ORION OPTICS EUROPA 10" TELESCOPE AND EQ4 MOUNT worth £250

[Lunto]

Hi,

Could I ask if your advice on whether the following seems like a good/reasonable buy for a relative novice?

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

It's up for £250, I don't want to blow the money on something that will not do the business. I want the scope as an 'upgrade' from my Celestron FirstScope 114 (which I adore) to search out some DSO's. The Firstscope shows Andromeda as a tantalising grey smudge, I hope the 10 inch aperture will show greater detail, also hopefully Jupiter will also reveal more of its joys. Or, would you spend the £250 on something else?

Any advice or opinions gratefully received.

Lunto.

[blinky]

Orion Optics scopes have great optics but I would be a bit wary of a 10 inch scope on and EQ4 drive. I have a 200mm Orion Optics scope and used to have it on an EQ5 mount and it was OK but I do think a 250 on an EQ4 is pushing it a bit too much.

I would suspect that this seller has been using the scope on another mount and they want to hold on to the mount so have paired it with the EQ4 to sell it on as a package!

[crepitis]

I agree with Blinky, the mount isnt up to that scope.

Have a look for a Skywatcher 8" newtonian on an EQ5 mount, great scope/mount combination and second hand can be got for around that price.