£200 Budget for Beginner

[DMH]

Good evening all! I've done lots of research, and I'm fairly certain that the answer the this question is the Heritage 130P! However before I invest, I'd love to hear other options and thoughts!

I live fairly rural, and I'm looking to get my kids to share my passion for astronomy! 

[malc-c]

Impossible to answer with the lack of information provided.  You say you want to get your kids involved, how old are they?.  Through my experience of after school clubs, working with cubs / scouts / guides etc, and when my wife was a childminder, the clients kids, there was more of a wow factor when they looked at the sky and the moon through small 8 x 40 binoculars than when they clicked the mouse to take an image through a computer controlled 8" reflector.

If your kids are serious, and not likely to get bored and want to go back on their phones after 30 seconds, then look at getting them each their own 8 x 40 binoculars.  Not only will they get more use as they will look at anything through them, so if you ever went on country walks etc they can be used then, but will give them an excellent introduction to the night sky.

But you know your children, and the Heritage is a nice table top telescope.

[DMH]

24 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Impossible to answer with the lack of information provided.  You say you want to get your kids involved, how old are they?.  Through my experience of after school clubs, working with cubs / scouts / guides etc, and when my wife was a childminder, the clients kids, there was more of a wow factor when they looked at the sky and the moon through small 8 x 40 binoculars than when they clicked the mouse to take an image through a computer controlled 8" reflector.

If your kids are serious, and not likely to get bored and want to go back on their phones after 30 seconds, then look at getting them each their own 8 x 40 binoculars.  Not only will they get more use as they will look at anything through them, so if you ever went on country walks etc they can be used then, but will give them an excellent introduction to the night sky.

But you know your children, and the Heritage is a nice table top telescope.

Hi @malc-c - thanks for the reply and information! Sorry for the lack of information on my side, let me try to add some colour. 

Firstly, my children are still toddlers so it's not serious at all. More of something I'd like them to see and start introducing, but it's more about me!

Experience; nothing outside of reading. I've always wanted a telescope to be able to see things that we can't normally but I've never been in a position to get one. 

I'd love to be able to start seeing the moon in great detail and seeing planets. Id also love to be able to see DSO's such as galaxies, but that might be out of budget.

 

 

 

[dweller25]

1 hour ago, DMH said:

Good evening all! I've done lots of research, and I'm fairly certain that the answer the this question is the Heritage 130P! However before I invest, I'd love to hear other options and thoughts!

I live fairly rural, and I'm looking to get my kids to share my passion for astronomy! 

Very good choice, a scope that allows you to dip your toe in the water whilst having good performance and great value for money 👍

BUT - it will not show you the images you seen in magazines - you must limit your expectations 🙂

PS - welcome to SGL 😀

Edited September 6, 2021 by dweller25

[DMH]

14 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

Very good choice, a scope that allows you to dip your toe in the water whilst having good performance and great value for money 👍

BUT - it will not show you the images you seen in magazines - you must limit your expectations 🙂

PS - welcome to SGL 😀

Hehe! Thanks @dweller25 appreciate you taking the time to respond. Would you recommend getting a barlow x2? I understand I need to perform some modifications on the focus and make a light shroud. I wondered if its worth getting some additional lens straight away

[wulfrun]

Usual advice is use the eyepieces that come with the scope at first. It'll get you started and you'll figure out what's lacking. Most SW telescopes come with a 25mm EP that's not too bad a quality and a 10mm that few people like, it's not a good performer but it does work. Best to plan what you need for your interests and based on your personal experience. A Barlow may or may not figure in your plan.

[malc-c]

Thanks for the update.  So  being so young they are not really at that stage where they are really gong to appreciate things the same way an 8 or 9 year old will.

The problem is that  no one will be able to really recommend something that will suit your needs as everyone's expectations are different.  My first glance through a telescope was at a bright star low down in the south one summers evening.  I was that stoked to see it was Saturn, with is rings nicely tilted you would have thought I had juts discovered it...  But then when I tried to see a bright galaxy I was very disappointed as even though it was a 4.5" aperture reflector, it just couldn't perform how I thought it should.  An this is what I fear may happen with the scope you have in mind.  It will show you the moon, and resolve the large craters, and mountains.  It will show Jupiter as a bright, but small disk, surrounded by up to 4 bright full stops (the major moons).  It will show you Saturn, although its not best placed at the moment.  But to see DSO's it's not really going to perform that well.  You'll see star clusters nicely, and possibly make out the Orion nebular which is probably the largest / brightest nebula from the UK, but don't expect to see anything like the images in the books.

