Need advice on telescopes!

[Arianstar]

Dear Experts. I am looking for a new telescope for my self and my little boy. I am new at this and he is still very young. 

I am almost ready to buy a Sky-Watcher Star Discovery 150i. At the same time, I am interested in a  Sky-Watcher Explorer-200P (EQ5) or NextStar 4SE. I am looking for an easy to go telescope, at the same time I want to see this as an investment, a telescope that we can use at least 5-7 years. 

My budget is around 500-600 Euros. 

Thanks for any advice.

[RichM63]

An easy to go telescope is one that is mostly up and ready when you want to use it or is easy to get ready.

Hopefully you have a placement at home for the kit, so not travelling.

Some folk may not like my advice, but, go for kit that suits yourself ie the aforementioned, and a good low mag Eyepiece that you can position your young chap in front of to show him the night sky. He won't be able to use a 'proper' Astro Telescope rig at a very young age, and may show no interest at all at a suitable age. But the time spent with you will be priceless in the future.

EQ mounts present different challenges to Alt/AZ, I like EQ, but not everyone does.

[happy-kat]

Welcome

The star discovery has freedom find which could be very helpful when sharing observing with a child as it means the mount can be moved by hand whether intended or unexpected and still be instructed to find the object you had been viewing together.  

Depending on age you might be better off with a telescope where the eyepiece is at the bottom of the tube. There is also the azgti bundle with the skymax 127mm in budget. (Also has freedom find).

I personally would go for ease of use an a altaz mount.

 

[Arianstar]

Thank you for your advise. Not sure if I understand all your advises since I am really new at this. So your advise is to skip the EQ and go for Star Discovery 150i or Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 SynScan AZ GOTO (there are at the same price)? Which is one is better? 

[alanjgreen]

19 minutes ago, Arianstar said:

Thank you for your advise. Not sure if I understand all your advises since I am really new at this. So your advise is to skip the EQ and go for Star Discovery 150i or Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 SynScan AZ GOTO (there are at the same price)? Which is one is better? 

I too would advise you to avoid the EQ mount. They are better for astrophotography but are a pain for visual use. AZ mount is simpler to setup and less trips outside carrying stuff!

 

The skymax will be great on the moon and planets, but the 150p has more aperture and gathers more light so can show fainter stuff.

 

Personally, I would pick the 150p star discovery scope. It's a great starter scope.

the goto and tracking will make it much easier for your child to use with you. Targets will stay centered while he/she observes them.

 

Good luck,Alan

[Arianstar]

Thank you, Alan, and for the link, I have watched the clip for 3-4 times now It seems that I will soon go for the 150i. I am just afraid that I may have missed something. There are so many different models out there and I don´t want to make the wrong choice

[happy-kat]

Hi

I'm not suggesting the 127mm snyscan as that does not have freedom find. I was suggesting this one the Az-GTi with 127mm skymax ( my tablet is crashing every time I try to copy the link).

A reflector has the eyepiece at the top whereas a refractor or maksutov has the eyepiece at the bottom.

Both this az-Gti and the star discovery 150i use the same synscan app on your mobile device to control them, will you be android or ios?

[Arianstar]

You mean this one https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html ?

 

Beside the eyepiece what are the advantages compared with the Star Discovery? 

 

Thanks for replying. 

[happy-kat]

No not that one. If on that site you search gti you'll see the az-gti mount and select that you'll then be able to navigate to see what bundles it comes in.

On any azalt mount the difference is less as the tube doesn't rotate like it does on an Eq mount. It was more depending on your child's height you might need to think about how they will reach the eyepiece.

[Arianstar]

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html ? You prefer this one over the Star Discovery (beside the eyepiece)? 

[happy-kat]

Yes that was the one I was trying to link too.

Gosh  I do love freedom find as I have that on my baby mount and find it useful and both mounts have it. I've never used either of those mounts directly so I was just showing a similar but alternative. The 150i does give the most aperture. The mounts use the same app for control but different in respect to the mount head. The az-gti head can work on a wedge then the pro app gives option to choose eq mode which can provide a eq taste of camera lens imaging (though thinking about it I'm not sure if the discovery head is separate to the legs or not) as I wasn't sure of your intention when you included the eq5 200p bundle.

Sorry if I confused things that wasn't my intention. 

 

[Arianstar]

No worries and I very grateful that you are helping me out. This seems to be very nice forum. I most say after reading about the Sky-Watcher SkyMax-127 AZ GTi I am more confused. It seems to be a very good telescope. So now I am stuck between 150i and SkyMax-127  Specially that it is more compact. Yes the 150i give the most aperture, but does 1 inch do that much difference? 

[happy-kat]

Both have a central obstruction so that kinda negates a difference there. After that I'm sure there are other members who can give a much better reply as to difference between the two apertures sizes then I could.

[Davey-T]

29 minutes ago, Arianstar said:

does 1 inch do that much difference? 

Not a lot, but bear in mind that a 10" scope gathers 4 x as much light as a 5" scope, not twice as much.

Dave

[Arianstar]

i hope somebody just tell me what to buy

[Davey-T]

1 minute ago, Arianstar said:

i hope somebody just tell me what to buy

Are you near any proper astro shops ?

Dave

[Arianstar]

Unfortunately no. Online is the only option. I must say that the the terrestrial use of the 127 sound very appealing, and that it is more compact. But I do not want to sacrifice to much since the primary purpose is to watch planets and hopefully some deep sky. 

