First Scope Advice

[Paul65]

Hi All

I am looking to purchase my first telescope and looking for advice. My budget is a maximum of £150, I hope to start with easy stuff like the moon but would be happy with views of the planets. As I will be storing the telescope indoors and stargazing outdoors I think I need something relatively easy to put together and break down?
 

So far, I have identified three possibilities below, at the max of my budget and would be grateful for your thoughts on their suitability and ranking?

Sky-Watcher STARTRAVEL-80 (AZ3)

Skywatcher Explorer 130 EQ2 Telescope

Meade Infinity 80 AZ3 Refractor Telescope

Thanks in anticipation

Paul

[Geordie mc]

All would be okay for Lunar observing. The ST 80 is often used as a guidescope too so if you get into imaging later it might be handy. The Skywatcher Explorer 130 is a nice scope and would give excellent Lunar views. I’m afraid I don’t know the Meade. You are right to think of portability. It’s no good having a big scope you can’t easily setup and use. None of the scopes are likely to give you much in terms of planetary observation. They will give nice views of open star clusters like M45 or bright galaxies/nebula like M31 and M42. If it were me I’d get the Explorer 130. It’s a great little scope on a reasonable mount and if you do decide to upgrade later it will have a decent resale value. Be warned, if you get the astronomy bug it can severely dent your wallet! 

[Beardy30]

For moon and planets you can’t beat a MAK - if your able to invest a little more and look at the SW 127 goto - great little scope and it’s orals for what you’ve mentioned your looking for , any had a 130 and it was something I regretted if I’m honest. The 127 MAK won’t disappoint on moon and planets 🪐 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Beardy30

[Ricochet]

Of the three I think the 130 is going to be the best all round scope. If you have a sturdy table outside then a scope that would be even easier to take from indoors to out would be The Skywatcher Heritage 130p. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Ricochet