Part of the problem is location, and if you have access to a darker sky then you'll get more form your scope than form the back garden in a town house.  Also it's down to the individual.  Some have better eyesight and can pick out detail better than others, so irrespective of telescope size, one person will see more than another.  It also depends on your circumstances.  This time a couple of years ago, spending £200 on something that may not get used that much, or turned out to be below my expectation wouldn't have been a problem for me... today that might not be something I could ill afford, and I get the sense from your post that money needs to be spent wisely?

Best advice I can offer is to see if there is a local astronomical club or society near you.  Pop along to one of their meetings, or (as most do) a start party / observing session and have a look through members scopes or binoculars.  That way you can see what results you are likely to get through a scope of given aperture, or focal length.  It will certainly help you decide if spending £200 now is the right thing, or possibly save a bit more and get something a little more capable of what you are hoping to see.   

I just noticed the new post whilst I was typing this... Adding a barlow to double the focal length will not improve things, it makes the image darker, and possibly unusable.  This is the thing, to use an analogy, two cars, one with a small 750cc engine the other with a 3000cc  300HP V8 in it.  Both are capable of travelling form A to B, but the second car will be able to cope with the hills better and travel at 70-80 with ease, where as the first car will still get to the destination, but will struggle with the hills and might not even reach 70mph.  Adding a turbo or nitro kit to the 750cc engine, which it will make a little difference, won't improve things to the point where it matches the 3lt car.

 

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Hi DMH ,

if you've read some threads on here (and as you are aware of the light shroud/focus mods I reckon you have 🙂 ) you might have noticed I'm a very happy owner/user of a 150 heritage. Since that first 'proper' telescope purchase I've added a few more 'scopes to my armoury, but the heritage is still my favourite.

The 130  will gather less light, but will still give you good views of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and plenty of Messier objects . If you've not yet read the  'what can I expect to see' thread , do .

As for additional eyepieces , I agree with Wulfrun , buy the 'scope, use the stock eyepieces for a while, and think about improving on them when and if you feel they are limiting factors. I wasn't confident I'd see any improvement in my 'scope, from my suburban back garden from buying different eyepieces, but took a punt on a (very cheap by enthusiast standards) 17mm skywatcher plossl (about  £25) because if it wasn't better to my eyes than the 25mm or 10mm at least it would be a different magnification ... and it turned out to be a great improvement, and I set off down the slippery slope of upgrades ...  

I did buy a skywatcher 2x barlow, but find I dislike using it , despite it being in theory an easy way to double my available range of eyepieces.

Heather

[dweller25]

34 minutes ago, DMH said:

Hehe! Thanks @dweller25 appreciate you taking the time to respond. Would you recommend getting a barlow x2? I understand I need to perform some modifications on the focus and make a light shroud. I wondered if its worth getting some additional lens straight away

I would suggest you initially use the scope as supplied to get a feeling for it and then at some point ask on here about the next step 👍

[Tiny Clanger]

If money is tight , had you considered second hand ? For instance this is well within budget (if you are close enough to collect)

 

[Alan64]

If you'd like a more solidly-constructed 130mm f/5 Newtonian...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zhumell-ZHUS003-1-Altazimuth-Reflector-Telescope/dp/B07BRLSVWM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=zhumell+z130&qid=1630954828&sr=8-1

In future, you can transfer either telescope to most any tripod-type mount; for examples...

That's my 150mm f/5.

[DMH]

1 hour ago, Tiny Clanger said:

If money is tight , had you considered second hand ? For instance this is well within budget (if you are close enough to collect)

 

Oh awesome! Thank you I'll get in touch

1 hour ago, Alan64 said:

If you'd like a more solidly-constructed 130mm f/5 Newtonian...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zhumell-ZHUS003-1-Altazimuth-Reflector-Telescope/dp/B07BRLSVWM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=zhumell+z130&qid=1630954828&sr=8-1

In future, you can transfer either telescope to most any tripod-type mount; for examples...