[Davey-T]

If you download Stellarium and put in the scope statistics you can compare the view through the 2 scopes with the same eyepiece.

Dave

http://stellarium.org/en_GB/

[John]

I think the 127 maksutov-cassegrain will show the planets, moon and double stars at least as well and possibly a bit better than the 150mm newtonian will. The 127 will also show brighter deep sky objects quite well too although the 150 will have a slight advantage there because of it's additional aperture. The 127mm is likely to be a more rugged scope and it's optics will stay in alignment wheras the 150 newtonian may well require optical alignment (collimation) from time to time. This is a feature of the newtonian design.

The 127 maksutov-cassegrain will need a dew shield as an essential accessory. Maksutov-cassegrains (and other designs with a glass element right at the front) attract dew and once dewed up, observing stops for some time.

The "eyepiece at the back end" design of the maksutov-cassegrain is quite friendly for shorter observers. We use similar designs a lot at my astro society for outreach sessions for this reason.

Both are good scopes so it's a matter of deciding which strengths and weaknesses (and all scopes have them !) are the best match for you

 

[Charic]

4 hours ago, Arianstar said:

.......I am looking for a new telescope for my self and my little boy. I am new at this and he is still very young. 

........... Sky-Watcher Explorer-200P (EQ5) I am looking for an easy to go telescope, at the same time I want to see this as an investment, a telescope that we can use at least 5-7 years. 

My budget is around 500-600 Euros. 

Thanks for any advice.

Can I suggest you take a look at the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian. Its easy to operate, requires no electrics to operate or computing skills.
Once set up,  and put in place,its easy, VERY easy to use, especially from a seated position (how tall is your Son? ) This makes for a  comfortable viewing option, and a very good affordable scope, one that could last for ages, if visual observing is your thing.

Just remember, the local conditions, be that weather related and  just how dark your sky is, will all affect what you'll see! For me now, I cant see any Planets as their too low and hidden by trees and buildings, so maybe next Year when their better aligned for me, but the Moon through this scope will just blow you away with the detail. The Skyliner comes in various sizes, the 6" would suffice, the 8" better still, the 12" (if you can still buy their 'solid tube' version)  even better, such is the nature of larger reflecting telescopes, to a degree!

I do like this link, describing the Skyliner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDY8extsWH
Don't rush, there's plenty of time to learn and discover, but if you could get yourself and your Son to a site/club or shop where they have some scopes, thinks look better and are more understandable, with someone their helping/guiding you, and quite often, if you see something in a particular types of scope that satisfies, and the price is right, then your on to a start as to what you actually need or require. Just dont rush, as there's so much ( too much ) to comprehend and take in these early days of your study?

Bye the way, welcome to the Stargazers lounge ?

[Arianstar]

Many thanks for all your advises. Stargazers lounge really feels like a welcoming forum.  I have been looking at 200P Dobsonian. But I don't have enough space and I would like to take the telescope with me when we travel abroad. I know that Dobsonian is the best telescopes for the money. I think the GOTO and finder is a must though since my kid doesn´t have the patience to wait for me to find objects. He likes to hold the telescope etc. 

Strange that a dew shield is not included in the 127. I am also downloading Stellarium. If I read all correct,  the 150i seems to be a better telescope but that the 127 has more range of uses. 

[Charic]

The Dobsonian would take less floor space than the 200P Explorer, but for Grab&Go carry abroad, not such a good idea?
Nevertheless, its just an avenue for now thats worth exploring.

Holding the scope is not something you'll  actually do much, except to move it?  as the hands would increase  shake and vibration, to whatever your trying to observe, but I know what your saying. 

If your Son like hands on, a pair of 7x50 binoculars would work very well for just studying the night skies and finding things! Although won't provide the details a scope would provide, their a great item to have, especially when you have the eye to the scope, Son can scan the skies for himself, especially when he see's those satellites, and believe me, their there, and more too, with binoculars.

 

[John]

26 minutes ago, Arianstar said:

Strange that a dew shield is not included in the 127. I am also downloading Stellarium. If I read all correct,  the 150i seems to be a better telescope but that the 127 has more range of uses. 

Dew shields are only included with refractor telescopes. It is odd I agree, but it's always been thus

I guess those observing in certain climates won't have dewing issues often but many of us in the UK do !

I don't think it's a case of the 150 being a better telescopes, just a different design with different pros and cons.

The 150 will show a wider field of view than the 127 can for example so if observing large deep sky objects is a high priority then that might sway the decision.

Both scopes will do a decent job on a wide range of objects in reality.

[Arianstar]

I have been searching for 3-4 weeks,I think tomorrow will be the day  

[Charic]

?

Don't be afraid to ask before you buy!

There are still  many pitfalls, Pro's and Cons' and there's no perfect scope that can do it all, and you've had 3-4 weeks to discover this?

Its still and always will be your choice, regardless of the advice we give, but no-one here will steer you down the wrong path? We will guide you to the best of our ability and knowledge, and personal experience, the rest is up to you.

Can I suggest one thing, its the only real negative I've come across in the last 5 Years........ avoid the Celestron 127EQ Powerseeker?  There, said it! 
Its just an opinion mind you, Celestron do make some Wonderfull kit, just don't fall for the 127EQ.