Telescope for occasional inexpert dabbling

[PatrickO]

Looking for advice on a GOTO telescope and mount.

Only planning to use it very occasionally in the back garden which is quite dark. 

Something quick and easy to set up and use for looking at planets and easy to find objects. 

Not going to do astrophotography. 

Used equipment would be best. 

[Carbon Brush]

I'm not naming specifics here. But 'goto' and 'quick and easy' often don't go together.
Particularly on older kit.

The lower cost goto mounts need to be told the time/date every power up.
Some allow this to entered if you have a laptop/tablet connected. But otherwise you are into clumsy button pushing.
Don't forget the date may be in USA format, you have to interpret what daylight saving is.
Your mount needs setting level and north, then it insists on the faff of 10 minutes aligning with 1/2/3 stars that are behind roof lines or trees.
Finally you are ready to go.

What I'm saying is when you see a mount offered, look carefully at how the electronics works.

My viewing tends to be either in the observatory with a computer connected mount, on a pier, that already stores date with battery backup.
As the mount is in sleep/park mode, it doesn't lose alignment.
The alternative being a simple point and look in the garden. No electronics involved.

Don't buy a big reflector without thinking. That slab of glass in the back has a long cooling time.
Some compound scopes (Maks) can have a long cooling time.
But it could well be happening while you are faffing with getting goto to go to the right place🤔

If we forget the goto bit, quick and easy setup is easy.
A refractor (not too long tube) on alt az mount.
A mak will give excellent planetary views, but may need leaving in the shed to cool before use.
A dob, not too big, will give good all round viewing. 6" is easy to carry. 8" is still portable.
I have heard good reports of 130 Skywatcher dobs, but not used one myself.
The choice comes down to your storage arrangements.

A small refractor, or dob, won't break the bank.
If you don't like it, you can sell it on for little loss.
It will give you a good feel for wheher you want to spend on more glass, different glass, or electronics.

I know this sounds a negative post. Yes I do watch the sky, not the telly!
But I think it is better to describe pitfalls, rather than say 'go and buy a Skytron 180mak with go anywhere on a big mount'.

Hopeully other members will come along with helpful contributions.

David.

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Carbon Brush

[PatrickO]

Thanks David, that's great advice. Lots of things I hadn't thought about. 

[AL1]

A beginners perspective.  I started out in this hobby in Jan 2020 buying a vixen ED103 refractor on a EQ6 goto mount.  Being slightly compulsive I soon after purchased a SCT 8 on a AVX mount and not so later a 10" Schmidt Newton on a Dob mount.   All second hand.  I love using each for different reasons.  I find it slow to find targets with the Dob but for something bright and easy to locate it is ideal.   The Goto mounts took me 3-4 attempts before I could setup reliably.  If I have a spare hour I can setup a GOTO mount in 15 minutes then easily observe a dozen or so targets.  Using the sky safari app to control the telescope has worked well for me but the phone invariably is not good for dark adaptation.  With the manual dob I can plonk it outside and be observing in a few minutes.  In an hour with the dob and my poor skills I can only observe 4-6 targets due to the time it takes me to find stuff with the manual mount.    At f4 the dob is not designed for planets but has given me the best view of Jupiter so far.  I had a great session recently.  I had no idea about the shadow transit of Jupiter's moons.  I thought it was a problem with my optics right on the edge of Jupiter until I had a a-ha moment and sure enough it was a moon shadow transit on the terminator (is that the right term?).  I spent all of the session just watching the shadow progress to the middle of the planet.   

The goto mount requires a power supply and take time to set up but is fast to find targets.  My Dob is supper quick to setup but takes time to find targets, at 10" it is also a but heavy and cumbersome. 

       

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

You have stated 'used would best', however have not stated a budget. So below are linked some of the lower cost at new price GOTO mounts and telescopes great for 'occasional dabbling', are relatively easy to set up, and won't massively break the bank:

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

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150i.html

Add to the cost a small power brick for approx £50, a power cable costing £3-£20 and extra eyepieces (lets say two) £100. Plus a decent book £25.

After some practice, set up and aligning to a couple of stars using your mobile phone as a controller would be around 15 minutes. Get confident and start controlling via a third party planetarium phone app.

 

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

If you want to look at "planets and easy to find objects" you can dispense with a GoTo. GoTo comes into its own for "hard to find objects"

A manual alt-azimuth mount will be quicker and simpler to set up, but if you are determined to have a GoTo outfit, I recommend you get one with the Celestron Nexstar system, as it is easier to learn and use than the Sky-watcher Synscan system (I have used both.)  I got a result with the Nexstar the first time I took it outdoors.  And since you are not interested in astrophotography, you can avoid equatorial mounts, which are more troublesome to set up.

[Elp]

+1 for az gti mount, one of the best astro purchases I've made but as Cosmic Geoff has pointed out good for hard to find (ones you can't see) objects. Some setup and alignment is also involved.

For quick setup though alt az manual mount with a decent refractor is the way I would go.