you've been aching to hike to Andorra through the Pyrenees with a telescope, you'll be fine & happy.

That's my 2p on the issue. Think outside that box.

Clear Skies& DSO's,

Dave

[NatUK1]

Thank you all so much for your advice, I had a really good look into dobs last night and I'm going to go for the skyliner 200p

I feel like I would be comprising going for the 150p explorer and that the 200p explorer would just be stuck in storage until my hubby got home to help me! I'm so excited, thanks again for all of your help!!!

[Night Hawk]

I think the 200p is a good choice. I nearly brought the 150p with a tripod but decided for the 200p dob as more scope for around the same amount of cash. As your money is not being spent on the mount. It is heavy but at least you can move it in two parts like I do some times, or get it on wheels as Dave in Vermont has said.

[Steve007]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I too have been looking at the Skywatcher 200 as a possible starter scope. I noticed the 250 version today too, which seems a fair bit more expensive, but within my budget. 

Would it be worth pushing it for the larger version or investing more money in eyepieces? To be honest, for either scope I plan on doing that anyway. 

[NatUK1]

Don't be sorry! I can't help with advice about the scope but would definitely be interested in which eyepieces are reccomended I noticed the skyliner doesn't come with a Barlow so think that would be a good starting point but don't know which Barlow to choose!

[Xiionn]

I vote for the EQ5 option, preferably the Synscan version. I just bought one and it’s a game changer. It’s HEAVY..when it’s TOGETHER. However it comes apart into four easy pieces. These pieces are easy to transport and don't weigh a lot. I have taken mine apart and set it up a dozen times to familiarise myself with it and i can take it apart and set it up, level it and polar align it in around five minutes. It’s truly a piece of cake. The tripod folds flat, that comes out, set it up and level it. Then put the actual mount on it, and attach the leg spreader and three hand tight bolts get that on, and then you can add the counter weight. My 11 year old daughter can get the whole lot out of the house and set it up, it’s that easy. Polar alignment takes a couple of minutes and bingo. Even the standard EQ5 mount once set like this will track targets with ease.

For a Newtonian you will want the legs of the tripod set as low as possible, which will make life easier for you as you said you weren’t very tall. The Newts EP are at the top of the whole lot, so you need your mount set low...this should make it easier for you to mount the tube

Dobs are for me at least a total pain. Some people love them and can get on with them, i am not one of them! I used a friends just the other day. The constant nudging to keep things in view was a pain, but because you are nudging by hand in two axis, losing the target entirely was easily done with a 6mm EP (Literally had to nudge it every few seconds and a wrong nudge equals lost target) When i lost the target, matey had to re-sight with a different low power EP, get it in view, change to the high power EP again and hand it back to me! No thanks! He got on well with it and could use it well, but having now seen my synscan EQ5 track Jupiter without even touching it....guess who is saving up for an EQ5!

The standard EQ5 is just as easy, because when you track an object you are only using one axis, if you lose the target you can easily sweep back and forth on that axis to regain it, even after a cup of tea! Tracking is also made easy due to this.

Hope that helps!

[Xiionn]

Don't be sorry! I can't help with advice about the scope but would definitely be interested in which eyepieces are reccomended I noticed the skyliner doesn't come with a Barlow so think that would be a good starting point but don't know which Barlow to choose!

BST eyepeices are very well regarded, i just bought a 15mm BST for £49 and its so comfortable to use, and very sharp. Best purchase i have made so far. Personally i would buy three eypeices rather than a Decent Barlow. However i have the Revelation 3 element Barlow 2.5x which is also generally well regarded and i am pretty happy with it. But i think its easier and better to just have three EP's, a 25, 12.5 and 6mm rather than faff around with Barlows which degrade the image, even if not by a lot.

[Steve007]

Interesting comment about using the EQ5. Last night I visited a friend who has the standard Dobsonian mount and we did find it quite difficult to track and keep something in the eyepiece without nudging it. I think that's mostly due to us not being experienced though as there's obviously a lot of more experienced people used to working with it. 

I am tempted by the EQ5 though and the 200p model. Something like this one. In effect, I think I'd rather pay a little bit more for the tripod/mount than go for the 250p version I mentioned earlier. 

The eyepiece conversation here is also really helpful.

[Guest]

I love my 200P... and yeah it is a wee bit big but once you get to grips on picking it up its not too bad.

I usually place a mat down on the patio first, carry the base outside (and that's the heaviest bit!) then hug the scope like a tree and carefully plop it into place before screwing in the handles.

I wouldn't say I was particularly tall but its not too cumbersome. There is the added incentive of not wanting to drop it that keeps you going... I have to beware of my foot-hugging-cat sometimes 

The black dew shield on the end makes it look a lot taller and it also stops it from making lots of baby telescopes 

[Xiionn]

Having said all that, there is always this option for you...

