A n00b with a £250 limit

[hoobz]

Hi guys, yet another noobie hijackin your forum for some good advice, I've set myself a limit of £250 for my very first scope, lookin at this and other sites always seem to lead me to this scope...

Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2 (£219)

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2

what do you guys think ?? can i get a better telescope with my 250 bob? (i dont really want a goto scope yet, I'd rather learn the sky but if u think otherwise then shoot me down lol)

if your thinkin yeah get this telescope can u suggest any other stuff with the £30 i hav left over?? filters etc.

any help would be gr8, help asap would be great too, gettin a little excited. ha.

cheers guys.

[John]

Hi - welcome to SGL !.

I'd say you've picked an excellent scope with the SW 150P. It's a great start, decent aperture, will show loads of astro objects, is reasonably versatile and has upgrade capacity if you want to have a go at imaging. You can even put other scopes on the mount if you want to try something different at some stage. The only "extra" I'd suggest at this stage would be a good guide to the night sky like "Turn Left at Orion".

John

[ashenlight]

Hi hoobz and welcome to SGL

That is a good choice scope. Good size aperture, you'll get fabulous views.

I notice that the one you mention doesn't have a motor?

I have a Skywatcher 130PM (slightly smaller than yours) It has a motor and I have found this so useful. This is my scope: Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130PM

Once polar aligned (really not as scary as it sounds) you can use the motor to trace objects as they move across the sky - invaluable if you want to observe for a long time, or if you want to show family and friends a planet, the Moon and so on.

You say you would rather learn the sky... have you done any observing before? You might find the slightly smaller (5" - but still good!) aperture that the 130PM gives much more manageable, and you'd have a chunk of money left for even more accessories! The 150P also has a 6x30 finderscope, as opposed to the red dot finder (RDF) that comes with the 130PM. Alot of people have said that finderscopes make finding things harder as it magnifies the area of sky as you are looking through. You look through the finderscope at the area of sky you want to be in in order to get your object in the field of view. If you don't know the area of the sky, you'll just get lost, trust me! With the RDF you just look through it at the sky, unmagnified, and use near by stars to get to the area of sky your object is in. I think this is a much better way of getting to objects if you are new to the sky.

The 130PM is really portable (I'm a girl and I can move it around with ease, lol) and a dream to use. I'd highly recommend it. Of course, if you really want the extra aperture the 150P gives, go for it - it looks like a great scope. But I'd recommend the 130PM to start with

On the Go-To front, they are useful for people with limited time but, for me, it's the easy way out. Many people will differ in opinion, but there is nothing like finding your first galaxy, nebula, globular cluster on your own, with no help. It is such a rush so thumbs up for deciding to do it the old fashioned way!

If you went with the 130PM, you'd have £75 left. This would be enough for a decent pair of 10x50 binoculars! They are the beginner's best piece of kit (in my opinion) for learning the sky. They don't need a tripod to stabilise them as they are fairly light and so shake free (for me anyway) and you can take them anywhere, perfect for holidays when you don't want to take the scope. Alot of the time I use the binoculars to familiarise myself with a patch of sky I am hoping to use the scope on. It is also great for contrasting views you get with the scope to views with binoculars - not forgetting the amazing sights you can get just sweeping the milky way with binos You should also have enough for a Moon filter (that's the one I have). When viewing the Moon around full Moon - it is so bright you can barely look at it. With the high mag you can get from any scope it can be almost blindingly bright! The Moon filter reduces the glare helping you to pick out more details - so useful. It is also helpful for viewing Jupiter, which is in the Southern sky around 11:30pm every night. The planet is so bright, using the Moon filter (for more) reduces the brightness bringing our the zones and belts in the atmosphere even more.

A book that is often recommended is Turn Left at Orion - really useful for learning the sky

I hope this helps. If you would like to have a chat about the 130PM I'd be more than happy to give you help via a PM - even if you just want honest answers about how big objects appear in the field of view! More people will be along to offer their opinions soon. The most important is that you go with what you want - it is your money, just use our opinions to make an informed decision

One more thing - see at the top of the page there is a 'First Light Optics' logo? They're our sponsors and a great bunch of people they are too I ordered my scope from them, brilliant delivery. Give them a ring if you want to chat to someone about it, they are fantastic and really helpful.

