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Travel scope?

bingevader

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Ricochet

Ricochet

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, bingevader said:

Thanks again.

There's a 130p on Astroboot at the moment.

There's also an EQ2 tripod, would that be overkill!?

If you buy an astroboot Heritage 130p OTA don't forget to add the rdf as it's not included. 

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happy-kat

happy-kat

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, Helen said:

Go for a photo tripod as they pack down much shorter and so are easier to carry!  Remember the eyepiece position on the heritage is fixed relative to the dovetail, so you really need a side mounting like either the photo head in the thread earlier, the AZ5 or a Giro mini or similar.

Helen 

Like this does? (Taken from Rod's thread)IMG_20160625_141300.jpg

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Alfian

Alfian

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Posted

Just to add my two penn'orth. Yes the Heritage is a remarkable little package, for a 130mm of aperture it packs away brilliantly. If you can get it effectively mounted on a lightweight Az mount (AZ5?), great. The AZ4 is a very useful and versatile mount and  takes the 130p no problem, but in terms of portability its still a bit hefty for lugging on public transport. Car - yes, no problem. The EQ2, compared to the EQ3 is not an especially good mount imo and again its a bit awkward to carry around compared to an AZ. The ST120 although an f5 and only a 600mm is more of a chunk of a scope than the ST102 which is more of a grab 'n go. Another option, depending on your viewing preferences, is a Mak102 - very compact, will go nicely on a sturdy photo tripod, about as grab'n go as you like. Great luna views, very sharp, easy on eyepieces, but not remotely a wide field scope! Good luck with your choice.

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Ricochet

Ricochet

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, happy-kat said:

I don't get the s in the title, it is a p mirror but not a pd-s so why ps?

Does it differ from the general 130p explorer?

I don't know what word the "s" is supposed to stand for but the 130ps has the primary mirror stuck to a plastic rear cell (no collimation bolts) and a 3-vane plastic secondary spider. It also has the cheaper/lighter 1.25" focuser like the EQ2 mounted 130 options rather than the 2" focuser from the synscan az mounted 130p.

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alanjgreen

alanjgreen

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Ricochet said:

I don't know what word the "s" is supposed to stand for but the 130ps has the primary mirror stuck to a plastic rear cell (no collimation bolts) and a 3-vane plastic secondary spider. It also has the cheaper/lighter 1.25" focuser like the EQ2 mounted 130 options rather than the 2" focuser from the synscan az mounted 130p.

"S" stands for "short" (tube). Seems the 650mm tube is now referred to as short. They do a "pl" where "l" is "long". 900mm seems to be the long.

Now to the OP question...

I would go for simple AZ mount, either pronto or AZ5. Pronto is lighter and this could be deciding factor for me if I had to drag it on and off the bus. A nice Manfrotto photo tripod would be the other option but more than your budget.

looking at the pronto options, They don't offer a small refractor bundle and I don't know what a 4" Mak is capable of?

there is also a 102 refractor on the AZ5 but the weight may push me back to the pronto. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az5-deluxe/sky-watcher-startravel-102-az5-deluxe.html

so you could go for separates?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-102t-ota.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-pronto/sky-watcher-az-pronto-alt-azimuth-mount-tripod.html

The OTA weight is 3kg and that's the max for the pronto!

so, that means 102 on an AZ5 :) 

Or the heritage 130 if your observing site will have a table to put it on, I wouldn't fancy using it off the ground :( 

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happy-kat

happy-kat

Posted
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52 minutes ago, Ricochet said:

I don't know what word the "s" is supposed to stand for but the 130ps has the primary mirror stuck to a plastic rear cell (no collimation bolts) and a 3-vane plastic secondary spider. It also has the cheaper/lighter 1.25" focuser like the EQ2 mounted 130 options rather than the 2" focuser from the synscan az mounted 130p.

Sounds like a downsized flavour of the 150p that comes on the star discovery mount. I guess this makes it lighter with the changed mirror cell design. I think if I had a choice for travel I'd get the heritage 130p with the collapsing tube and collimation ability on the primary mirror.

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Louis D

Louis D

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, willinliv said:

Maybe in a different price range, but I have aspirations to get a Sky-Watcher Heritage 100P or a Skywatcher Infinity-76 for travel with the kids. One day, one day

I would still probably go with the Skywatcher Heritage-130p Flextube just for the extra aperture, ability to collimate the primary mirror, and collapsibility for transport.

If you watch classifieds ads, you can probably pick up the blue penguin (SW Infinity-76) for cheap, though it's pretty cheap new.

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