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-sky-watcher-skyliner-200p-flextube-synscan-go-to-parabolic-dobsonian-telescope/p1524331?cm_mmc=googlebase-extension-_-telescopes-_-dobsonian-telescopes-_-sky-watcher-skyliner-200p-flextube-synscan-go-to-parabolic-dobsonian-telescope_1524331&utm_source=googlebase-extension&cm_mmc=google+-+warehouse+cameras+%26+lenses-_-shopping+-+other+products-_-&mkwid=hro1si1b&pcrid=54652739529&gclid=cjwkeajwx9kpbrcaiz_tgykwvhqsjabqjgw-wgnr9j8ssilrlymc92fybcd_accl1hlz5ntuzud47xocbqjw_wcb

Which is probably the easiest thing for you if you aren't that tall. I beleive a dob mount like this will be far easier for you to a) Mount the scope on and to look through the eyepeice on many targets without using a stool! Due to the synscan system, there wouldnt be any of the nudging. The tube also collapses making it a far smaller lump to carry.  I have no idea how much it would weigh or how easy to transport though....and its a fair wad of money!

[Xiionn]

b ) not

[ahernep]

Hi Nat,

I've just been going through the exact same process and also settled on the SW 200p Dob for a few reasons:

1) I'm focusing on visual when starting off, astrophotography is a secondary consideration for now.

2) It was about the best price/aperture ratio I could find for my budget (an excessively high budget for me in Singapore as not a whole lot of vendors here Very envious of all you folks with next day delivery from FLO!)

3) It was the biggest I thought I could manage easily in terms of portability and I will still probably consider some for of wheels for it eventually.

4) As AstroAdam mentioned above, if you later want to get into AP then it can be mounted to a HEQ5.

Now, while I wait for delivery (6 weeks already as I mentioned on another thread earlier ) I can try hijack the thread to ask AstroAdam how he finds the HEQ5 for the 200p? Enough stability or would you recommend something heavier, maybe NEQ6? My thinking is that the HEQ5 would work OK but be at it's weight limit for AP with the 200p. Later if I wanted to move into more serious AP I can get a dedicated setup then that was well within the HEQ5's limits and put my 200p back on the dob as a grab and go kit....of course this will all be happening in a galaxy far far away, which hopefully I'll be able to photograph sometime!!

Cheers,

Peter.

[Beardy30]

Hi I too have decided on the 200p after much research to upgrade from my sw130 I don't think you can go wrong Nat

[Steve007]

Is the EQ5 mount worth the extra money? 

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I would just point out that if your concerned about weight etc, if you choose the 200p on eq5 then its a lot more set up than a dob, legs - mount - weights - scope - accessories. As someone has mentioned before, you will need to LIFT and PLACE the scope onto the mount, and then HOLD it there, while you tighten the screws to hold the dovetail bar in place. A dob is straight forward, you take the base out, you connect the tube, Done.

I started with the 200p on EQ5 and it is a very good scope, however now its gathering dust because I can never be bothered to set the legs and mount up, so I am getting rid and looking at getting a dob. As someone else said, a scope that is too heavy to move, isn't going to get used.

Is the EQ5 mount worth the extra money? 

It entirely depends on what you want to do. If your looking at it against a dob, which i think you were going by an earlier post, for me it comes down to if you want to dabble in astrophotography, if yes, then an EQ mount is a must, and the EQ5 is good for getting start - some of my images were done with a 200p on the EQ5 -, if your not interested in astrophotography, then id seriously look at the dob. Nudging the scope to keep things in view can be annoying, but you'll soon get used to it and not even think about it.

Hope that in some way helps.

Matt.

[NatUK1]

I was totally certain I was going for the dob but I am interested in AP so am a little less certain now! Eeek!

I definitely will be going for the 200p version of either the explorer or the skyliner, can I leave the explorer all set up on the mount and store it set up so I just have to take it out of the house?

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I was totally certain I was going for the dob but I am interested in AP so am a little less certain now! Eeek!

I definitely will be going for the 200p version of either the explorer or the skyliner, can I leave the explorer all set up on the mount and store it set up so I just have to take it out of the house?

The explorer, not a chance. Well I'm 23, 100kg, in the gym 5 days a week and fairly strong, and I cant comfortably lift it all just to adjust it slightly in the garden let alone try and walk with it.

The skyliner comes apart, base and scope, and clicks together in seconds.

Ive attached a pic of my set up, its the 200p but with the HEQ5 instead of the EQ5. The EQ5 is smaller but not by a whole lot. But it will give you an idea of the size of it once everything is set up.

Matt.

[NatUK1]

ahhhh, I probably should stick with the dob then!  

If only my hubby didn't work nights.....

[Sirius Starwatcher]

Buy both ! 150 skyliner grab and go 200p Dob for back garden use and both for mini star parties at yours

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Don't forget that your not stuck with one scope forever, you can always sell and buy another or add to your collection. For photography a HEQ5 is kind of regarded as a minimum with a newt and is £750 new.

The dob is a brilliant starter scope to get you going.

Matt.

[NatUK1]

Both would be brilliant, but would definitely be pushing the budget!

I really should stick with the dob for now, i realise it makes most sense on the description of what you get it says there is a 'direct SLR camera connection' included so this this mean I could do some element of AP with the dob?

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Yes, you can connect the camera to the scope if you use a T ring for your camera model, youll be limited to very short exposures as the dob doesnt track the sky, things like the Moon and the Sun. You would need a motorised EQ mount for longer exposures, and around we go again

Matt

[NatUK1]

Thanks Matt that would suit me actually - to be totally honest at this stage I would be happy getting a half decent shot of the moon using my iPhone and I have just done a quick search on here and somebody has managed some fab shots of Saturn through an iPhone and their 200p dob!

I am definitely going to order the dob and a moon filter, just need to decide about extra eyepieces now.