[John]

Wow ! - you type fast Amanda - we must have been posting at the same time

John

[ashenlight]

great minds think alike John

I just type fast because I spend too much time typing, lol!!

[BlueAstra]

You could consider this (declared interest, its my ad!):

http://stargazerslounge.com/sale/85620-sw-skyhawk-1145p-synscan-az-goto-4-5-f-5-system.html

Its an Alt-Az mount with a smaller reflector. Good for visual on stars and planets, and photos up to about 1 min exposure. Good starter kit with extras to try the hobby out. If not then the kit you've selected is very good. I think I would go for at least a motorized mount. Its amazing how quickly thinks drift out of the field of view.

[iamjulian]

Just to confuse you even more ...

I have the 150P without the motors. I thought I would be upgrading to motors within no time, but I actually quite like not having them. Unless you are on a really high magnification, you have plenty of time to switch eyepieces and call over friends and family to have a look through the eyepiece. Even if the object drifts out of view, it's very easy to get it back with the slow motion controls.

I haven't had the scope for very long, but as Amanda said, more than happy to answer any specific questions about it if you want to PM me.

[hoobz]

wow, thanks guys for quick answers, Amanda does it take u ages to eat ur dinner?? lol, nah seriously thanks for ur input, debating the 130pm now but also debatin addin the motor to the 150p lol.. aarrgghh !

decisions decisions.

[ashenlight]

Actually, now you mention it Julian, I tend to use my motor most when sketching. By the time I look at the EP, the Moon has moved a considerable way. Visually, there's usually just enough time to call people over unless, as you say, you are on high magnification - which with my friends and family tends to be quite often because they always ask 'can't you make it bigger, like Hubble?'

[ashenlight]

I no longer eat my dinner at the PC after I tipped baked beans all over the keyboard. That was not a good day, lol!

Don't rush into the decision, take your time and ask loads more questions if you need to

[hoobz]

Just to confuse you even more ...

I have the 150P without the motors. I thought I would be upgrading to motors within no time, but I actually quite like not having them.

thats quite interestin to know. a 3 way fight now lol.

130pm and accessories.

150p without motor

150p with motor

beerrlliiimmey.

[hoobz]

I no longer eat my dinner at the PC after I tipped baked beans all over the keyboard. That was not a good day, lol!

Don't rush into the decision, take your time and ask loads more questions if you need to

i dread ter thinks wots livin in my keyboard. lol

[hoobz]

I cant see who it was who said about using Stellarium!? wotta program!! awesome so ta, used cartes du ciel for a while now but cool to kinda see it as u would from the horizon. another thing.. i know theres a program on the iphone like the above mentioned but does anyone know of a program like stellarium that'll work on my nokia 5800

thanks again.

btw, goin with the two below..

Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2

Dual-Axis D.C. Motor Drive for EQ3-2

hope thats a correct combo.

[stev74]

Hi hoobz,

There's a neat little programme called Sideralis it's a bit basic but you can put in your location and it'll give you a realtime view of the sky in 2 formats. You can download it straight to your phone and you can switch to a red light view if you are outside at night. If you move the cursor over objects it'll give you info on what your looking at. Also you can customise what it shows on screen add planets galaxies etc.. Heres the link Sideralis - sky chart for mobile phones. There's a list of compatible phones on the site and it's quite extensive so will hopefully include yours.

Just in case another option for your scope - a guy on here posted a link to a 200p skywatcher on ebay in 'the heads up' section or maybe 'help and advice'. Anyways heres the ebay page Skywatcher Explorer 200 Telescope on eBay (end time 01-Sep-09 13:11:19 BST).

Thats an 8" newtonian on an EQ-5 mount I had a quick look because that's the scope I bought second-hand off a member on here so I was a bit courious to see the price. You can 'buy it now' for £250 with free delivery or bidding starts at £150, may be worth a look. £250 is more than I paid but they are roughly £400 new including delivery. I'm really happy with mine had some great views so far.