That's my 150mm f/5.

Awesome thank you, I've heard about the Zhummell being a good competitior. I'll do some more reading!

 

Thanks everyone for your comments! Can't wait to get up and running!

[malc-c]

3 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

If money is tight , had you considered second hand ? For instance this is well within budget (if you are close enough to collect)

 

That is a decent bit of kit that will get you started, and has a motorised focuser too (which retails for around £55).

For a little more than your £200 budget there are some alternatives if you wanted new.

Skywatcher Explorer 130P - £259

Swkwatcher StarQuest 130 - £225

These are showing as in stock, which these days is something of a miracle !

 

 

 

[Alan64]

6 hours ago, DMH said:

Awesome thank you, I've heard about the Zhummell being a good competitior.

The marques, the names, don't mean so much.  There are only very few companies in China that produce all of these mass-produced telescopes, and under this brand and that.  For example, the Sky-Watcher "Heritage" 130P is the same as the AWB "OneSky" which is the same as the Bushnell "Ares"...

The Zhumell Z130 is not a competitor so much, but simply of a differing, more traditional construction.  Yea, indeed, the mirrors within all four were probably on the same parts-table at the same factory overseas at one point in time.

Each type has its pros and cons, however I'm of the opinion now that perhaps the "Heritage" 130P would be the one to get.

Incidentally, if you'd rather not fuss with collimating a Newtonian, a refractor or a Maksutov might be considered as well.

[DMH]

7 hours ago, malc-c said:

That is a decent bit of kit that will get you started, and has a motorised focuser too (which retails for around £55).

For a little more than your £200 budget there are some alternatives if you wanted new.

Skywatcher Explorer 130P - £259

Swkwatcher StarQuest 130 - £225

These are showing as in stock, which these days is something of a miracle !

 

 

 

Thanks @malc-c! Just out of interest the above you mentioned seem to have the same 'stat's as the Heritage but on a different mount. Is that the primary difference? They are al 650mm f/5. I guess it comes down to the focus and mount? 

[DMH]

11 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Hi DMH ,

if you've read some threads on here (and as you are aware of the light shroud/focus mods I reckon you have 🙂 ) you might have noticed I'm a very happy owner/user of a 150 heritage. Since that first 'proper' telescope purchase I've added a few more 'scopes to my armoury, but the heritage is still my favourite.

The 130  will gather less light, but will still give you good views of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and plenty of Messier objects . If you've not yet read the  'what can I expect to see' thread , do .

As for additional eyepieces , I agree with Wulfrun , buy the 'scope, use the stock eyepieces for a while, and think about improving on them when and if you feel they are limiting factors. I wasn't confident I'd see any improvement in my 'scope, from my suburban back garden from buying different eyepieces, but took a punt on a (very cheap by enthusiast standards) 17mm skywatcher plossl (about  £25) because if it wasn't better to my eyes than the 25mm or 10mm at least it would be a different magnification ... and it turned out to be a great improvement, and I set off down the slippery slope of upgrades ...  

I did buy a skywatcher 2x barlow, but find I dislike using it , despite it being in theory an easy way to double my available range of eyepieces.

Heather

Thank you @Tiny Clangerfor the advice! I love the 'watch can I expect to see' thread. That does align with my expectations haha, so that is a good start at least  I think I'm set on a 130P, but I'm now looking between the one Rustang has for sale, which I think is the Explorer, which has a solid tube, no so DIY work needed and is obviously on a different mount. I'm not sure if there are pro's and con's outside of that!

[DMH]

12 hours ago, Alan64 said:

If you'd like a more solidly-constructed 130mm f/5 Newtonian...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zhumell-ZHUS003-1-Altazimuth-Reflector-Telescope/dp/B07BRLSVWM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=zhumell+z130&qid=1630954828&sr=8-1

In future, you can transfer either telescope to most any tripod-type mount; for examples...

That's my 150mm f/5.

Thanks @Alan64- Your scopes look amazing! I've started to lean towards a tripod mounted scope if I can get one within budget. Are they SW150P's?

[happy-kat]

If you are using the heritage 130p from a dark location you don't really need a light shroud as there's little to no light scatter to block.

