Guide Scope Options Help

[DanLXIX]

So I'm now planning to make the move to guiding, and I was hoping some of you may have experience of the kit options to help me make a choice.

FLO have two options:
Sky-Watcher EvoGuide 50ED Guidescope & ZWO ASI120MM - £290 ish
Startravel-80 and ZWO ASI-120MM - £300-400 ish

RVO have :
Antares Versascope 10 x 60 & ZWO ASI120MM - £250 ish

The Startravel is the largest and can be mounted piggyback or side by side so there is additional cost with mounting options but is the most powerful, the other two will sit in the guidescope mount which makes it easy to set up.

I'm thinking the Antares is the better option as it is larger than the EvoGuide, has the twist lock adaptor and the prism, and is also the cheapest - but cost isn't the main factor. I was in RVO today and the Antares looks a nice piece of kit.

Any thoughts and experiences?

[Maxrayne]

I use a converted 9 x50 finderscope and ZWO ASI120 mono, if thats of any use? Cheap and cheerful and does the job quite nicely. Lightweight too

[smr]

I recently got into guiding and bought a ZWO 120MM Mini and Starwave 50mm. Does the job just fine and very happy with them.

[ollypenrice]

Convenience is important and aperture is not. You'll get plenty of guide stars from smaller apertures. (I guide with ST80s but on big observatory mounts so convenience isn't important.) The focal length of the guidescope starts to matter when the focal length of the imaging scope is long but your your signature says you are not using long FL optics so this shouldn't be a problem.

Olly