Best time to buy a telescope

[Interstellarshaw88]

John, cheers mate. I'd be sure to give FLO folks a call tomorrow and get their take on it as well.

Piero, mate every single thing you mentioned in your reply to my post, you can tick them off Now is the time to take the plunge but don't want to be left disappointed if the very next week I find there is a sale on the same scope lol...

Maifey, quite right, might spend an extra £30 to get more but then I'll have to see if I'd really need my scope to function for that long or I might just future proof myself. Been keeping a keen eye on astrobuyandsell but what I want just isn't being sold much. Like i said, am sticking my guns with the AVX mount because that's (a) affordable and ( transportable which is the key thing.

Interstellar88, I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking and asking the question. One thing someone told me a while back was that the best scope is the one that you're more likely to use much. True we want to splash out as much as our pockets can allow us but doesn't mean you won't be satisfied with a small refractor. ED80 is no doubt a very good gear and HEQ5 pro will be just fine for that. AVX and HEQ5 are practically both equal as mounts with SW HEQ5 supporting the EQMOD which some like but for me it isn't a show stopper. I could've gone for the NEQ6 but then it's just as same as CGEM which is what you really need for a good astrophotography mount. NEQ6 being cheaper nonetheless and a no brainer to buy. The only reason why I'm going for the EdgeHD is for its optics for astrophotography. Visually it's good and for astrophotography the planets it's better than DSOS. Not that it can't do it, but like everyone has said, you need a refractor for that wide FOV. No one scope does everything but 8" SCTs are a good all-rounders. Trust me when I say this, that's all what I've been reading up on for the last 3-4 weeks lol

If I'm being honest I have no idea what the edge is can't say I've heard of it, and the prices of the ed80 are around double of the 150pds reflector is refractor better then a reflector then ?

Well in addition to the extra money, you may wish to consider whether you can handle the extra weight of NEQ6...... the mount head is 16kg and the tripod is 7.5. These are serious weight.... try walking with something 16kg and see how far you can manage

150PDS is a good starting point, ED80 would be a step forward. If you had the budget for Edge HD than with that budget you can have both.....

The weight of the mount don't bother me as such as its going to be mainly used on my back garden and I've got plenty enough space in the car to shove it in when I want to go to a dark sky and I also have youth on my side for now haha.

Originally I was thinking the heq5 would be more then enough until I spoken to the local scope shop which advised me it maybe better to go for the slightly more substantial neq6...

[souls33k3r]

Stop hijacking peoples thread just kidding mate. Ok you said you want to get in to astrophotography right? You need to first pin down to what you want to photograph. Then here are my few humble suggestions

Scope:

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1) Moon and Planet : An SCT is good

2) Nebulas and Galaxies: Buy a refractor because it has a much larger field of view

Mount:

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1) Moon and Planets : Celestron Advanced VX or a Sky Watcher HEQ5 pro

2) Nebulas and Galaxies: CGEM or above OR Sky Watcher NEQ6

Well take this as a rule of thumb. If there is anyone who would disagree please by all means chip in

[souls33k3r]

EdgeHD is a celestron optics, give you sharper details when you photograph. Particularly aimed towards the astrographs. Look it up, you won't be disappointed mate

[jimbo747]

One way is see if the scope you like is on amazon, can't see an issue buying from there if you already know what you're looking for, and amazon have the best CS in the business. Then go to Morrison's and buy amazon vouchers, every £10 spent gives you 10p off a litre, so if scope costs £1000, you get £1 off a litre worth £100.

Otherwise places like modern astronomy advertise on eBay, and often far cheaper than from the website and with PayPal you get some backup too. Paypal do the occasional offer too, last week there was a 20% off anything code which came in handy.

[souls33k3r]

Jimbo the morrisons voucher sounds good but I don't own a car but darn wish I knew the PayPal offer. Would've certainly come in handy for accessories