Scope Recomemdation for clusters

[Cosmic Geoff]

34 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

 I know the az3 is bad but might do for a while unless I just bite the bullet and get the 150 dob

That's up to you, but the Startravel is more versatile as a starter scope as you could go birdwatching or ship-spotting with it , or put it on a portable GoTo mount later. And you can carry it with one hand.  I put mine on an EQ-5 mount last night and photographed the moon with it.

[Olli]

36 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

That's up to you, but the Startravel is more versatile as a starter scope as you could go birdwatching or ship-spotting with it , or put it on a portable GoTo mount later. And you can carry it with one hand.  I put mine on an EQ-5 mount last night and photographed the moon with it.

What would be realistic targets for it not that interested in planets that much so ca wouldn’t be a big problem.Would the 130p az pronto be a good choice is around £200 

[Cosmic Geoff]

13 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

What would be realistic targets for it not that interested in planets that much so ca wouldn’t be a big problem.Would the 130p az pronto be a good choice is around £200

The Startravel 102 will show brighter DSOs (galaxies) from a dark sky site, as well as many star clusters.

Really a personal choice - do you want a somewhat larger telescope of a different type, same focal ratio, somewhat less manageable (will need 2 hands to pick it up).

The mount head looks worth having. I suspect the weak point in the outfit is the tripod. It can't weigh much, and there has been discussion on the Forum on how to adapt the AZ5 head to sit on the heavier AZ4/EQ5 tripod. Read between the lines.

[Olli]

3 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

The Startravel 102 will show brighter DSOs (galaxies) from a dark sky site, as well as many star clusters.

Really a personal choice - do you want a somewhat larger telescope of a different type, same focal ratio, somewhat less manageable (will need 2 hands to pick it up).

The mount head looks worth having. I suspect the weak point in the outfit is the tripod. It can't weigh much, and there has been discussion on the Forum on how to adapt the AZ5 head to sit on the heavier AZ4/EQ5 tripod. Read between the lines.

Thanks Geoff really appreciate the help

after thinking would prefer something more manageable as that’s what I said in the beginning.Thinking of going with the 130p/pronto  and I’m still a beginner so don’t want anything that will put me off. unless you have other thoughts. All in all the total weight of the mount and scope is 7kg ( ish) so not really that heavy. Compared to the dob. So are you saying that the pronto tripod isn’t good enough? Surely it’s enough for just the scope and eyepieces of course otherewise FLO wouldn’t of put the bundle together ? Bit confused...

[Cosmic Geoff]

3 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

So are you saying that the pronto tripod isn’t good enough? Surely it’s enough for just the scope and eyepieces of course otherewise FLO wouldn’t of put the bundle together ? Bit confused...

It's a compromise. A tripod that is satisfyingly solid is not particularly cheap or portable. A lot of scope kits come with tripods that go for light weight rather than solidity, as the lower cost and portability makes them easier to sell.  'Solid' starts with 2" stainless steel legs and a weight and price tag to match.  Eg. the AZ4 and Eq-5 mounts.

If you are interested in clusters etc you will be using low magnification where a bit of mount wobble will be less of an issue. Likewise, manual alt-azimuth mounts and high magnification don't go together well, but at low powers looking at clusters that won't matter.

[Knighty2112]

3 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

.'Solid' starts with 2" stainless steel legs and a weight and price tag to match.  Eg. the AZ4 and Eq-5 mounts.

My Skytee 2 mount initially came with on a tripod mount with 1.75” legs stainless steel legs, which was very solid too. The tripod itself weighed quite a bit, so not sure that ‘solid’ only starts at 2” only, as I could load two long ‘fracs on it easily, with no worries about load or woble even on windy nights!  

[Cosmic Geoff]

2 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

My Skytee 2 mount initially came with on a tripod mount with 1.75” legs stainless steel legs, which was very solid too. The tripod itself weighed quite a bit, so not sure that ‘solid’ only starts at 2” only, as I could load two long ‘fracs on it easily, with no worries about load or woble even on windy nights!  

Okay, I stand corrected, should have written 1.75" stainless steel legs as in the specs.

[Olli]

5 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Okay, I stand corrected, should have written 1.75" stainless steel legs as in the specs.

Think I’m going to get the 130p bundle as I said as the scope seems to get a lot of praise ( but this one seems to be different as no colimation is required ) I think if I do find the wobble to much then I could always upgrade the legs as you said. Hopefully will be ordering over the weekend  

[Grumpy_Git]

There's an az4 for £85, az5 for £150 and st102/F10, 150goto for £170 or 200p  for £160 on astrobuysell at the moment. Also a celestron 105/f6.5 for £115

 

Astroboot has a 102mak ota for£105 and a 130 heritage ota for £55 and base for£33.

definitely look second hand, bargains are there.