Choosing my first telescope

[msacco]

Hello, Im currently looking to buy my first telescope and would like to get some help with that. Because telescopes are quite expensive, I think getting a second hand telescope would give me the best results for the money atm, so here are a few models I've been looking into:

Celestron NexStar 130mm SLT - seems like a very good telescope for beginners, goto telescope, ability to astrophotography, the cons for me is the 130mm apreture and 650mm focal length. The sellers wants to sell it for 365$.

TAL-2 - russian telescope, seems very good overall, in both optics and mounting(which looks really steady), comes with a motor drive, which is a pretty big advantage for me. 150mm apreture and 1200mm focal length, which seems pretty nice. The seller wants to sell it for 425$.

SkyWatcher 150/750 - seems like a nice telescope as well, pretty decent for beginners, 150mm apreture and 750mm focal length seems ok, also comes with a motor drive and the mount is EQ2-3. The seller wants to sell it for 400$.

SkyWatcher 200mm - this is a dobsonian telescope, probably the best one I can out of all the others, 200mm apreture and 1200mm focal length, the only con, which might be a big one is that you can't mount a motor drive/any other tracking options because of the dobsonian mount, I've seen a few DIY equatorial platforms that are sold, but its mostly from the US and Im not from the US, so I don't think I really have an option of getting one unless I make it myself, which might not work. The sellers wants to sell it for 365$.

What do you guys think? Which one would be the best option for me? The use of the telescope would mostly be for astronomy, and Im not planning on doing any astrophotography, day observations atm. Thanks for the help!

[Stu Todd]

Hello.

I see you like the driven mounts but then say "and I'm not planning on doing any astrophotography"?

If you aren't thinking of astrophotography then an 8 or 10" Dobsonian would do you nicely, plus a pair of 7x50 binoculars and a good guidebook.

What is your budget and plans and are you experienced in observing?

 

 

[domstar]

150mm refractors are real big boys. I think they're beautiful but be prepared for some weight and size. Try and find a photo/video of one with a person using or standing next to one. 

Anyway, good luck and welcome to the forum.

[msacco]

15 minutes ago, Stu Todd said:

Hello.

I see you like the driven mounts but then say "and I'm not planning on doing any astrophotography"?

If you aren't thinking of astrophotography then an 8 or 10" Dobsonian would do you nicely, plus a pair of 7x50 binoculars and a good guidebook.

What is your budget and plans and are you experienced in observing?

I only used a telescope once, so Im not experienced in observing at all, my budget is around 500-600$, but since Im not from the US/europe, the prices are extremely high, for example, a new celetron nexstar 130 slt would cost around 755$ where I live. So I think second hand is the best option I can go with.

Regarding the motor drive, when I see myself observing stars for a good few hours, it would seem pretty rough having to manually track the stars all the time instead of just click a button and let the motor drive follow the object for me(not talking about goto to track the object, but only follow the object once Im locked on it).

5 minutes ago, domstar said:

150mm refractors are real big boys. I think they're beautiful but be prepared for some weight and size. Try and find a photo/video of one with a person using or standing next to one. 

Anyway, good luck and welcome to the forum.

Yeah I know its big, and I have a photo of the TAL-2 with the seller next to it, but I don't think weight will be that big deal for me, and thanks!

[rwilkey]

23 minutes ago, domstar said:

Try and find a photo/video of one with a person using or standing next to one. 

This illustration may help:

 

[msacco]

3 minutes ago, rwilkey said:

This illustration may help:

 

I think he meant the 150mm telescope, but thats also a really good illustration, Im about 170cm, so the 200mm dobsonian wouldn't be horrible, but still seems a bit less comfortable than the TAL-2/150mm SkyWatcher, also adding that the dobsonian have no motor drive might make it less comfortable and friendly to use, but I haven't really tried, so I can't really judge.

[rwilkey]

5 minutes ago, msacco said:

I think he meant the 150mm telescope

I think you may be right, and most dobsonians do not have a motor, however, some do.  Here is an example of one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-flextube-goto.html

Not really suitable for astrophotography, but a great all round visual scope.

[msacco]

2 minutes ago, rwilkey said:

I think you may be right, and most dobsonians do not have a motor, however, some do.  Here is an example of one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-flextube-goto.html

Not really suitable for astrophotography, but a great all round visual scope.

Yeah, but its also way over my budget, so unfortunately its not really an option, I thought about getting the dobsonian and maybe making an object tracking myself/equtorial platform somehow, but Im not sure I'll be able to do it ?. And astophotography is not something crucial to me really..

