Small light telescope for hiking

[AlcorAlly]

I'd like a recommendation for a travel telescope which has nicer optics than my £50 f5 achro, weighs no more than 1.5kg and costs in the range of ~£250-300. Visual only. Does it exist? 

I was staying in the mountains in Turkey last week. Trying to keep the backpack light I only took my Celestron Travelscope 70 on a photo tripod. The total weight of the equipment was 3.7kg:

Telescop: 800g
Spica Mount: 900g
Carbon photo tripod: 2kg

The little Celestron has been upgraded to a nice diagonal, decent eyepieces and extra long dew shield. It's a decent scope and an incredible value for money but the optics are still quite basic. I'd like something a little nicer to take hiking. My Heritage 150 is much better but it's a bit too heavy and bulky for this purpose.

I've shortlisted so far:

• Heritage 100 - much smaller than my 150. Could it better than the Celestron? I think so, although the focuser sticks out a bit, which is not ideal for the backpack
• William Optics GuideStar 61 APO with FPL 53 glass - with a discount it now costs £269 but it doesn't have a proper focuser. Not sure how frustrating it would be to use for visual.

The SVBony 70 and SW72 ED are very nice but a little too heavy.

Are there other options?

[Stuart1971]

One little scope comes to mind, that’s the Skywatcher Evoguide ED50, very light and good FPL53 glass, with an optional flattener if needed, it’s an non rotating helical focuser, but it’s used a lot for imaging too, but in your case you only want for visual so no need for the flattener. I think a scope with a traditional focuser will always be in the realms of 1.5 ish KG…just my thoughts for an ultra lightweight little scope.

[Elp]

You want a proper focuser when doing visual, the GS won't be of any use. The equivalent will be the Zenithstar which I've got, it's an excellent scope. The weights aren't quite accurate, if you add the additional rings etc the whole thing will be closer to 3Kg.

Is there a reason the scope needs to be so light (mount?), as it's very restrictive.

[Elp]

Similar scopes would be the Sharpstar 61 but it's a triplet so will be a bit heavier and take a bit longer to acclimatise, Skywatcher Evolux 62 and Stellalyra 66, all differing qualities.

[AlcorAlly]

19 minutes ago, Elp said:

You want a proper focuser when doing visual, the GS won't be of any use

That's what I though. What a shame, it would be ok if it had a non rotating helical focuser like the Evoguide 50.

[AlcorAlly]

20 minutes ago, Elp said:

Is there a reason the scope needs to be so light (mount?), as it's very restrictive.

So that i can carry everything comfortably in my backpack while hiking. I could probably consider a lighter tripod and mount and shave off 0.5kg but the existing combination gives me a rock solid set up, I like it a lot.

18 minutes ago, Elp said:

Skywatcher Evolux 62 and Stellalyra 66

Both a little heavy and the two speed focuser would be completely redundant

I might have to come to terms with the fact that the travel telescope I'm looking just doesn't exist.

[Elp]

It does, but it's not cheap by any means (Borg). Some of the smaller Takahashi's are also fairly light.

Edited April 16 by Elp

[AlcorAlly]

3 minutes ago, Elp said:

Some of the smaller Takahashi's are also fairly light.

I have a 3 inch Takahashi but it's too precious to take hiking. I'd be stressing about it the whole time.

Edited April 16 by AlcorAlly

[Elp]

A lot of people like the SW ST80, not sure how much it weighs and you might not get much more benefit over the 70 you have.

[AlcorAlly]

3 minutes ago, Elp said:

SW ST80, not sure how much it weighs and you might not get much more benefit over the 70 you have.

ST80 is a contender. Slightly better coatings than my Celestron and a bit more aperture. 

[dweller25]

5 hours ago, AlcorAlly said:

I'd like a recommendation for a travel telescope which has nicer optics than my £50 f5 achro, weighs no more than 1.5kg and costs in the range of ~£250-300. Visual only. Does it exist? 

I was staying in the mountains in Turkey last week. Trying to keep the backpack light I only took my Celestron Travelscope 70 on a photo tripod. The total weight of the equipment was 3.7kg:

Telescop: 800g
Spica Mount: 900g
Carbon photo tripod: 2kg

The little Celestron has been upgraded to a nice diagonal, decent eyepieces and extra long dew shield. It's a decent scope and an incredible value for money but the optics are still quite basic. I'd like something a little nicer to take hiking. My Heritage 150 is much better but it's a bit too heavy and bulky for this purpose.

I've shortlisted so far:

• Heritage 100 - much smaller than my 150. Could it better than the Celestron? I think so, although the focuser sticks out a bit, which is not ideal for the backpack
• William Optics GuideStar 61 APO with FPL 53 glass - with a discount it now costs £269 but it doesn't have a proper focuser. Not sure how frustrating it would be to use for visual.

The SVBony 70 and SW72 ED are very nice but a little too heavy.

Are there other options?

The Heritage 100 will have better light gathering than your 70mm refractor, no chromatic aberration and is very cheap so no worries if you break it whilst hiking.

Edited April 16 by dweller25

[AlcorAlly]

Found another option - Celestron C90 Mak which could be good:
https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/celestron-c90-mak-spotting-scope.html 

And Omegon 90 with a nicer focuser than ST80 and a retractable dew shield
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/omegon/omegon-90-f55-ota.html

Both on a slightly heavy side...

Edited April 17 by AlcorAlly

[AlcorAlly]

18 hours ago, Elp said:

You want a proper focuser when doing visual, the GS won't be of any use

Do you think the focuser problem with WO GS maybe solvable by using it with a Baader diagonal with a helical focuser?
(Image source: Tamiji Homma on Cloudy Nights. This a difference guide scope but same principle)

 

[Elp]

Possibly but it highly depends on where the scope reaches focus and whether the distance of a diagonal and the microfocuser allows you to get to that point.

[Highburymark]

The various branded versions of this F/6 60ED refractor are all excellent. I paid £300 for mine a couple of years ago, but you’d be looking at a good secondhand deal now for £250. Clean, sharp optics with FPL-53 glass, a silky smooth and strong focuser, and sliding dewshield all add up to a very compact and capable package - and a proper telescope for visual or imaging.

[AlcorAlly]

@Highburymark How much does it weigh please, without the diagonal/eyepiece? 

[Elp]

There's this little cute one:

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/sharpstar-50edph-ed-triplet-apochromatic-refractor-telescope.html

 

[AlcorAlly]

43 minutes ago, Elp said:

There's this little cute one:

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/sharpstar-50edph-ed-triplet-apochromatic-refractor-telescope.html

I think 60mm is probably the smallest I’d consider but that does look cute indeed! 

[jjohnson3803]

This might be smaller than you want, but I've been using a 50mm RACI finder with a helical focuser for a super lightweight grab-n-go.  This particular one accepts 1.25-in EPs and almost fits in my jacket pocket.

I might upgrade to a 60mm StellarVue RACI to get a little more aperture, but the little 50 has done pretty well under dark skies.  

Good luck!

 

[Highburymark]

On 17/04/2024 at 12:56, AlcorAlly said:

@Highburymark How much does it weigh please, without the diagonal/eyepiece? 

It’s advertised as 1.52KG for the OTA out of the box - that must include the built-in mounting ring and dovetail. Sorry I don’t have any scales at the moment.

[Highburymark]

I notice there’s a Sky Rover version online for around £275 new. Obviously it’s the same basic scope and an excellent price, but they don’t specify FPL-53, which the other brands do. Just say ‘super ED glass’ or something similar - might be worth checking.