Telescope for travel and et al

[Nigele2]

Hi guys and a very happy new year to you all.  Well I haven’t managed much star gazing in 2017 but hopeful this year will be better.  And planning ahead that is where I could do with some help.

In April I will be in northeast India in the Himalayas and we (wife and I) will be staying in some homestays in very remote and high (8000 feet) locations where light pollution is certainly not an issue.

And we also will be staying on a nature reserve and are interested in some bigger animal and smaller bird sightings.

We have a small pair of bird watching binos.  But what else can we take?

As we are using internal flights our luggage restrictions are an issue as well as size of any instrument (needs to be not longer than 75 cms packed including any tripod).

I have of course plenty of high quality eye pieces I can take.

And finally if something was low cost (second-hand EBay perhaps at up to 120 GBPs) we would be happy to donate it to a school in India towards the end of the trip.  I have plenty of eyepieces and some books I could leave with it. 

So what are my options?

Any ideas?

 

[Moonshane]

If have thought a Startravel 80mm would be good along with the smallest tripod

startravel-80-az3

 

[paulastro]

I agree with Shane, the Star Travel 80 seems to tick all your boxes.  It's also quite a rugged little scope, and will be a good non-fuss scope which is easy to use for people using it when you leave it behind.  In good un-polluted skies it will punch above it's weight as well. 

Every time I go to Kelling Heath I'm amazed how just about any telescope surpasses by a good margin the performance most owners will get from their scopes when they take them back home.  I think the ST80 will be just the job.

[happy-kat]

There are two flavours (there were when I bought mine).

ST80 A that has right angle diagonal and tube rings

ST80 T that has 45 degree erect image diagonal and mini dove bar with camera tripod threaded holes.

[Ben the Ignorant]

The well-known f/4 mini-dob must have terrible rim performance, but this one is a (parabolic) f/6.3:

http://www.teleskop-spezialisten.de/shop/Teleskope/Teleskope-Einsteiger-Kinder-Geschenk/Teleskop-KSON-102-640-f-6-3-Mini-Dobson-Newton-parabolischer-Spiegel-mit-Zubehoer::14.html

119€.

[Moonshane]

I did think of a mini dob Ben but it would be tricky to use terrestrially even if they are in the southern hemisphere 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I carried my APM 80mm F/6 triplet (3.2 kg or so) to the US for the eclipse. With my 90 deg Amici prism it works brilliantly on wildlife as well. It attaches both to a vixen dovetail clamp and to a standard photo tripod. Purely for visual I use a Velbon Geo N543D carbon tripod (weight 1kg) and a mini-giro mount (also about 1 kg). For imaging in the US I did manage to pack an EQ3-2 with modded hollow counterweight, but we were travelling with the whole family, so I could scatter the various components over different suitcases. 

[Ben the Ignorant]

1 hour ago, Moonshane said:

I did think of a mini dob Ben but it would be tricky to use terrestrially even if they are in the southern hemisphere 

Nigele2 says he has binos for terrestrial, and India is in the Northern Hemisphere.

[Moonshane]

1 hour ago, Ben the Ignorant said:

Nigele2 says he has binos for terrestrial, and India is in the Northern Hemisphere.

LOL so it is!

[Louis D]

I took my ancient ST-80 on the road with me to Nebraska to view the eclipse.  I used a cheap 90 degree mirror diagonal and home made Baader solar filter cell.  I didn't want to risk anything too nice getting stolen from my car in a hotel parking lot smash and grab.  I mounted it on a Manfrotto 055 tripod and micro fluid head.  I brought along a 32mm GSO plossl and a Celestron Regal zoom.

Here in the states, Meade and Celestron offer 80mm refractors complete with cheap tripods for under $100.  I'm sure something similar is available in the UK.

[Nigele2]

Sorry for delay in thanking you for great input but families!!!!  Anyway a big thanks.

I´ve hunted around and I'm having problems finding exact weight and dimensions.  Lots of "great for pick up and go" but not many specifics.

However seems clear I can get what you recommend within budget.  As I have just over 2 months I think I'll hunt EBay to see if I can get something  maybe better at a secondhand price.  Shouldn't have  any problems picking up a ST80 in March if I've had no luck.  

As for India being in the northern hemisphere having been there for the first time in November I think it isn't actually on planet earth at all.  I've been lucky enough to visit lots of countries and none are like India.