[rwilkey]

12 minutes ago, msacco said:

Yeah, but its also way over my budget, so unfortunately its not really an option

That's the problem with many 'GoTo's', you are paying for technology rather than ploughing the money into just good optics, although the telescope highlighted has very good optics and is good value for money, but be careful of cheap 'GoTo's' where optics are often compromised in aid of technology. 

[msacco]

47 minutes ago, rwilkey said:

That's the problem with many 'GoTo's', you are paying for technology rather than ploughing the money into just good optics, although the telescope highlighted has very good optics and is good value for money, but be careful of cheap 'GoTo's' where optics are often compromised in aid of technology. 

Thanks for the reply I'll still need to test more and dig more information in order to decide which one I want to go with.

[Final Pr0di9y]

I'm new into all this also, I recently brought a Sky-Watcher Dobsonian 150p. So far it is serving me well, I find the simple mount very easy to use (was a big yes for me).

 I found going to an astronomy shop near me was very useful and the staff spent time talking me through different mounts and what I can see with what scope. Is there an astronomy shop near you where you can actually look at the scopes?

[msacco]

18 minutes ago, Final Pr0di9y said:

I'm new into all this also, I recently brought a Sky-Watcher Dobsonian 150p. So far it is serving me well, I find the simple mount very easy to use (was a big yes for me).

 I found going to an astronomy shop near me was very useful and the staff spent time talking me through different mounts and what I can see with what scope. Is there an astronomy shop near you where you can actually look at the scopes?

There is somewhere I can maybe go to, not that close but not very far, but the supply is not great there, there are no many telescope etc, Im sure I can see a lot of things and learn tho.

The SkyWatcher dobsonian 150p is manual I assume? How is the use of it? is it comfortable to use? is it hard to manually follow distant objects?

[Cosmic Geoff]

What are your skies like? If you live in a town, GoTo is more of an advantage to help you find anything. However it looks like you can only afford a small, entry level GoTo.

What kind of stuff do you want to observe? And how long do you envisage looking at each object?  For looking at planets (high power, prolonged observation) or double stars (high power) powered tracking is a decided convenience.   For large star clusters, (low power, seen it, move on), it probably isn't.

Dobsonians are either manual (cheap) or GoTo (expensive by a large factor, similar price to equatorial mounted GoTo outfits, will be out of your budget).

[Final Pr0di9y]

12 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Dobsonians are either manual (cheap) or GoTo (expensive by a large factor, similar price to equatorial mounted GoTo outfits, will be out of your budget).

Sorry if I am wrong my sky-watcher Dobsonian 150p was around £215, I believe you're paying for the scope rather than the mount. Whilst with budget GoTo scopes your paying more for the motor and technology? Correct me if I am wrong this is from my own research a few months ago before buying mine.

[msacco]

12 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

What are your skies like? If you live in a town, GoTo is more of an advantage to help you find anything. However it looks like you can only afford a small, entry level GoTo.

What kind of stuff do you want to observe? And how long do you envisage looking at each object?  For looking at planets (high power, prolonged observation) or double stars (high power) powered tracking is a decided convenience.   For large star clusters, (low power, seen it, move on), it probably isn't.

Dobsonians are either manual (cheap) or GoTo (expensive by a large factor, similar price to equatorial mounted GoTo outfits, will be out of your budget).

I live in a pretty small city(around 10,000 people), and its located on a mountain higher than the big cities around me, and there are quite a few dark fields, so hopefully I assume it could be a decent obversation place(obviously not the same as going to the desert or some other isolated place, but still seems rather good compared to average cities I think.

I don't know how long I'll actually envisage at each object, but Im pretty sure I'd really love looking at planets like saturn/jupiter and also distant object like galaxies, clusters etc, but generally, for a long observation night, motor drive seems pretty useful.

 

1 minute ago, Final Pr0di9y said:

Sorry if I am wrong my sky-watcher Dobsonian 150p was around £215, I believe you're paying for the scope rather than the mount. Whilst with budget GoTo scopes your paying more for the motor and technology? Correct me if I am wrong this is from my own research a few months ago before buying mine.

As far as I've seen so far, it seems correct to me as well.

[msacco]

Any more advices?

[Louis D]

Just remember, a GEM mounted Newtonian will end up with its eyepiece pointed in all sorts of different directions depending on where it's pointed.  You'll have to rotate the tube in the tube rings to bring it to a more comfortable observing position.  You'll also have to deal with counterweights and the meridian flip.

I've been using non-tracking mounts for 20 years and it has never bothered me at all.  Have you actually tried using both kinds at a local star party to judge for yourself what you like best?  I did that and decided that I really liked Dobs way more than tripod mounted scopes.  I now have some alt-az tripod mounted scopes, but I have them on a tripod that can have its legs spread out far enough for seated use.

