Seeking kind advice about my first Reflector

[Cosmic Geoff]

3 minutes ago, Sidd said:

So you are saying that a good EQ mount is the one made for around 200 pounds and hence the budget scopes under 200 pounds with EQ would actually have crapy EQs.

Exactly. 200 pounds is a minimum I picked just now. Check the prices of an EQ3-2 or an EQ-5 (without scope).  I had an EQ2 once. With a higher power eyepiece in use, I couldn't touch the scope without it wobbling unusably.

[Sidd]

15 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Your choice, but cheap wobbly manual equatorial mounts are not worth having. They're annoying and have little advantage over a wobbly alt-azimuth mount. Do yourself a favour. Don't buy one. The test of a tripod is: if you hang on to it, are you holding it steady, or is it holding you steady? With a decent mount like the EQ-5, with its thick tubular steel legs, it's the latter.

Thanks sir...

[Erla]

18 minutes ago, Sidd said:

Is yours a celestron power seeker 114. I have heard that the mount with this particular model isn't good at all. 

No, celestron astromaster114 (spherical mirror). So neither scope nor mount are good  Was enough to hook me though.. bought SW200pds and neq6 to replace it. I think Powerseeker comes with parabolic mirror. But mount is the same.  

[Sidd]

10 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Exactly. 200 pounds is a minimum I picked just now. Check the prices of an EQ3-2 or an EQ-5 (without scope).  I had an EQ2 once. With a higher power eyepiece in use, I couldn't touch the scope without it wobbling unusably.

Got it.. I am reading a review of the Dobs-Heritage130p and am finding myself in love with it. I might go for the stable desktop Dob ... I don't plan to stargaze from a garden etc Ill do it from my roof, a hill station apartment and a village house and all locations must have a table So I shall be good !

[Sidd]

34 minutes ago, John said:

The dobsonian mount, although simple, is very stable even when viewing at high magnifications.

Personally, my recommendation would be the Skywatcher Heritage 130 for your budget. Good optics plus easy to use plus readily portable. "win, win, win"

Good review here on this scope from Neil English:

http://neilenglish.net/a-newtonian-travel-scope/

My Dear John,

Thanks a lot for sharing this article- the review by Neil. Wow! Its detailed and contains a link to another review by his colleague. Read both and after reading Neil's I have been able to nail down my choice. Its going to be a Skywatcher Heritage 130p and that is it.... I do not want to confuse myself anymore now. This is what I am getting. The review is detailed and absolutely and fascinatingly remarkable and in depth. That review has made me make up my mind for good ! 

The only thing now is the bloody waiting period that I have to deal with 4-5 weeks to go... 

thanks a lot for the useful info sir. Appreciated !

Just one thing though, should I get other lenses or culmination accessories right away or is it being too greedy for the moment ???

[Erla]

I think you are making good decision, Sidd. And, as this scope has a dovetail, should you want to put it on an equatorial or alt-az mount in the future, you will be able to without any issues.

[Sidd]

8 minutes ago, Erla said:

No, celestron astromaster114 (spherical mirror). So neither scope nor mount are good  Was enough to hook me though.. bought SW200pds and neq6 to replace it. I think Powerseeker comes with parabolic mirror. But mount is the same.  

OK got it... thanks for the kind advice. I have finalised my decision... Its going to be the Heritage 130p on a desktop Dob. All I need to do extra would be to find a table or two lying around  

[Cornelius Varley]

8 minutes ago, Erla said:

No, celestron astromaster114 (spherical mirror). So neither scope nor mount are good  Was enough to hook me though.. bought SW200pds and neq6 to replace it. I think Powerseeker comes with parabolic mirror. But mount is the same.  

I think the powerseeker range of reflectors use spherical mirrors. Both the Powerseeker 114/1000 and 127/1000 are barlowed reflectors (longer focal length than tube length).

[Erla]

3 minutes ago, Sidd said:

 

Just one thing though, should I get other lenses or culmination accessories right away or is it being too greedy for the moment ???

Get a Cheshire for collimation straight away, it's a must for Newtonian.

If I was you, I would also get one low, one higher power eyepiece and a barlow. Supplied ones are not the best, even some cheaper options, such as BST, would be better.

[Sidd]

5 minutes ago, Erla said:

I think you are making good decision, Sidd. And, as this scope has a dovetail, should you want to put it on an equatorial or alt-az mount in the future, you will be able to without any issues.

Indeed Erla, this is an advantage for me. You know why? Because I don't think that I will be able to get another scope for another few years or so. It depends, if I am as passionate about astronomy in a few years from now as I am today, I might, if not, well then this might be my only scope you see. So I am sure now that this is the one I am getting thanks a lot for your help.

[Sidd]

2 minutes ago, Erla said:

Get a Cheshire for collimation straight away, it's a must for Newtonian.

If I was you, I would also get one low, one higher power eyepiece and a barlow. Supplied ones are not the best, even some cheaper options, such as BST, would be better.

Thanks.. I shall look in to it. 

[Sidd]

By the way, does anyone know the price of Heritage 130p and also the name /location of a shop that sells it around London. My friend's office is in South London so I believe he'd be getting it from within London. 

[Sidd]

8 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

I think the powerseeker range of reflectors use spherical mirrors. Both the Powerseeker 114/1000 and 127/1000 are barlowed reflectors (longer focal length than tube length).