Hope this helps

Cheers

[hoobz]

cheers for the info steve, that 200 looks good value, but no motor and also 3 to 4 hours away from me seein as its pickup only, dont get the time to go driving about like that at mo, shame woulda looked into it. << no pun intended lol.

will look at that prog too cheers.

[nitram100]

If you really want to learn the sky, then the best scope you can get is an 8 inch dobsonian in my opinion.

I've always said that an 8 inch dob is the best scope an enthusiastic beginner can get, because it forces them to learn the sky and the 8 inch has enough light gathering power to last them for ages. They also usually come in at around F6 which is perfect for both deep sky and planetary observations.

If you can add the extra 20 quid or so, i would highly recommend something like this

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

[hoobz]

I've ordered the Skywatcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2 with a Dual-Axis D.C. Motor Drive. had to get my order in cos as from 11pm i've gotta work 42 hours ina 60 hour period!!! gonna keep me motivational i think. lol

[albedo0.39]

If you really want to learn the sky, then the best scope you can get is an 8 inch dobsonian in my opinion.

I couldn't agree more. £ for £ the Dob is easily the best way to grab most light from the sky and bundle it into your retina. However, you it's low tech (but fun !)

Steve

[rawhead]

I've ordered the Skywatcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2 with a Dual-Axis D.C. Motor Drive. had to get my order in cos as from 11pm i've gotta work 42 hours ina 60 hour period!!! gonna keep me motivational i think. lol

Nice one

The scope that is 42/60 is not so cool

Cheers

Jon

[hoobz]

Nice one

The scope that is 42/60 is not so cool

Cheers

Jon

sucks huh, pro plus an lucozade! CHECK! buzzin by 5am lol.

[Mortislock]

did you get all that for £250 or did your budget just take a back seat to your new found love im in the same position as you £250 to spend and every time i look i see more that i want

Im swaying towards

Skywatcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2

and would like the drives to go with it but £89 for the dual axsis pluss £30 for the polarscope and thats not counting the optic set i have my eye on ohh well Xmas is closing and i have a huge list ready for the big red man

one thing i need to know how easy is it to fit the dual axsis drives on to the EQ3-2 mount

any one know ???

[Astro_Baby]

Its a good call - dont think you'll be disappointed,

First accessory you will need is a red light torch and a power tank to power it from.

I'd not jump in and buy too muvh too soon - get some eye time in first.

[hoobz]

did you get all that for £250 or did your budget just take a back seat to your new found love im in the same position as you £250 to spend and every time i look i see more that i want

Nah bud it came to £327 with delivery, the wife had no choice but to cave in lol.

Im swaying towards

Skywatcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2

Maybe do what Amanda said above, She suggested getting the Skywatcher Explorer 130PM which is £179 i think, its a lil smaller but comes with motor drives. I couldn't turn me back on the 150pl lol, I'd been eyeing it up for months.

one thing i need to know how easy is it to fit the dual axsis drives on to the EQ3-2 mount

any one know ???

Can't Answer that just yet

I work on the railway Astrobaby so I already hav a selection of red head lamps.

whoo hoo, roll on tuesday.

[Karo]

Welcome to the 150PL club The mount has two locations where there are prepared holes/fixtures for the motor drive kit. The RA motor has a hex-bolt screwed into the body of the mount, the dec motor has a bolt hole on the side of the cradle where you mount the scope -- so it should all be just allen keys, screws, nuts and bolts which is in keeping with how the rest of the mount is held together. AFAIK the dec motor bolts just below the scope, and the RA motor has a kind of L shaped bracket which is bolted to the mount using the aformentioned bolt. Enjoy!

[Mortislock]

ok i am finaly sold on the 150pl going to order in the next week as my Birthday is on satarday

(time to sweeten the wife Cook dinner clean house and buy flowers that should do the trick)

If that does'nt work well plan B

Buy the motor at a later date my thinking behind this is

Learn the sky by hand and find my way around the vast heavens by touch

then get drives and SLR cam to start snapping when i know my way around

any one know what the EP's are like that come with the 150pl ???

and any advice on other EP's and filters i should be thinking about ?????

I hope the sky clears for you all as where i am it has been cloudy and or raining for over 2 weeks

its getting biblical up here should i be worried ??????