The focuser can have PTFE tape wrapped around can help if needed though I've not applied any to mine.

The heritage 130p telescope does have a standard dove bar so has the ability to be fitted to a tripod at a later date.

With a 6mm eyepiece (can't recall if I used a 1.6x barlow as well) I saw a Jupiter moon shadow and could make out 5 band areas. With the supplied 10mm saw Saturn had a ring separated from the planet.

Found the ring nebula and marveled at what the grey fuzzy was.

Edited September 7, 2021 by happy-kat

[happy-kat]

Nice review

https://neilenglish.net/a-newtonian-travel-scope/

Last thought, as it's truss sided the top can be dropped down should you decide to try a camera on it. 

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by happy-kat

[DMH]

10 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

If you are using the heritage 130p from a dark location you don't really need a light shroud as there's little to no light scatter to block.

The focuser can have PTFE tape wrapped around can help if needed though I've not applied any to mine.

The heritage 130p telescope does have a standard dove bar so has the ability to be fitted to a tripod at a later date.

With a 6mm eyepiece (can't recall if I used a 1.6x barlow as well) I saw a Jupiter moon shadow and could make out 5 band areas. With the supplied 10mm saw Saturn had a ring separated from the planet.

Found the ring nebula and marveled at what the grey fuzzy was.

 

7 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Nice review

https://neilenglish.net/a-newtonian-travel-scope/

Last thought, as it's truss sided the top can be dropped down should you decide to try a camera on it. 

 

Thank you @happy-kat- lots of great information!

[PeterStudz]

Sorry for the long post but hopefully this might be useful.

About 10 months ago I was in a similar position. My 9 yr old daughter had an obvious interest in astronomy and I suggested getting her a telescope for Christmas as I thought it would be something we could do together and it would further fire her interest. Just for the record, we are in a city, Southampton, which is classed as Bortle 8 - so significant light pollution. 

I did some research (although unfortunately I didn’t find this wonderful forum) and decided that a 130 Dob - the Heritage 130P was top of the list - would fit. However, at the time I didn’t appreciate that there was a big shortage of telescopes and I could not find anything suitable. And for me I wasn’t confident on the second hand market, not helped by the ones I did see going for silly prices.

So, partly in panic I opted for a Skywatcher 1145p on a wobbly EQ1 mount, which suddenly became available at £175 and sold out in under 24hrs. At first I thought that I might have made a mistake but in the end it wasn’t a mistake at all. And my thinking was that if it turned out a lemon I could always sell it and buy something else when supply improved. Then last April we were kindly gifted an old Skywatcher Skyliner 200p without a mount and I successfully constructed a Dob mount for it. But we still use the 1145p. 

On Christmas Day the night sky was clear and the moon in an ideal position so I hurriedly put together the 1145p. Even for me the whole thing was a big learning curve and it took a while to fully appreciate a EQ mount. But looking at the moon had my daughter so excited that she ran inside for the star charts that where also part of her Christmas gifts. Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy.

A few things that we quickly discovered. For a 9 yr old just learning to look through a Newtonian isn’t that easy. Especially when it’s the blind leading the blind. Eg….

* Does she wear her glasses or not? 

* Locating objects and using a red dot finder.

* Learning to focus.

* Eyepieces - there’s even a knack just looking through an eyepiece. Sometimes she’d say “but I can’t see anything”.

* Getting her eyes adopted to the dark.

* In winter it’s cold. Getting a child to sit in the dark when it’s -2C isn’t easy nor fun.

* When the weather gets warmer the sun obviously sets later. Then you have the issue of having children up at silly hours - they do need sleep!

* British weather is far from ideal. Many nights are clouded out or have poor seeing. 

We quickly discovered that using a smartphone as an aid (I’m not taking astrophotography) was a big help and had the advantage that if she got cold she could pop back inside the house. Little need to get her eyes adapted to the dark. An example was the Orion Nebula. Through our little telescope in Bortle 8 it was just a rather disappointing grey smudge. But even holding the camera up to the eyepiece, looking at a live image (not taking a picture) revealed colours. That image literally had my daughter jumping up and down! We also used the smartphone camera to she objects that were impossible to she with our eyes through our small telescope, eg galaxies, even snapping an image (if smudgy) of 3 galaxies at once - the Leo Triplet.

