Grab & Go set up

[Commanderfish]

This set up lives in my living room. TS Photoline 115 Triplet Apo and a Stellalyra 6" Classical Cassegrain on a Teleoptiks Ercole Mini Giro and a Berlbach Report Tripod. 

The whole rig weighs less than 20 kg including diagonals and EPs and I carry it fully assembled on to the balcony outside and am viewing in seconds on the Apo at low power, and not too much later on the CC6" which cools quickly.

The Apo gives lovely sparkly wide field views, sharp as you like and contrasty. Fits the whole of Orion's belt in one view and the  CC6" gives surprisingly bright detailed views of DSOs like M42.

Really like this set up, so quick and easy.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Commanderfish

[ballisticbrian]

What would you buy if you were a complete beginner and only a budget of a few hundred quid,? (Im sure its ben discussed on here before but anyway)

[Commanderfish]

Hmmm that's tricky, it depends partly what you want to view, but I would say for a simple rig with a very quick set up time, I would say a 4" or so refractor with an Alt Azimuth mount (unless you are doing astrophotography in which case you need an Equatorial mount which takes a lot longer to set up).  I think the Bresser AR102s refractor (102mm i.e. 4") is a lot of scope for the money, with a very solid focuser and decent objective lens.  I sold one last month because I got the above 115mm apochromatic refractor (which costs about 4 times as much).

I'd mount the AR102s on something like an AZ4 mount, or if you can afford it an AZ5.  A good, solid mount will work with many different telescopes as you chop and change, so it makes sense to invest.  I've owned almost 15 telescopes but only 5 mounts. Lighter, cheaper mounts won't be steady enough for longer or heavier telescopes.  I sold my first mount (an EQ3-2) within a few months because it wasnt really steady enough for heavier or longer scopes, and the setup time was a lot longer than an Alt Az mount.

If you could afford the Teleoptics Ercole Mini Giro and a tripod, that would be even better as in future you can mount two scopes side by side at different magnifications (and therefore fields of view) just like my set up above.  Though you have to budget about £40 extra for a pair of clamps as they don't come with the Ercole Giro itself. Extremely versatile mounts.

Finally spend about £15 on a simple red dot sight instead of a finder scope, that will work great with a 4" refractor.

Of course if you can afford a 5 " refractor and a mount for it, that's even better...

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Commanderfish

[ballisticbrian]

Thank you for the suggestions, I need to read it a few times as some of it is new to me. I punched in the telescope you mentioned on eBay and non were found but as "similar items" it showed me this: 

Bresser Messier AR-152S / 760 Refractor OTA Telescope ONLY

[Commanderfish]

Yes that's it's 6" big brother, heavier, longer and needs a bigger mount.  Probably a good scope though ( I haven't had one myself).

It's in stock here: 

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/bresser-messier-ar-102s600-hexafoc-optical-tube-assembly.html

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/bresser-messier-ar-102s600-hex-focus-optical-tube-assembly.html

[Carl Au]

I would put a SW 150P or 150PDS on an AZ4. Its about the biggest scope I think you could call grab and go I think. Very comforable to use, much nicer than a 6 inch dob and wouldn't break the bank either

[ballisticbrian]

Commanderfish, how would you rate this as a beginner scope and how different is it to the  Bresser you recomended? https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-evostar-120-eq3-2-telescope.html