Advice on a portable telescope

[JonathanB]

Hi All I am fairly new to this and would like some advice on buying a portable telescope for general stargazing and possibly some photography.

[Louis D]

Budget makes a huge impact on recommendations, so state yours.

Also, by portable do you mean slipping out the backdoor with it, putting it in the car and driving, putting it in a van and driving, putting it in a backpack, or airline carry-on compatible?

How heavy of a part are you willing to lift when it comes to breaking it down into sections for transport?

[PEMS]

I would say that your big decision is the mount. In a way a number of scopes satisfy "portable" - WO Z61, WOZ73, Skywatcher 72ED and a few others that will be all along the same lines.

Portable small mount I suggest the Skywatcher Az GTi or the iOptron SmartEQ.

The astrophotography is where possible problems occur. Mount wise you want a good solid mount and that is opposed to "portable". The Az GTi can be loaded with appropriate software but is started as an Alt/Az mount and to an extent is a little limited. You need a wedge under it so you would end up buying Az GTi, Wedge and of course a power supply. The wedges are not inexpensive.

The SmartEQ is small and is already an Eq mount, but add in carrying the counter weights and in both the general size of the tripods.

Usually the scope is as said "easy", the mount is the area where the greater decision making is required.