Thanks... I have decided on the SH130p for sure now Cheers

[Erla]

4 minutes ago, Sidd said:

By the way, does anyone know the price of Heritage 130p and also the name /location of a shop that sells it around London. My friend's office is in South London so I believe he'd be getting it from within London. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html 

Good price, very good service,very reliable and helpful. 1-3 day delivery, the scope is in stock so, from my experience, your friend would have it on Wednesday if you order today. 

[happy-kat]

Eyepieces.. need a budget really as they can sure differ in price.

I manage with a collimation cap, if you decide on a cheshire then save your money you don't need a laser one.

Eyepieces are standard 1.25" size maybe you have local suppliers.

If you deliver it to your friend's house it might be worth them checking all is fine with it. Also the mount does not flat pack so not sure how your you're getting it out to you.

[happy-kat]

The tripod thread.

here

What can I expect to see.

here

[Sidd]

3 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Eyepieces.. need a budget really as they can sure differ in price.

I manage with a collimation cap, if you decide on a cheshire then save your money you don't need a laser one.

Eyepieces are standard 1.25" size maybe you have local suppliers.

If you deliver it to your friend's house it might be worth them checking all is fine with it. Also the mount does not flat pack so not sure how your you're getting it out to you.

I am still thinking. I might as well not order anything for collimation. The cap can be easily made at home and the rest of the procedure can be carried out. Yes it will take experience and time to fully grasp it but it can be done DIY. My friend would take it on the plane with him somehow I hope. 

[Sidd]

11 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

The tripod thread.

here

What can I expect to see.

here

Please help me with this. Does a normal camera tripod fit on to the SH100p ? If yes, then those are available here like for cameras .. but what about the mount? I don't think the cameras have such mounts and even if they do what about the clamp in which the scope will fit.... If this can be done locally I would really be a happy man. 

[happy-kat]

The heritage 100p is a smaller and different telescope. The dob mount on that telescope has a camera tripod thread so the whole lot fits on a camera tripod screw but that if a way smaller mirror.

The heritage 130p telescope, using your own clamp fitting (which has a tripod thread) on the telescope dove bar, could then be fitted to a camera ball head and then mounted on a camera tripod. How handy is your friend at diy.

I was just trying to illustrate that the heritage 130p telescope does come off the dob mount and shared how one member mounted theirs.

[Charic]

9 hours ago, Cornelius Varley said:

I think the powerseeker range of reflectors use spherical mirrors. Both the Powerseeker 114/1000 and 127/1000 are barlowed reflectors (longer focal length than tube length).

I had the 5"  Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ. Its as useful as a chocolate fireguard when it comes to having any joy with astronomy, just far too much to set up and continually adjust in order  to change to another target, no fun at all ?
I decided after the first nights use, this was not the way to go, just just for looking at a few Stars. There must be an easier way, there was!
Sure, The moon was visible with that scope, but for anything else, it doesn't stand a chance against the 8" Skyliner.

I'd still say go look at/for a 6" Skyliner as a minimum, the 150P is still portable, and far steadier on a Dobsonian

Sidd, is there someone or a club nearby,whereby you could even look through a scope, it will give you a better insight as to what you need. I've seen the 130P's on the shelf, and I'd still like to try one before I pass judgment, but having experienced the Powerseeker 127EQ,  thats one best to avoid.

Here's a .pdf link for the 130P......    http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/user/Heritage-130P review July16AN.pdf

a video too........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEs_MMcJ7JA

[jetstream]

We have a Heritage 130P dob and its fantastic, both on DSO and lunar planetary. These scopes punch way above their weight IMHO. Keep the eyepieces on the light side-the ES 82 6.7mm weight is fine and the supplied Super 25 is actually pretty good, showing us the Rosette neb,Veil neb etc under dark skies with a UHC filter. The supplied 10mm leaves a bit to be desired... I use a cheshire combo tool, but the sec has never been off so we use a cheap refractor collimator (image) -works great.

This scope has a Vixen dovetail and can be mounted on a variety of alt az mount/tripods. These are VG scopes.

[Sidd]

Ok guys thanks a million for all the assistance. 

One more thing has cropped up. Kindly advice. Some people are saying that the heritage tube is flex and therefore the secondary mirror is exposed to light and hence the scope won't work great unless used in a very dark environment otherwise a dark black sheet has to be used to cover the exposed secondary mirror for good results. 

How far is this true. 

Please let me know as I have made up my mind for this scope and I think for me the dobs mount would do just fine. If it didn't I shall get a camera tripod and try to find the clamp for it. 

Somebody was suggesting skywatcher explorer 130 but it doesn't have high reviews. 

[jetstream]

Yes cover the open truss with anything that blocks stray light, it will help. The "bucket" that the primary is in helps out quite a bit (with no shroud).

[Nyctimene]

A huge thread on the Skywatcher Heritage P 130 Flextube (95 pages!) exists on the CloudyNights forum (the scope under another brand name), covering all kind of aspects; have a look:

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/463109-onesky-newtonian-astronomers-without-borders/

I bought this scope two weeks ago, and am very pleased with it; my lunar first light report can be found here under: Observing - Lunar, "First Light with Full Moon". In the meantime, I found it excellent on DSO's as well. Very recommendable!

Stephan

 

 

[Sidd]

Thanks guys. After going through the detailed thread you notified I'm certain that this is he scope for me. 

I shall have experience with it with the supplied eye pieces and the dobs mount and then progress towards the mount or shroud modifications I find I feel like that. 

Seems like I'm in for some long hours of observation  can't really wait now !!!