Moving from a travelscope to a celestron nexstar 4se or not?

[mishy30forever]

Hi, its been that long since I had my scope out I forgot my login details - I have a celestron travelscope which ive had a few years, I bought some new eyepieces for it barlow etc.. and some others (currently under the stairs gathering dust) and despite loving spening time outside freezing to death if I locked onto somethink - eg Jupiter and the moons then it would drop and id lose the image then get so peed off id give up, anyway I have a birthday coming up and was thinking in tome for autumn I would upgrade - im thinking of the nexstar se - would this be an upgrade or just as pants - anyone prefer an opinion - and the computerised bit does that move it beautifully to snap onto my planet for perfect viewing or can you recommend something else about the £500 mark at most............

Im digging her out tonight to try and view Saturn - perhaps im wasting my time with it - all advice welcome ............

[happy-kat]

Hi

Sounds like the tripod is letting you down.

Though moving from 70mm to 4 inches will be a jump but.

The SE will have a much narrower field of view then the 70.

What objects do you hope to view?

Do you storage space limitations, or live with stairs and or no garden?

[mishy30forever]

hi I have a south facing garden and a backroom I could leave set up in to carry out into said garden of an evening, I don't particularly want to press a button and it goto the location but some element of slow movement to get it to where I want it to go with out jerkin about - id like to view different constellations double stars and planets.   I have a few extra eye pieces I bought so really would like something compatable with those too so same size as my travelscope - the spotter on the travelscop was and is useless to the point that when it fell over one day and broke I didn't see it as a great loss - im not that clumsy genrally though.  I did wonder if id see more with a fabby pair of binos .   Thanks for taking the time to reply by the way - as you can tell im pretty much a near novice.

[mishy30forever]

tried to edit but no idea how I can - I don't mind it moving to the degree location I want but I don't want to hook it up to a pc iyswim - im not that techy

[damnut]

Hi,

Welcome to SGL, lots of good info on here. As above the 4se is a big jump but if you go for the Mak not sct you would be able to get the Nexstar 127 which is 5". and £110 cheaper at £375. If you could provide some details as to what you are going to observe, portability, etc then we would be able to make a more considered suggestion for you.

[mishy30forever]

Not planning on going anywhere other than my back garden so portability not massive but then I am a weakling.

[damnut]

Waht I would say is go to a meet of a local astro club and see what others have and what might suit you best. The best bang for buck is a Dob. The 200p has an excellent reputation and is under £300. This is because there is little value in the mount and no goto. This  scope would give you excellent service for many years. If you find this too big it has a baby brother the 150p for £207. Have a look on FLO's website :-- http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

[happy-kat]

You have a nice budget :-)

I think your travel scope will have a used as the wide field views can be so nice.

Eye pieces will be compatible as they are 1.25 size.

The skywatcher red dot finder is generally better.

The skymax 127 is popular and this mount gives you the tracking I think but not go to and is bigger aperture then the 4se and cheaper if you particularly like a mak.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-supatrak.html

Same idea re 127 post crossed.

[mishy30forever]

ha ha yes but if I can get one for less I can get myself some nice new walking boots

[brantuk]

Is it a cassegraine that you are after then? (Mak or Sct). Have you considered newtonians or refractors? Whatever you go for will be more satisfying if you've thought out your objectives, weighed up the pro's and con's, and chosen the appropriate instrument. Hth

[mishy30forever]

when I was on here years back I got a link to a website that you put your telescope in and different eyepieces and it gave an idea what to expect to see - anyone know the site please?

[mishy30forever]

Brantuk that's kind of what im trying to do..........

[damnut]

See here :--  http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm  remember to click 'switch to visual view'

[mishy30forever]

OOO thanks, planets look pretty good through the hubble............

[Stu]

See here :-- http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm remember to click 'switch to visual view'

To be clear, that shows you the size of the object within the field of view, not a realistic view of what you actually see

[happy-kat]

This is a good read.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/page-1

[damnut]

Hi Stu,

The caveats are explained prior to choosing.

[Stu]

Hi Stu,

The caveats are explained prior to choosing.

Must have missed that, didn't see anything on the site, but just wanted to make sure the OP realized this

[John]

I think Stu is correct to point this out. That site is useful but the way it compares ultra wide fields of view is actually inaccurate.