Confused between Evostar 120 or Startravel 120

[galaxy-gazer]

Hello everyone!

This will be my first scope (finally), I always wanted a refractor! I am only confused between the above 2 models - I know one is for planets and the other for DSOs but I can only afford one, so which one is mostly an “all-rounder scope” - I want to observe everything- all planets, moon and DSOs too!

Thanks for your help on this!

best regards 

Sam

[CraigT82]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Personally I'd be leaning towards the Evostar 120 as the better all rounder, but I am biased towards lunar/planetary. 

Do you have a mount yet? Or if you're going to get a mount with the scope which mount are you planning on? What are your skies at home like are they dark or light polluted?

[johninderby]

There is Bresser 127L in the sale section at the moment. Better optics and excellent build quality with a great focuser. Worth a look.

 

[Sabalias]

10 hours ago, johninderby said:

There is Bresser 127L in the sale section at the moment. Better optics and excellent build quality with a great focuser. Worth a look.

 

That looks like a good deal. If I was able to get to Cheshire I’d snap it up. 
 

Stu

[galaxy-gazer]

On 12/06/2021 at 20:54, CraigT82 said:

Hi and welcome to the forum. Personally I'd be leaning towards the Evostar 120 as the better all rounder, but I am biased towards lunar/planetary. 

Do you have a mount yet? Or if you're going to get a mount with the scope which mount are you planning on? What are your skies at home like are they dark or light polluted?

Hi,

I live in a light polluted area (not heavily, but still), I am planning on getting an AZ mount, which isn’t too expensive. I am thinking of AZ-4 or a vixen porta II

[CraigT82]

You should just about get away with the evostar 120 on the AZ4 mount. There will be some wobble when you move the scope and when up focus it but with practice this can be minimised. There are also other things you can do like hanging a length of chain from the front of the scope (looks weird but works well to dampen the vibration).  The startravel would be a better match match the mount though with its shorter tube length. 

My opinion is that the Evostar 120 is  better all rounder than the startravel.  The ST120 is a great RFT (rich field telescope) and so is great for low power expansive views of star fields, open clusters and larger DSO, but is limited on high power lunar and planetary viewing by chromatic aberration (also things like double stars, globular clusters and planetary nebula would be slightly better in the evostar). That's not to say that the high power views would be rubbish through the ST, as everyone has different tolerance levels towards CA, and you can get filters to cut out the CA to an extent, but if you forsee yourself doing more lunar/planetary viewing than DSO viewing then I'd definitely go for the evostar over the startravel. 

[Franklin]

I second the Evostar120 as an all rounder over the Startravel120 having owned both. AZ4 would carry it but no slo-motions. Put it on an EQ5 which you can get used for about the same as an AZ4. If you have to have an Alt-az the Skytee would be better. More money but it would be capable of handling more scopes in the future, which you might get if you catch the astro bug proper. 

[PEnglish82]

At the risk of being the guy who talks about something unrelated and with zero knowledge...

Having owned and used neither of the two 'scopes you're considering, I'd say the Evostar 120 would be a good choice. 

Just purchased my first refractor, and first telescope in twenty years, opting for the Evostar 102. Other than the increased aperture I imagine they're fairly similar and I've been loving the 102 as it seems to be a quality scope, and I imagine the same can be said of its wider sibling. 

Caught my first glimpse of the moon last night and it was crisp with amazing contrast using the included 25mm EP, I've seen Jupiter (plus moons) and managed to make out some of its banding. While I'm not skilled enough to know where to point it into the sky to find DSOs I have seen breath-taking views of the Gamma Cygni/Sadr Region (thanks again to the scope's amazing contrast) and also discovered the delights of binary stars in Andromeda and Mizar/Alcor.

Prior to purchase I was considering the Evostar 102/120 plus the Star Travel but discounted the ST based on reports of CA. Ultimately I went for the 102 as I got an 'in stock' notification and I wasn't prepared to wait another six months if I deliberated.

As I say though, I haven't tried the 120, but based on the performance of the 102 I'd say it would be a fantastic choice.