2 starter scopes

[womblemaster]

am on very limited budget (ie dole) and so am looking for a scope in the 80-100 region.

WOuld hope to use the scope for both birdwatching and astronomy, so will need to be portable, and a 45deg angle.

HAve seen these 2 scopes:

Celestron WideView 102mm telescope, spotting scope OTA on eBay (end time 06-Nov-09 18:52:11 GMT)

and a skywatcher one, for 85 quid, misplaced the link atmo(think its 80mm lens)

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=st80ota

Anyone know anything about these 2?

whats cheapest ED scope I could save up for, and is there a vast difference in performance?

tnx)

[pvaz]

Those come with the telescope tube only. You'll have to spend more cash to get a mount to suport the telescope plus at least one eyepiece.

If you want a starter kit containing all the minimum required equipment to start observing out-of-the-box, then buy one of these:

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130

Startravel - Skywatcher Startravel 80 (EQ1)

The 1st one is a better buy since it haves more aperture, a better mount and comes with a wider range of eyepieces. Upgrading the 2nd one will make it more expensive then the 1st.

[pvaz]

I forgot to say, the 1st one is for astronomy only, the 2nd may be used for bird watching, though I'm not 100% sure.

[womblemaster]

"with the telescope tube only"

actually i have some lens already, some bargains off ebay. I have heavy duty manfrotto tripod, but will have to explore the fixing method; birding scopes are screw in, am not familiar with this bar thing.

why do you say the first one is astro only? oh ic u mean this one....http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=SW_explorer_130

not the celestron wide angle.

I think my real questions is....will the skywatcher have better quality optics, than the celestron. ie which will have the least colour aberation. oe do only ed lens eradicate this problem?

[TheThing]

The Skywatcher ST 80 is a good scope - I had (until this morning!) the 102 version. If you can source a cheap alt/az tripod from Ebay, it would be a cracking set up for a beginner!

Edit - posted at the same time. Manfrotto tripod is a great start. Speak to the chaps at FLO about connecting the scope to the tripod.

[pvaz]

why do you say the first one is astro only?

I mean the 1st I suggested. It's a reflector so everything is upside down and backwards, witch is awkward for terrestrial usage.

[Ghost66]

i have the skywatcher 130pm it's a good scope. got mine off ebay.