Sw evoguide 50ed

[Anthony1979]

Can anyone tell me if this would be ok as a travel scope 

[willcastle]

I have read a few articles on this and yes it can definitely be used for that. As a straight through mini scope, you will get an upside down and mirror image view of what you are looking at. Some people have reported it can be slightly difficult to achieve focus. The box does come with a little spacer that can be used to move the eye piece slightly further from the scope, to help you achieve focus. It doesn’t come with an eyepiece however. The quality of the optics however, are meant to be especially good for such a small, 50mm scope (some would say slightly over kill for its intended purpose as a guide scope!).  Hopefully this helped a bit. I guess it depends what you are specifically hoping to observe with it and if you wanted to put it on a small tripod etc. It’s relatively expensive for what is essentially a finder scope to a larger telescope 

[happy-kat]

The ED50 evoguide does not reach focus with your typical diagonal as it runs out of inward focus travel for reaching infinity focus. There is a member who has managed to reach focus by inserting a x1.6 shorty barlow before using a diagonal I think it's their travel setup, I have not yet tested this with mine. There's another member who cut their telescope tube down, and a member who bought a prism diagonal (more expensive then the telescope) that I think might just reach infinity focus. The focuser adjustment is very fine which makes it quite slow to alter focus distance if using for daytime.

There are a couple posts covering will it focus with a diagonal.

[Alan64]

Would this be too large for your purposes...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/sky-watcher-evostar-72ed-ds-pro-ota.html

It's at about the same price as the wee 50mm.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Alan64

[Anthony1979]

I was looking at that evostar but its out of my price range.. Something between 150-170 pounds but cant seem to find anything.... I cant take my sw150... Its to big lol

[JamesF]

Is that budget including the mount?  Or were you thinking of something you could put on a photography tripod or something like that?

James

[Anthony1979]

Just looking for the ota on its own

[willcastle]

If I personally wanted a small-ish travel scope, I would get a star travel 80T. It is cheaper than what you are looking at but it’s a decent little scope. I have often just got that out to enjoy the views. 

If not you could maybe try something like a celestron c90 maksutov. It is £165 and part of celestrons “travel and spotting scopes” range. It’s pretty small 

[Alan64]

5 hours ago, Anthony1979 said:

Just looking for the ota on its own

My apologies, Anthony, as I was looking at the 50ED on a U.S. vendor's site; my bad.

Not too long ago, I got this 70/300, a 70mm f/4.3 achromat...

I live about 40km south of a large city, but in a semi-rural to rural area.  I have trees all around me, and an occasional power-transformer.  I took this afocal-shot through that 70mm shortly after it had arrived, and not bad, not bad at all...

...not nearly as much false-colour as I was expecting, and this one should've exhibited oodles of it.  On top of that, a camera will reveal more false-colour than the eye might.  I didn't get it for travelling, but hopefully to integrate it as a finder-scope for my blind Maksutov.

Have a look at this 70/400, a 70mm f/5.7 achromat...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-21035-Travel-Scope-Telescope/dp/B001TI9Y2M

Now, I'm not saying to get that one, but it does have a longer focal-length, and would exhibit even less false-colour than my Barska.  According to that listing's image, it comes with a short, Vixen-style dovetail-bar, which would enable you to attach it to standard telescope-type mounts in addition.

It may, or may not, press all of your buttons.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Alan64

[Anthony1979]

I have been looking at the sw st 102... What are they like

[Peter Drew]

1 hour ago, Anthony1979 said:

I have been looking at the sw st 102... What are they like

I have 4 of these, two each as two binoscopes.  I have been very pleased with the performance.    😀

[willcastle]

1 hour ago, Anthony1979 said:

I have been looking at the sw st 102... What are they like

Now you are starting to look at much bigger scopes. This is a lot bigger than the 50mm you started off with. But yeah it’s a good scope. Comparable optics to the 80mm I suggested; just bigger and therefore collects more light 

[JamesF]

I was initially thinking about the ST102, or the ST80 if the 102 is too big.  Both can have the dew shield removed to reduce the length (at least both of mine can) though a new cover might then be needed for the optics.

What sort of "travel" are you thinking about?  Flying abroad, or on a boat, in a car?

James

[Anthony1979]

Traveling by train.... Is the st102 not as portable... Looks like a nice scope to go with my 150p aswell 

[Rusted]

The enemy of handheld [or rested on walls] telescopes is magnification. The "wobbles" putting it in rather technical terms.

With increasing aperture, the weight and length soon get out of hand. [A deliberate pun.]
In the absence of commercial sky hooks you then have a problem of seeing anything! [At all!] Just take my word for it.

There is a space race for larger spotting scopes for birders, hunters and wildlife voyeurs.
The lenses and bodies get heavier with each increase in lens size.
Which means a heavier tripod. Which needs a friend, Sherpa or slave to carry it all for you.

Binoculars are available in many different sizes but nobody ever wants to carry them far above [say] a 40mm aperture and 8x. The sweet spot!
Be very careful what you wish for. I have spent decades looking at laterally reversed images but I still couldn't eat a whole one.

A "proper" terrestrial prism is essential to the full enjoyment and remaining sanity of the observer using any portable telescope.
These prisms have n even longer glass path length than a common star diagonal. So choose your telescope carefully and wisely!
Or be prepared to saw big chunks off your end. With advice from your fiends on SGL of course. 😉