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Scopes for £200 quid or under

Kain

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Kain

Kain

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Posted

Hi guys..

The missus wants to buy another scope already (she fell in love with Saturn) We have about 200 quid to spend (July time) and I was wondering if you could gate something better than I have for that price?

Just wondered really if you can recommend anything..

Cheers

Kain

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Naz

Naz

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All the suggestions so far are great, The dob would give you great DSOs and reasonable good planetry, the TAL is a great refractor, especially as it is the RS, there are plenty of good scopes in that price range on Buy & Sell web site, just be patient. That is where I picked up my 120mm f5 Startravel, and at your budget you could afford a couple of good EP's

naz :D

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John

John

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For £200 (ish) I reckon I'd go for the Revelation 8 inch dobsonian.

I've owned both an 8 inch dob (Skywatcher) and a TAL 100 refractor and, while both were good scopes, 8 inches of apeture offers a huge range of potential sights to see. The TAL 100 is great on planets, double stars and the moon but will probably not be much (if any) better than your Tasco 114mm reflector on deep sky stuff (nebulae, galaxies etc).

I know someone who owns the 10 inch version of the Revelation scope and it's really well made and has good quality optics.

An 8 inch should give you a really noticable improvement in all round performance over your 114mm Tasco.

John,

North Somerset

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moondog

moondog

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Kain

The suggestions you've received are all OK

It perhaps depends what you want to look at.

Deep sky - go for the 8" Dobsonian - it's great value and an excellent performer.

Solar system - go for the TAL 100RS, this is the one I use. Refractors like the TAL don't need as much looking after as a reflector.

MD

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GazOC

GazOC

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Kain,

The time of year being what it is and the lack of hours in the night where it is truly dark, you can afford to wait and do a bit of research and maybe get the scope around September when the dark skies return.

One thing I would say about the 8" Dob vs. the 4" refractor is that while the Dob would be great on DSO's and good on planets, the refractor is not so good an alrounder when it comes to DSOs. (<Puts on tin-hat>) :D The 8" will give you better views of pretty much everything over the 4" (inc. planets), the only downsides are the lack of tracking (fixable later) and the added size of the scope (not fixable later)

My first "proper" scope was an 8" Dob and with hindsight it was def. the best choice for me, it'll give you cracking views of enough objects to last you years.

Gaz

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FLO

FLO

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Also i'de argue that a seeing limits the usefulness of a 8" dob over a 4" refractor on planets.

{Puts on asbestos underpants}

Hang on, let me pull up a chair and order some popcorn ... this is going to be fun :D

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Rob

Rob

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Ahh the old whats best scope conversation!!!.

Always a tough one this... I'll also pull up a chair here!. The real question is 'whats the most important target for you?' and on top of that a large newt needs to be collimated. Just something else to think about.

Rob

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Kain

Kain

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To be honest, I want an all rounder, theres not something in particular I want to view, I'm amazed by all of the sky!

I'm not to worried about collimating a scope, I have read a few links I have been given on the forum, it doesn't seem to hard, just abit fiddly.

Kain

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Rob

Rob

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To be honest, I want an all rounder, theres not something in particular I want to view, I'm amazed by all of the sky!

I'm not to worried about collimating a scope, I have read a few links I have been given on the forum, it doesn't seem to hard, just abit fiddly.

Kain

Great way to put it!... good its good to hear your not put off by that, it can be a little scary at first but fine once you know.

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Kain

Kain

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To be honest, I want an all rounder, theres not something in particular I want to view, I'm amazed by all of the sky!

I'm not to worried about collimating a scope, I have read a few links I have been given on the forum, it doesn't seem to hard, just abit fiddly.

Kain

Great way to put it!... good its good to hear your not put off by that, it can be a little scary at first but fine once you know.

Like learning to tie shoelaces when your a kiddy then :D

Kain

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GazOC

GazOC

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To cool the mirror down faster to ambient temperature, it makes for a better image. Myself I think using a small fan can lead to a mirror having areas of different temperature, which is a bad thing. It's better to wait for the mirror to cool on it's own IMHO.

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Kaptain Klevtsov

Kaptain Klevtsov

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Some 'scopes have fans, some are less popular.

Joking aside, 'scopes, especially catadioptric types, need to get to the same temperature as outside before they work well. Thermal expansion and contraction of the metalwork as well as visible air currents inside the instrument mean that the image will be difficult to focus on and will go out of focus as the "framework" changes size. The fans blow air at / through the 'scope to get it to the same temperature as outside after you fish it out from behind the sofa next to the radiator and stick it on the mount.

The batteries are for the fans as well as for motorised mounts which will track the stars as the whizz by (at high magnifications at least).

With a goto mount, the batteries power the tracking system - motors, computerised handset etc.

HTH

Captain Chaos

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