She showed our images to friends and teachers at school (at that time via zoom lessons) who were obviously impressed. Kids these days are media driven and love to see pictures even if they are no where near astrophotography level. 

I invested in better eyepieces and a cheap motor for the EQ1. The motor meant that we could keep objects centred in the eyepiece with little drifting which was a big help. It also meant that we could take longer exposures with our smartphone. Something that’s not easy using a Dob. We also got a solar filter which meant that we could look at the sun, obviously during the day, which added more interest. 

I also discovered that making observing an event with the telescope(s) the icing on the cake really helped. Eg making hot chocolate and toasting marshmallows, as the weather improved camping outside, often without a tent so she could look up at the stars, get adapted to the dark without trying, then getting up and looking through the telescopes. Having friends over for sleep- overs with added astronomy has also been fun.

By the summer we also had a bigger telescope which as mentioned was a Skywatcher 200p, but still used the 1145p as it has certain advantages. At first she found a Dob hard to keep objects at high magnification in view - there’s a knack with that - and although I had to set the thing up, the slow motion controls on an EQ mount a doddle.

Shes also become a little obsessed with Jupiter and Saturn and we’ve been looking at these two at every opportunity. Usually with the 200p, but we’ve been observing these since the start of June and her interest is still strong. 

To sum up - be patient and keep trying. Don’t give up. Observing is more fun when it’s made into an event. It can be more than just looking through a telescope. There will be disappointments but if you keep at it huge rewards. Oh… and a lot of fun!

[Orange Smartie]

One quick comment on Heritage dobsonians regarding the user mods - agree with happy-kat about not needing a light shroud in a dark location.  The moon can be a distraction if it's shining on to the secondary, but if the moon is up, dark things are difficult to see anyway, so maybe more sensible to look at the moon itself. 

However, the optics are open to the elements in a reflector telescope and if you're observing with small children around, I WOULD shield the secondary to avoid them touching it/dribbling on it/dropping things in.  For this reason a solid-tube dob might be a safer bet, although I think the Heritage 'scopes (I have a 150p) give an incredible view for a relatively modest outlay.  I'd budget for at least one extra eyepiece (I have BST Starguiders and find the 8mm particularly useful).

My own first purchase was a smaller reflector on a German equatorial mount.  I found it heavy, bulky and difficult to use and the truth is that I didn't use it half as much as I thought I might. The dob is a delight to use - I had a friend round the other evening and against all expectations, the sky cleared.  I nipped inside to get my dob, set it on a small table in the garden and in 5-10 minutes we were observing. I really like them and I would make the same choice again, but note that my view is based only on what I have actually used.

Pete

[DMH]

1 hour ago, PeterStudz said:

Sorry for the long post but hopefully this might be useful.

About 10 months ago I was in a similar position. My 9 yr old daughter had an obvious interest in astronomy and I suggested getting her a telescope for Christmas as I thought it would be something we could do together and it would further fire her interest. Just for the record, we are in a city, Southampton, which is classed as Bortle 8 - so significant light pollution. 

I did some research (although unfortunately I didn’t find this wonderful forum) and decided that a 130 Dob - the Heritage 130P was top of the list - would fit. However, at the time I didn’t appreciate that there was a big shortage of telescopes and I could not find anything suitable. And for me I wasn’t confident on the second hand market, not helped by the ones I did see going for silly prices.

So, partly in panic I opted for a Skywatcher 1145p on a wobbly EQ1 mount, which suddenly became available at £175 and sold out in under 24hrs. At first I thought that I might have made a mistake but in the end it wasn’t a mistake at all. And my thinking was that if it turned out a lemon I could always sell it and buy something else when supply improved. Then last April we were kindly gifted an old Skywatcher Skyliner 200p without a mount and I successfully constructed a Dob mount for it. But we still use the 1145p. 

On Christmas Day the night sky was clear and the moon in an ideal position so I hurriedly put together the 1145p. Even for me the whole thing was a big learning curve and it took a while to fully appreciate a EQ mount. But looking at the moon had my daughter so excited that she ran inside for the star charts that where also part of her Christmas gifts. Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy.

A few things that we quickly discovered. For a 9 yr old just learning to look through a Newtonian isn’t that easy. Especially when it’s the blind leading the blind. Eg….

