Meade or Bresser

[Paul63]

hi

sorry if this in the wrong section

looking to get either one of these telescopes so I can have it left in the car when out & about

Bresser Refractor 80/400 Goto Telescope or the

Meade ETX70/80 or 90

Observer

has anyone had any of these

be grateful for any feedback

many thanks

[uhb1966]

Hi Paul, to be honest i didn't have much luck with these 2 brands. Honestly, i'd rather buy a pair of good binoculars than buying these. Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear 😕

[Dr Strange]

I am afraid the poster above me is correct. Neither is a great starting scope. Furthermore one is a wide field and the other is a much more narrow field scope. The refractor is the wide field and the Mak Cas is much more narrow. So it will present two different views for you. The key difference is the field of view which determines how much of a given object you can see. A wide field scope will be good for very big stuff. For example big open clusters. However it will not provide much magnification and detail. A narrow field scope will mean you get more magnification but see a more narrow field of view so the big open clusters will not fit in the field of view. 

Frankly better options in the price range you are looking at would be the Skywatcher AZ-GTi packages. It is going to be a better quality, is more feature rich, will give you the option of GOTO or star hopping or both at the same time, will give you brighter and more detailed views of stuff, and will do better for you overall starting out. I would recommend one of the two following.

The first is the 130mm Newtonian on the AZ-GTi. The second is the 127mm Mak on the AZ-GTi. The former will be a more "general use" scope. By that I mean you will get wider field views and will be more appropriate for most objects that we look at out there including planets, the moon, large deep space objects (DSO), and do OK on smaller DSO. The latter will be more geared towards smaller DSO, planets, and the moon. The former is £359 and the latter will be £445. 

AZ-GTi 130mm Newtonian: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-gti.html

AZ-GTi 127mm Mak: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html

[Owmuchonomy]

Meade filed for bankruptcy in 2019 and their software support is very poor.  The mount described above is marvellous for a portable package.  I use mine frequently for all sorts of events.

[FaDG]

22 hours ago, Paul63 said:

has anyone had any of these

Yes, the Bresser Goto 80/400, bought and tested it for a newbie friend. 

Unfortunately, out of the box, the dec drive did not manage to raise the scope (there are a couple of video on youtube showing the same issue) and the scope was horrendously out of collimation. 

Contacted Bresser that showed an excellent customer service: the scope was sent back at their charge and we received it after about one week. 

Gears working perfectly now and lens improved. Now, this being said, it's not the best 80 f5 sample I have used, the tripod is quite shaky (tradeoff between stability and portability) and the controller SW is not up to Synscan Level. BUT my friend is now very happy with it, it gets a lot of use and the Goto is very helpful for a beginner, which is ok for the price. 

So, if you look for optical performance, choose something different (and more expensive if interested in goto). But if you wish for something extremely lightweight and portable, to start exploring the night sky with the help of goto (precise enough to place the target in a low mag eyepiece), then it could be a good choice. It's just a matter of expectations.

I agree that the AzGti is probably a better product, but the Bresser was quite a bit cheaper.

Then, what are you interested in? If lunar and planetary, a Mak is better value, for deep space a short and fast frac has the edge. Plenty of targets can be enjoyed with 80mm, although a Dob will show you a lot more. But I wouldn't leave that in the car! 

Ah, by the way: years ago I used a Meade ETX70 (70/350 refractor), the mount was ok, on par with the Bresser, but the optics were seriously astigmatic

 

Edited June 6, 2020 by FaDG

[fozzybear]

Paul

Maybe tell us what budget you have in mind then people can advise? Also what you want to observe? You state to leave it in your car so a portable setup yes?

Andy

[Paul63]

Hi everyone

Thank you for the feed back I have found a skywatcher 130p while clearing out my shed on sunday it has the tube rings and dove tail but no mount completely forgot it was there been up there some years amonst all the junk.

So my budget will be around the £400 I do have a nikon D3500 camara so i would like to have a go with that and the telescope so what goto mount and tripod for the 130p would you recommend or might save some more and get the

skymax 127

many thanks

[FaDG]

The main driver for the scope is to check whether your DSLR reaches focus. Not 100% sure, but I might have read that 130pds allows a DLSR to be focused, the 130p doesn't. There's a whole thread here on imaging with the SW 130, you might ask there. 

For the mount, either an EQ3, but a bit at its limit, or AN EQ5, way better (and more expensive, obviously) 

[Paul63]

hi

thanks for the reply’s I think I will drop the astrophotograph idea for now and stick with just viewing for now so I need to get a tripod and mount for the 130p would you recommend goto or manual

many thanks

 

[uhb1966]

Hi Paul, i think starting with the skywatcher 130 you found should be a great idea; i have a Skywatcher Quattro-8S and it's an amazing scope for it's price. The EQ6 / Orion EQ-G (same mount, different branding) that i use has also a good value/price ratio and has a smaller brother, the EQ-5, which might be a very good choice. As for Goto /manual: if you know how to handle computers, i'd go for a simple/ manual one as long as it can be hooked up to a pc, and control the mount via EQMOD and Cartes du Ciel. Maybe open a new thread w/ goto vs. manual, as the primary question of this thread is answered Best, U.  

[Paul63]

Many thanks proto star I have started a new thread also I do like the look of the 200p

many thanks