Purchasing 1st Telescope

[Shel]

Hi everyone,

I am wanting to get my husband his first Telescope but am getting lost in all the info & jargon as I know very little about the subject. After answering a few questions regarding what he was after, the one I was looking at ( 130/1000 EQ2 REFLECTOR ) a few have said others similar are a better so am even more lost on what to get. He wants to be able to see the planets really well & things that we can't really see with the naked eye or binoculars well. I'm not after cheap but I don't want to spend a fortune either. Any suggestions on narrowing down what to look at?

Thanks

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. Can you post a link to the telescope ? If the telescope is the Konusmotor 130/1000 I suggest that you avoid that one and get a Skywatcher 130/650 or a Skywatcher Skymax 127.

[vlaiv]

Hi and welcome to SGL,

I second the Skywatcher SkyMax 127.

This particular version is interesting:

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

as it comes with mount head to track objects which you control via your smartphone. Only problem being the stock at the moment - most of items are out of stock due current circumstances so you'll have to spend some time finding retailer that has them in stock or to backorder and wait a bit.

[Shel]

Thanks for the help. The one I was looking at was the Sky-Watcher 130/1000 EQ2 Reflector Telescope. As you both recommended the skymax 127 I'll have a look at that one. Thankyou both

[Cornelius Varley]

23 minutes ago, Shel said:

Thanks for the help. The one I was looking at was the Sky-Watcher 130/1000 EQ2 Reflector Telescope. As you both recommended the skymax 127 I'll have a look at that one. Thankyou both

Skywatcher, at least in the UK, don't do a 130/1000 reflector. There is, however, a Skywatcher 130/900 reflector. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-130.html

[Anthony1979]

+1 for skywatcher 130 its a great little scope

[AstroNebulee]

+1 for the skymax 127 lovely scope but if you want better views of planets a larger aperture of the mirror eg 150 or 180 would give better views. These three telescopes are better designed for planets and lunar. Aperture or size of primary mirror is king in telescopes, the bigger the better. Don't expect to see the planets as in the books as they've been processed in editing software. YouTube have some good reviews of scopes this chap does great reviews of scopes and worth a watch to expect what you can see https://www.youtube.com/c/JenhamsUk

Clear skies 

[dweller25]

Hello Shel and welcome to SGL.

Here is a beginners guide that may help.....

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

Be aware that due to Covid telescopes are in short supply.

Here is a link to a free planetarium program.....

http://stellarium.org/

I would recommend this as it is very capable......

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

Good luck

PS Mars is in the southern sky at 8:30 for a while - easy naked eye object

[Captain Scarlet]

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

Hi and welcome to SGL,

I second the Skywatcher SkyMax 127.

This particular version is interesting:

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

as it comes with mount head to track objects which you control via your smartphone. Only problem being the stock at the moment - most of items are out of stock due current circumstances so you'll have to spend some time finding retailer that has them in stock or to backorder and wait a bit.

this was my own very first scope, and if available at the time I would have gone for exactly this mounting system too.