Is Upgrading from 90mm Refractor to 150mm reflector Worthwhile?

[Ean]

PhilipR - Thanks; good to know that Maks, etc, rarely need collimating.

CONCLUSIONS.

Many thanks to all those who have taken the time and trouble to help me to learn whether it's worth upgrading from my 90mm f8 refractor to a 150mm reflector, and also many related things. I'm trying to feed a little bit back in the hope it may be of use to others, but this is just opinion..

1. Yes it is.

2. Upgrading to a 130mm is very marginal.

3. I'm asking too much; there is little on offer to suit my particular requirements. I'm being inflexible, but can't do anything about my house being built into the side of a hill, and some trees, with a very restricted outlook.

4. Be careful what I read - some of the articles written by "journalist and researcher" people can be inaccurate with specs, and all the telescopes reviewed are amazing, they say. This seems to apply to any topic, particularly anything technical.

5. I would need a new mount to accept modern dovetail fittings if buying a Skymax OTA. FLO tell me that the rings on the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P-DS OTA will bolt onto the AZ3.

6. Some people think the AZ3 mount will work with a 150mm telescope, some do not. I don't want to take the risk. A 130mm would be OK on this mount.

6. If anything, the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P-DS OTA on an AZ3 is the best choice.

7. There are some cheap used 130mm Newtonians on ebay, such as the Skywatcher Explorer 130M and the Celestron equivalent, but they tend to have spherical main mirrors with f ratios too short to avoid significant SA.

8. I would not buy a new telescope from ebay or Amazon unless an unusually good deal (then one would ask why). Better to buy from FLO or a similar quality dealer.

9. I'm thinking of continuing with the 90mm unless I move hom. One thing, the 90mm shows me the stuff I want to see but naturally is very poor on DSO's, it's just that a bigger telescope will do it all better.

 

 

Edited February 25, 2022 by Ean
Added and edited text.