Best for visual.

[northwalesparry]

Which of these is best for visual astronomy. I'm not currently looking at astrophotography  but just thinking ahead . Any advice would be helpful. I have a budget of around £500.

Skywatcher 150pds or skywatcher 80ED.

Thanks Phil

I currently have a skywatcher 130p but feel that it's reached its limits of what I can see .

[Victor Boesen]

For pure visual I would highly recommend the Skywatcher dobsonian 250PX. It's within your budget. If you want to spend some of the money on accessories I'd recommend its little brother the 200P. Its also a lot more manageable which could be a plus for you if you can't observe from home.

[Ruud]

My choice would be a 200P.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

You'd even have some money left for a few good eyepieces. Good luck!

[fiestazetecmk2]

I'd also 200p.fabulous value for money.great veiws .

[northwalesparry]

Well i was actually looking 200p, but on a mount , ok over my budget maybe but a bit more saving  Christmas not too far 😂. Minimum mount requirements due to the 200p weight ( excluding doing AP)

[Victor Boesen]

35 minutes ago, northwalesparry said:

Well i was actually looking 200p, but on a mount , ok over my budget maybe but a bit more saving  Christmas not too far 😂. Minimum mount requirements due to the 200p weight ( excluding doing AP)

The scope already comes on a dobsonian mount. I don't find it difficult to use and nudging the scope around isn't really a problem. If you don't want a manual dobsonian mount then I can't commend on what should be sufficient enough to hold it. Do you want goto or just an eq/alt az mount?

[Craney]

There is a 200p with dual axis driven EQ5 mount   on AstroB&S at the moment for £300.

A well looked after second hand scope can be great value and difficult to differentiate between a 'new' scope of the same model when in use.

 

EDIT: UPDATE:  In fact there is one for £250  as well.... 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Craney

[Louis D]

I find doubling my aperture shows a noticeable increase in resolution and limiting magnitude visually.  So, for your 130p, that would be 260mm.  The closest scope available would be 250mm or 10".  For your budget, I'd have to second @Victor Boesen's recommendation of the Sky-Watcher Skyliner 250PX Dobsonian.  You'd be hard pressed to see much difference visually between the 130p and 150pds.