New Scope Time!

[dick_dangerous]

Hi All,

I've only sporadically been on the forum over the last year or two, which has matched my observing pattern, but I'm in the market for a new telescope!

My requirements are quite simple - Im looking for a decent grab 'n' go set-up to stick in the back of the car, for £300 or under. I have a 6'' Dobsonian, which is great, but if I go on holiday / away for the weekend, it has a habit of taking up most of the space in my tiny little car (A VW Up!). I also have slight security worries if it's in there and I'm on the way to Cornwall, or Scotland, or some other lovely part of the world and it's sat, very obviously on display on the back seat. Most opportunist criminals are unlikely to stop breaking into my car because it's only a 6'' 'scope.

I'm considering getting another refractor as my preferred grab 'n' go option, and a friend suggested getting a larger Startravel than my current piddly 80mm one which comes on planes with me. On FLO they have the ST120 on an AZ3 mount for £279 and this sounds brilliant - not much less aperture than my Dob but with the bonus that it would be far easier to get to a dark location and therefore outperform the Dob that's confined to the immediate surroundings of London. The only problem is that I'm given to understand that the AZ3 is a bit wobbly, and the ST120 is very much at the upper limit of what it can carry. I then noticed that they have a package of the ST102 on the new AZ5 for about £330 which looks like a pretty good deal to me; there would be less CA (Not really bothered about that) but a reduction in aperture. I don't really want to go beyond that in terms of money, so I'm sticking with the achromats.

So my options are to purchase either:

• An ST120 on AZ3 and it be a bit wobbly (I could upgrade the mount at some point in the future)
• An ST102 on AZ5 and bust my budget ever so slightly
• Another option - I like reflectors too, it just needs to be a compact package and with a fairly wide-field.

All help / opinions greatly appreciated!

Paul

[Charic]

.......get yourself an 8, 12 or 16" Dobsonian, and your security woes are over?

Yeah, they might get into the UP! but try lugging a 12" down the road!

[dick_dangerous]

The base-plate for a larger telescope wouldn't actually fit in the car. Even the 150P tends to dominate the back-end somewhat! A 10'' Dob is at the limit of what I could physically lift too, but that's by-the-by because at the moment I'm looking for something compact and Dobs are anything but that!

Paul

[davyludo]

Hi, 

I have the ST102, which I tried on an AZ3, but mostly used on an AZ4 until recently. It goes ok on an AZ3 for a grab and go, but it does feel like it's approaching the limit. I know some people use the ST120 on the AZ3, but personally I'd be reluctant.

I bought the AZ5 recently and it's brilliant with the ST102. The ONLY thing I don't like is that the AZ5 tripod can be a bit wobbly when the legs are extended fully. I prefer using it on its lowest setting with a little stool. This works best for me and vibrations dampen down in around 2 seconds.

Hope this helps a bit.

Dsvy

[Stu]

What about what about a 130PS f5 on an AZ5 Paul? More aperture, pretty compact and lightweight? Mount should handle it ok.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az5-deluxe/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az5-deluxe.html

[dick_dangerous]

11 minutes ago, davyludo said:

I have the ST102, which I tried on an AZ3, but mostly used on an AZ4 until recently. It goes ok on an AZ3 for a grab and go, but it does feel like it's approaching the limit. I know some people use the ST120 on the AZ3, but personally I'd be reluctant.

This was my big fear with the ST120 - and it would cost a lot  more than my budget to get an AZ5 to go with it.

 

11 minutes ago, Stu said:

What about what about a 130PS f5 on an AZ5 Paul? More aperture, pretty compact and lightweight? Mount should handle it ok.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az5-deluxe/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az5-deluxe.html

Cheers Stu - that's a good suggestion! I didn't realise they did that package, but that's a bit of a winner! I'm always considering the Heritage as a grab 'n' go, but then change my mind because of the height problem - this could be an ideal solution!

Paul

[Charic]

54 minutes ago, dick_dangerous said:

The base-plate for a larger telescope wouldn't actually fit in the car. Even the 150P tends to dominate the back-end somewhat! A 10'' Dob is at the limit of what I could physically lift too, but that's by-the-by because at the moment I'm looking for something compact and Dobs are anything but that!

Paul

I  had plenty of room in the old Focus, the base sat on the from seat, the tube went in the rear with mattresses & duvet.  Its a similar arrangement for a Corsa.

You mention the "piddly 80mm " but Having read 'Making Every Photon Count', and seeing the images within,  I have it  in my mind that an 80mm or 100mm ED Apo  could  easily be an option for me for portability, but I would  need to check one out first. 

 

[davyludo]

Good shout Stu - I hadn't thought about that. 

To be fair I don't think you'd be disappointed with either of the AZ5 options. It's a great mount for grab and go - in my opinion anyway.

Good luck! 

[dick_dangerous]

1 hour ago, Charic said:

I  had plenty of room in the old Focus, the base sat on the from seat, the tube went in the rear with mattresses & duvet.  Its a similar arrangement for a Corsa.

You mention the "piddly 80mm " but Having read 'Making Every Photon Count', and seeing the images within,  I have it  in my mind that an 80mm or 100mm ED Apo  could  easily be an option for me for portability, but I would  need to check one out first. 