[msacco]

26 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Just remember, a GEM mounted Newtonian will end up with its eyepiece pointed in all sorts of different directions depending on where it's pointed.  You'll have to rotate the tube in the tube rings to bring it to a more comfortable observing position.  You'll also have to deal with counterweights and the meridian flip.

I've been using non-tracking mounts for 20 years and it has never bothered me at all.  Have you actually tried using both kinds at a local star party to judge for yourself what you like best?  I did that and decided that I really liked Dobs way more than tripod mounted scopes.  I now have some alt-az tripod mounted scopes, but I have them on a tripod that can have its legs spread out far enough for seated use.

Thanks for the comment, I haven't tried much yet, because its not very popular where I live and Im looking for some people to join to but its not really easy to find.

Im considering a motor drive because a few people I talked to told me that for new people that use telescopes its very hard to manual track, and I want to use my telescope with my friends/family, so it seems like something that might be important to me.

[Sunshine]

I really think you should get a used 8 inch dobsonian, they are the classic beginners telescope and you cant go wrong. Worry about motors after you know your way around the sky, and are ready to get into astrophotography, don't overthink it too much.

[msacco]

5 hours ago, Sunshine said:

I really think you should get a used 8 inch dobsonian, they are the classic beginners telescope and you cant go wrong. Worry about motors after you know your way around the sky, and are ready to get into astrophotography, don't overthink it too much.

You might be correct, but you're saying it as if a telescope is something you replace every now and then, which is not really the case.

[Cosmic Geoff]

Sometimes you just have to try things for yourself and see what suits you. Also be aware that the opinions you will get here will vary.  What some recommend, you may find is not for you.  I, for instance, have not found large un-powered and non-GoTo scopes useful.

Beginners  often think they are buying a 'lifetime scope' but in reality (particularly in wealthier countries) keen amateur astronomers either buy and sell a succession of scopes or acquire a whole collection of them. 

[msacco]

5 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Sometimes you just have to try things for yourself and see what suits you. Also be aware that the opinions you will get here will vary.  What some recommend, you may find is not for you.  I, for instance, have not found large un-powered and non-GoTo scopes useful.

Beginners  often think they are buying a 'lifetime scope' but in reality (particularly in wealthier countries) keen amateur astronomers either buy and sell a succession of scopes or acquire a whole collection of them. 

I am trying to contact people and go observe with them, but with no success so far, someone wanted me to pay 150$ for it, which is money I can use to buy a telescope.

As I said before, I don't think goto is so useful, and it seems like less fun to me really, but a tracking motor does seem very useful to me and other friends/family that will use it with me. Im not expecting to buy a lifetime telescope, but I also don't think I will purchase something else in the first few years.

[Final Pr0di9y]

2 hours ago, msacco said:

As I said before, I don't think goto is so useful, and it seems like less fun to me really, but a tracking motor does seem very useful to me and other friends/family that will use it with me. Im not expecting to buy a lifetime telescope, but I also don't think I will purchase something else in the first few years. 

What, that's crazy. May I ask where you live and perhaps we can help look for a group near you?

 

2 hours ago, msacco said:

As I said before, I don't think goto is so useful, and it seems like less fun to me really, but a tracking motor does seem very useful to me and other friends/family that will use it with me. Im not expecting to buy a lifetime telescope, but I also don't think I will purchase something else in the first few years.

This is why I brought my 6" Dob, it gets me learning the sky in an easy way, I have found tracking objects easy when you get used to it but can't take steady pictures. Give me a few years and I will know more about the hobby to help decide my upgrade. But at the moment I can set up my telescope quick and not worry about an EQ mount.

[msacco]

2 minutes ago, Final Pr0di9y said:

What, that's crazy. May I ask where you live and perhaps we can help look for a group near you?

 

This is why I brought my 6" Dob, it gets me learning the sky in an easy way, I have found tracking objects easy when you get used to it but can't take steady pictures. Give me a few years and I will know more about the hobby to help decide my upgrade. But at the moment I can set up my telescope quick and not worry about an EQ mount.

Well I live in Israel, and there are groups that go to the desert about once a month, but it usually costs money and Im kinda busy lately and not really able to go, Im looking for someone that lives relatively near me so I can meet up with and even tho observing from a dark field won't be as good as going to the desert, I still want to try and experience it.

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, msacco said:

Well I live in Israel, and there are groups that go to the desert about once a month, but it usually costs money and Im kinda busy lately and not really able to go, Im looking for someone that lives relatively near me so I can meet up with and even tho observing from a dark field won't be as good as going to the desert, I still want to try and experience it.

Well, I did a quick google search on Israel astronomy clubs and turned up the Tel Aviv University Astronomy Club and the Israeli Astronomical Association.  Have you contacted either of them to help steer you to a local star party or outreach event in your area?