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Opinions on skywatcher-startravel 102-synscan az goto

Revilo

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Revilo

Revilo

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Hello,

ive still haven’t made a decision on what telescope to buy yet ( been very hard to decide what to get ) :(  My Max budget is £400 if I know it’s worth the price.I’m looking for something that’s relatively simple and easy to set up. I was thinking about the 200p but I think that maybe a bit awkward for me and was looking to do some sketching so a  goto Mount or something similar would help. I’ve found this scope https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-startravel-102-synscan-az-goto.html I was wondering if anyone has used this scope or knows more information about it than I do. Was wondering how “portable” it is and what the weight is for it. I’m looking to look at most things through the telescope but not setting my expectations too high.  My skies are quite good 4/3 bortle scale. And will be storing it in a garage also will be stairs so need something easy for me to carry. And I’ll be going to a field opposite my house for better viewing. Sorry for keep asking what scope to get as you can see I’m not very good at sticking to a scope :).

Cheers 

Olly

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alanjgreen

alanjgreen

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I would also consider the 150p with goto and "freedom find", called "Skywatcher Star Discovery"

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p.html

This is a great starter scope and will be more flexible than the mak on many more types of targets.

"Freedom find" means that you can use it manual as well as with power (goto).

 

You will need something like this to power the scope. The red light is useful too.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/skywatcher-powertank-7ah.html

 

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Mr niall

Mr niall

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Definitely agree with Goto if you are sketching. I was working all last year with a non goto mount and spent as much time trying to find the targets as I did drawing them (every time you look away from the eyepiece, they drift away and disappear!)

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Cosmic Geoff

Cosmic Geoff

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I have the Startravel 102 and have a Celestron Goto mount to use with it which is mechanically similar to the Synscan.

It's definitely portable, and the scope OTA is easy to grip and carry with one hand. I used this combination one or twice on holiday to look for galaxies from dark sites.  Not my first choice for looking at planets though.  Just check on the slew limits as it will hit the mount if you try to go vertically up.  And you want a 90 deg star diagonal, not the 45 deg terrestrial prism diagonal shown in the link.  You can buy a suitable star diagonal cheaply. You wall also want to upgrade the 10mm eyepiece which probably comes with it.

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Revilo

Revilo

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36 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

I have the Startravel 102 and have a Celestron Goto mount to use with it which is mechanically similar to the Synscan.

It's definitely portable, and the scope OTA is easy to grip and carry with one hand. I used this combination one or twice on holiday to look for galaxies from dark sites.  Not my first choice for looking at planets though.  Just check on the slew limits as it will hit the mount if you try to go vertically up.  And you want a 90 deg star diagonal, not the 45 deg terrestrial prism diagonal shown in the link.  You can buy a suitable star diagonal cheaply. You wall also want to upgrade the 10mm eyepiece which probably comes with it.

Thanks for that. I was looking and would like to get a good view of planets I was looking at the sky max 102  which was mentioned above is this better for planets than the Startravel? I prefer the az gti mount on the skymax

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Mr niall

Mr niall

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Yes 102 will be much better for the planets but the trade off is a narrower field of view (little bit bigger than the full moon which is quite narrow). I use the Skymax 90 which is the smaller aperture version of the 102. I'd say the biggest challenge is finding stuff because of the narrow fov but if you are usinga goto that would be less of an issue. 

Basically good high planetary magnifications and rich wide field views are two opposite ends of a spectrum. The startravel is quite heavily skewed toward one end of that spectrum and Maksutovs are quite heavily skewed toward the other. Personally I am a massive fan of the Mak for their ultra compact bullet proof structure and have found them similarly great on the brighter globular and open clusters too. Not too mention splitting double stars. But its all very emotive - there is no "right answer"! 

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Revilo

Revilo

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14 hours ago, alanjgreen said:

I would also consider the 150p with goto and "freedom find", called "Skywatcher Star Discovery"

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p.html

This is a great starter scope and will be more flexible than the mak on many more types of targets.

"Freedom find" means that you can use it manual as well as with power (goto).

 

You will need something like this to power the scope. The red light is useful too.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/skywatcher-powertank-7ah.html

 

That was another I was looking at didn’t know it could be used manually as well 

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happy-kat

happy-kat

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Freedom find will re find an object even if the mount has had the clutch undone and telescope moved manually, great when children observe and knock the telescope etc.

The star discovery, azgti, virtuoso mounts have it the older mounts don't.

Using the mount with no power is handy when battery goes flat. 

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