 

Yeah, my car is really, really small! Although thinking back to my Mum's old Fiesta that I was on the insurance for, it's probably about the same size. Car's have got bigger in recent years!

My ST80 is small but get it somewhere dark and it punches far above its weight - on a trip to Asturias I got better views with it of things like the Veil and the NA Nebula than I ever have with the 150P. And it's the 'scope I used for the one and only time I saw M74 and the Helix Nebula. Aperture isn't king - dark skies are! Having said that, 150mm of aperture will beat 80mm of aperture under the same skies, so it's more a case of courses for horses. One day I hope to buy a really nice but very small Apo as my telescope for taking on flights, I just have to save up quite a lot of cash first!

Paul

[Nyctimene]

The Skywatcher Heritage 130 PDS Flextube fits nicely into the boot of my Seat Mii (= VW Up), still leaving enough room for eyepiece case, maps, a small folding stool and some luggage.  Its my  grab-and-drive set at the moment.

With an ES 26mm 62 degrees LER, I get a field (TFOV) of 2,5 degrees.

Sept. 18th: some pictures added - scope alone; with folding stool, PSA, 7x50 bins, eyepiece case (re-, upcycled physician's case). Still enough space for other things - the Mii/Up isn't small at all!

 

Stephan

 

[dick_dangerous]

12 hours ago, Nyctimene said:

The Skywatcher Heritage 130 PDS Flextube fits nicely into the boot of my Seat Mii (= VW Up), still leaving enough room for eyepiece case, maps, a small folding stool and some luggage.  Its my  grab-and-drive set at the moment.

Hmm... interesting, especially considering that your car is essentially the same as mine! And thanks for the pictures - very helpful. I was originally considering getting a Fiat 500 like all the cool kids but the boot wouldn't fit my Dob base so we went for the Up! instead.

The Heritage has often tempted me but my reservation has always been the fact that it's so low down (that and the helical focusser). How do you practically use yours without getting sore knees or sitting on something? I think a 130P reflector is going to be the way to go on this one...

Paul

[Ricochet]

1 hour ago, dick_dangerous said:

Hmm... interesting, especially considering that your car is essentially the same as mine! And thanks for the pictures - very helpful. I was originally considering getting a Fiat 500 like all the cool kids but the boot wouldn't fit my Dob base so we went for the Up! instead.

The Heritage has often tempted me but my reservation has always been the fact that it's so low down (that and the helical focusser). How do you practically use yours without getting sore knees or sitting on something? I think a 130P reflector is going to be the way to go on this one...

Paul

You could always buy a mount separately and mount a heritage 130p on it, or bolt the heritage base to a suitable tripod. Last time I looked astroboot had both a heritage 130p OTA and a selection of tripods for either scenario. 

[Nyctimene]

1 hour ago, dick_dangerous said:

The Heritage has often tempted me but my reservation has always been the fact that it's so low down (that and the helical focusser). How do you practically use yours without getting sore knees or sitting on something?

I'm almost always observing seated - it adds 0,5 mag (or even more) to your NELM; even with the 18" near zenith. The folding stool is low enough for me (1,70m "tall"); or you can put the scope on a solid chair, low table, garden bench, beer crate etc.

The slop of the helical focuser was cured easily by inserting a 5x1 cm piece of PTFE plumber's tape. No problems with it now for three months; and it allows a very precise focussing.

In case you shouldn't already know - you will find a lot of infos and suggestions on the huge CloudyNight thread on the Heritage 130 P (different brand - called the OneSky Newtonian - scope) here:

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

Hope this helps

Stephan

 

 

[Alfian]

I cant add too much to the given excellent suggestions. The Heritage really is quite a surprising little package and very compact. What I would say is that if £300 is your budget, look second hand, it will give you more to consider. For example, there is a Vixen Porta on AstrobuySell for £55. There is a Heritage OTA on Astroboot (which is where I bought mine) for £55. Even with postage you are looking at less than £140. A great grab'n'go set up.

[davyludo]

Personally I was dubious about getting a second hand scope from Astroboot - until I had a chat with Ian, who put my mind at ease. I then ordered a 127 Mak from them, which arrived within a week and was in fantastic condition (basically exactly as described). 

I wouldn't be worried about ordering a scope from them again in the future - so as Ian says....second hand might be worth a though, save you some money for other bits. Especially if you don't want the little dob mount for the Heritage.

[Charic]

2 hours ago, dick_dangerous said:

.......considering getting a Fiat 500 like all the cool kids but the boot wouldn't fit my Dob base so we went for the Up! instead.

.....same as, though not sure all the kids are so cool!  but the 500 is a nippy little thing, and still accommodates the base on the front seat, seat belt attached.

I'll try to get some images  together, showing both  layouts.

[dick_dangerous]

In the end I went for the Explorer 130PS on the AZ5 - my thinking was that I'd be able to buy a the 127 Mak to complement it in the future, plus it'll all still fit in the car boot which was the clincher. Looking forward to test-driving my new toy!

Ta muchly for all the help,

Paul

[Astro Imp]

Good luck with the new toy, from what I've read you will not be disappointed. Look forward to reading your first light report.

Enjoy.

[davyludo]

Sounds like a good plan Paul! All the best with your new toy 

[happy-kat]

That will work great with your st80 as well, nice choice.