What telescope to buy with a £120-200 budget?

[britto765]

Hi all, 

What would be the best telescope to buy for around £120 to 200 ? 

[Stu]

Can you let us know a little more? Any particular targets that interest you? Do you need the scope to be easily transported or carried any distance, or would you need to carry it down stairs? Where would you store it?

Scopes range in size and portability quite a bit so it can affect the best choice.

As a starter for ten, without knowing any of the above, I'll say the Skywatcher 150P. £9 over your budget, not small but a very decent scope. I'm sure there will be plenty of alternate suggestions which are well worth considering, so take your time!

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

[Louis D]

Well, how about the highly recommended Skywatcher Heritage-130p Flextube for £137?  That would leave you with enough left over to buy a nice BST StarGuider 60º 8mm ED eyepiece (£49) for a nice higher power eyepiece that would be much better than the included 10mm eyepiece.

[Demonperformer]

5 hours ago, Stu said:

£9 over your budget

or even £7 over your budget (not including delivery prices - not checked those!)

[Geoff Lister]

+1 for the Heritage 130p Flextube (look at the 5-star reviews associated with Louis D's link), & 1 or more better eyepieces, including a x2 Barlow https://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlow-eyepieces/celestron-2x-universal-125-barlow.html for better views of the planets.

If you want a tracking system, to keep the object in the field of view of the eyepiece, then I find my Heritage 90 Virtuoso works well https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso.html .

I tend to use my 32mm Plossl eyepiece first to look at an object, and then use the smaller ones for more magnification https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-eyepieces/celestron-omni-plossl-eyepiece.html.

Geoff

[britto765]

Thanks for the advice all, was looking at getting the skywatcher explorer 130 eq2 telescope if that's any good?

[Geoff Lister]

As a beginner, and for visual astronomy, I would suggest that you avoid telescopes with an equatorial mount (the "eq2" bit in the description). I found the Astromaster 130EQ-MD, in my signature, difficult to use when I started, and I have not used it much since. An Azimuth/Altitude mount is more intuitive, either the Dobsonian type (as on the Heritage 130p) or on a tripod.

The EQ2 publicity photos show the Newtonian tube uppermost, with substantial balance weights downwards, and the eyepiece on the side facing you. If you then rotate the assembly, so that the tube moves towards you, and the weights away from you, the eyepiece is pointing down, so you have to release the 2 clamping rings and turn the tube to get the eyepiece horizontal again. With an Az/Alt mount, the tube does not rotate as you scan left/right/up/down.

This will give you an idea of the different sorts of mount https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope_mount   then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobsonian_telescope  & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altazimuth_mount .

Geoff

Edited February 20, 2018 by Geoff Lister
Astromaster details added

[carastro]

I agree over the advice on basic EQ Mounts they are very difficult to work with.  However we should ask the original poster if he thinks he might want to graduate into astro imaging at a later date as an alt-AZ mount won't be suitable for that and he won't want to buy twice.

Having said all that, on this budget, I would have thought the best option would be for a small Dobsonian, as these require neither an EQ mount nor an Alt Az mount and come in a lot cheaper.  It's a "push to" system britto765 and you get more aperture for your money.

Such as https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

£209

Carole 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by carastro

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, britto765 said:

Thanks for the advice all, was looking at getting the skywatcher explorer 130 eq2 telescope if that's any good?

That is a pretty snazzy box it comes in.

Since it doesn't say it comes with a parabolic mirror, I'm going to assume it has a spherical mirror which won't produce as sharp of images as a parabolic mirror like the one in the Heritage 130p or the Skyliner 150p.  Ironically, the latter is slower than the Skywatcher Explorer 130, and yet has a parabolic mirror.  Longer focal ratios (longer, skinnier tubes) can often times get away with using a spherical mirror because the difference in figure between it and a parabolic mirror is so miniscule.

Another issue with low end EQ mounts is that they oscillate horribly in wind, or if you touch the tube to focus or point it at another object in the sky.  Dobs are rock solid under these conditions by comparison.

[britto765]

I am looking for a more portable telescope on a tripod?

[Timebandit]

 

If your budget is for the telescope only , and not the mount also.

And if you are going for visual.

Then IMO there is only one scope to recommend.

That is a 200mm reflector. These scopes have loads of light gathering ability. Can be mounted on a tripod and produce great views of planetary, lunar and DSO.                          A great and "proper" telescope. You would have to buy second hand to get within your budget , but there are some great bargains out there.

I got a OOuk at 200mm for around your budget and this has been a great scope. I have been very impressed by it overall ,and all round performance. I use mine on a AZ mount.