* Does she wear her glasses or not? 

* Locating objects and using a red dot finder.

* Learning to focus.

* Eyepieces - there’s even a knack just looking through an eyepiece. Sometimes she’d say “but I can’t see anything”.

* Getting her eyes adopted to the dark.

* In winter it’s cold. Getting a child to sit in the dark when it’s -2C isn’t easy nor fun.

* When the weather gets warmer the sun obviously sets later. Then you have the issue of having children up at silly hours - they do need sleep!

* British weather is far from ideal. Many nights are clouded out or have poor seeing. 

We quickly discovered that using a smartphone as an aid (I’m not taking astrophotography) was a big help and had the advantage that if she got cold she could pop back inside the house. Little need to get her eyes adapted to the dark. An example was the Orion Nebula. Through our little telescope in Bortle 8 it was just a rather disappointing grey smudge. But even holding the camera up to the eyepiece, looking at a live image (not taking a picture) revealed colours. That image literally had my daughter jumping up and down! We also used the smartphone camera to she objects that were impossible to she with our eyes through our small telescope, eg galaxies, even snapping an image (if smudgy) of 3 galaxies at once - the Leo Triplet.

She showed our images to friends and teachers at school (at that time via zoom lessons) who were obviously impressed. Kids these days are media driven and love to see pictures even if they are no where near astrophotography level. 

I invested in better eyepieces and a cheap motor for the EQ1. The motor meant that we could keep objects centred in the eyepiece with little drifting which was a big help. It also meant that we could take longer exposures with our smartphone. Something that’s not easy using a Dob. We also got a solar filter which meant that we could look at the sun, obviously during the day, which added more interest. 

I also discovered that making observing an event with the telescope(s) the icing on the cake really helped. Eg making hot chocolate and toasting marshmallows, as the weather improved camping outside, often without a tent so she could look up at the stars, get adapted to the dark without trying, then getting up and looking through the telescopes. Having friends over for sleep- overs with added astronomy has also been fun.

By the summer we also had a bigger telescope which as mentioned was a Skywatcher 200p, but still used the 1145p as it has certain advantages. At first she found a Dob hard to keep objects at high magnification in view - there’s a knack with that - and although I had to set the thing up, the slow motion controls on an EQ mount a doddle.

Shes also become a little obsessed with Jupiter and Saturn and we’ve been looking at these two at every opportunity. Usually with the 200p, but we’ve been observing these since the start of June and her interest is still strong. 

To sum up - be patient and keep trying. Don’t give up. Observing is more fun when it’s made into an event. It can be more than just looking through a telescope. There will be disappointments but if you keep at it huge rewards. Oh… and a lot of fun!

What a wonderful insight @PeterStudz!!  Thanks for sharing. I've got lots to think about. I had to really considered anything tripod mounted, but now I'm starting to. Now I need to read up about mounts!

[DMH]

1 hour ago, Orange Smartie said:

One quick comment on Heritage dobsonians regarding the user mods - agree with happy-kat about not needing a light shroud in a dark location.  The moon can be a distraction if it's shining on to the secondary, but if the moon is up, dark things are difficult to see anyway, so maybe more sensible to look at the moon itself. 

However, the optics are open to the elements in a reflector telescope and if you're observing with small children around, I WOULD shield the secondary to avoid them touching it/dribbling on it/dropping things in.  For this reason a solid-tube dob might be a safer bet, although I think the Heritage 'scopes (I have a 150p) give an incredible view for a relatively modest outlay.  I'd budget for at least one extra eyepiece (I have BST Starguiders and find the 8mm particularly useful).

My own first purchase was a smaller reflector on a German equatorial mount.  I found it heavy, bulky and difficult to use and the truth is that I didn't use it half as much as I thought I might. The dob is a delight to use - I had a friend round the other evening and against all expectations, the sky cleared.  I nipped inside to get my dob, set it on a small table in the garden and in 5-10 minutes we were observing. I really like them and I would make the same choice again, but note that my view is based only on what I have actually used.

Pete

Thank you @Orange Smartiemore valuable information! I'm weighing up dob Vs tripod now!

[happy-kat]

Unless stuck on decking the one thing a dob mounted telescope doesn't do is wobble