Want to upgrade

[Welsh-18]

Hello im fairly new to stargazing and currently have a skywatcher 130 and having found this hobby to be very addictive and rewarding, and also very frustrating at times so with that said i want to find myself a bigger scope to explore more and hopefully one day do some astrophotography, that being said im struggling to pick a new scope due to my lack of experience and was hoping to get opinions on here as to which scope would suit my needs, first ill make my budget clear im looking to spend around 300-600 preferably in the middle but would not mind one bit to spend my whole budget on a great scope that is highly recommended, id like a bigger scope to get better detail on both planets and deep sky objects but at the same time be as portable as possible, any recommendations and advice would be greatly appreciated, many thanks, welsh

[DRT]

Hi,

Given that you are new to the hobby and have been hooked by observing through a Newtonian/Dobsonian I would recommend that you leave any thoughts of astro photography for your next upgrade.

With your budget you could buy one of these new: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-flextube-dobsonian.html

That is a seriously good scope and would give you an enormous amount more detail and capability than your 130.

If that is too big, the smaller Skyliner 200P is one of the most popular scopes around and will give you fabulous views in a very manageable size and leave lots of money to spend on accessories.

Best of luck

Derek

 

 

[brantuk]

Derek is thinking along exactly the same lines as myself - an 8" newt/dob is a great upgrade but a 10" is even better and not too much to port around if you fit carry handles. The flextube version is great (I had the 12" flextube) but in your position I might be tempted by this:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-dobsonian.html

It's in the middle of your budget leaving plenty for extras. Chucking the base in the boot and ota on the back seat couldn't be easier and you're on the road to your favourite dark site with a lot of aperture for gathering those dso's. Set up is quick and easy and the only downside is it's not an AP scope. Satisfactory imaging will set you back a heck of a lot more. Hth

[Putaendo Patrick]

I'll start the ball rolling and suggest, for visual observing, an 8 inch reflector on a Dobsonian mount:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

8 inches, or 200mm, of aperture will be a very significant improvement over your current 130mm. The scope is very simple to set up and use, not impossibly large or heavy, and will not need super-expensive eyepieces.

The downside is it is very limited for astrophotography. Here the really important element is a mount what is very solid, very precise, and with either go-to or motors will allow accurate tracking. Unfortunately these begin at about 700 pounds, without the telescope! There are certainly cheaper alternatives, with many people achieving excellent results, but ultimately these have restrictions.

(OK, so DRTand Brantuk beat me to it )

[DRT]

22 minutes ago, Putaendo Patrick said:

(OK, so DRTand Brantuk beat me to it )

I think that is called a consensus

Three great scopes mentioned, all of the same basic design.

[Timebandit]

Hi. For your budget I agree with the fellow members above and a skywatcher 10 to 12 inch would be great and have good reviews, and a step up as from my experience aperture is always king on a like for like basis. But have you maybe thought about a home grown scope for example like the Orion optics UK. Obviously on your budget a bit out of your price range new. But they do come up second hand from time to time and as you already have a scope then I take it your in no rush. The advantage that can be had with a 00 UK is the mirror quality and grade in the PV rate. So you know what you are getting in mirror quality without guess work. I took this route and am very happy? with a 14 inch DOB with a 1/10 mirror