In my opinion you should go for a 200mm reflector a "proper" scope and great bang for buck.

I hope this help's.☺

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by Timebandit

[Ricochet]

1 hour ago, britto765 said:

I am looking for a more portable telescope on a tripod?

The new Skywatcher mounts look pretty portable. For £200 you can get: 

Skyhawk 1145ps on AZEQ Avant (but you would probably only ever want to use a reflector in AZ mode).

130ps on AZ Pronto

Or if you can increase your budget for a better mount: 

130ps on AZ5

[britto765]

Would the Celestron PS1000 Newtonian Reflector be any good? 

[alanjgreen]

29 minutes ago, britto765 said:

Would the Celestron PS1000 Newtonian Reflector be any good? 

No. You need to buy a telescope from a telescope specialist not Jessops!

if FLO don’t stock it then it’s no good.

the ps1000 is yet another cheap scope on a cheap EQ mount.

go with the 130ps on AZ pronto mount. You won’t get better for 200£

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-pronto/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-pronto.html

as @Ricochet says, get the AZ5 mount for the extra 50£ if you can afford it.

 

BUT STAY AWAY FROM JESSOPS, you are not buying a camera!

Alan

Edited February 20, 2018 by alanjgreen

[Ricochet]

18 minutes ago, britto765 said:

Would the Celestron PS1000 Newtonian Reflector be any good? 

No. It uses a spherical mirror and a cheap corrector in the focuser resulting in poor image quality. I would avoid it. 

[Louis D]

4 minutes ago, britto765 said:

Would the Celestron PS1000 Newtonian Reflector be any good? 

That's a Jones-Bird design which is notoriously difficult to collimate and doesn't yield all that great of images even when properly collimated.  The design uses a fast spherical mirror of 500mm focal length at a low focal ratio (remember, fast scope, losts of issues with a spherical mirror).  It then places a "corrector" below the eyepiece holder to double the focal length to 1000mm.  The corrector doesn't do a whole lot to fix the spherical mirror issues, though, so the images aren't all that great.

I'd also be wary of any telescope including a 3.6mm eyepiece.  It will be all but unusable in this scope because it will yield too high of a power for that scope.

[Olli]

If you don’t like the 130p flextube on the dobsonian Mount you can always mount it on a tripod. 

Edited February 20, 2018 by Dinoco

[Stu]

25 minutes ago, britto765 said:

Would the Celestron PS1000 Newtonian Reflector be any good? 

Hi Britto,

There are many scopes out there to be avoided, with poor optics or poor mounts, or both.

You have received good advice here, a number of different options but all from reputable astro manufacturers which will perform well. It is worth taking the advice, and also buying from a reputable specialist.

Stu

[Louis D]

Before buying my first telescope 20 years ago, I asked for buying advice from the astro community.  I was steered toward a very nice Dob that I use to this day.  I had originally been interested in a Meade DS-10 on a pier mounted GEM from Walmart.  It would have been horrible trying to deal with it's myriad issues.  The fact that that particular telescope and mount have practically zero resale value 20 years later because no one would buy it except as parts speaks volumes.

[britto765]

Thanks for the advice all, im not sure what to buy yet. 130p flextube looks good but what tripod would i need for it? 

[Olli]

7 minutes ago, britto765 said:

Thanks for the advice all, im not sure what to buy yet. 130p flextube looks good but what tripod would i need for it? 

Here’s a thread that you might be interest in. If you ask @happy-kat he knows more about it all 

 

Edited February 20, 2018 by Dinoco

[alanjgreen]

10 minutes ago, britto765 said:

Thanks for the advice all, im not sure what to buy yet. 130p flextube looks good but what tripod would i need for it? 

You could put it on a pronto or az5 but why bother when you can get the same 130mm reflector if you get either 130ps bundles.

check the prices for a standalone az5 or pronto (just the tripod, no scope)... The bundles linked above offer you the best value, they are almost giving the scope away at the bundle prices!

Edited February 20, 2018 by alanjgreen

[britto765]

The 130ps on AZ pronto mount I've just seen online for £175 looks a good choice which was mentioned earlier. What sort of view will I get out of it looking at planets? 

[Red Dwarfer]

2 hours ago, britto765 said:

The 130ps on AZ pronto mount I've just seen online for £175 looks a good choice which was mentioned earlier. What sort of view will I get out of it looking at planets? 

Good choice - my 130P was the first scope I got and is still in my top three favourites .

Should see the Bands of Jupiter and the Four Galilean Moons no problem and Saturn`s rings too .

[Louis D]

Are the axes clutched on that AZ Pronto mount in some manner such that you don't have to turn the slow motion controls to move the scope from one target to another in the sky?