goto telescopes

[frankie13]

Hi m8s i have a budget of 250 quid i have been looking at these

meade etx80

sky watcher ex130p

skyhawk 1145p

any advice on which i should consider

thanks

[Scott Tilley]

Hi, do you really need the goto function? I think you may find people are split on this one. I had a Celestron goto a couple of years ago, and this was my first telescope and I knew nothing about the night sky. Personally I could never get on with it, if you are out with your initial alignement you may only be slightly out but the object you expect to see isn't there.

I have since bought myself the skywatcher 200p which isn't goto but for my money I'm getting double the enjoyment by having to find the objects in the first place. In my book, it definately isn't the destination, but the journey!

If you drop the goto you will also be able to up the size of the scope and get better views of more objects.

Hope this helps

Scott

[red dwalf]

i`ve had the skywatcher 130p and i wasn`t disapointed, very easy to use and setup in minutes, great views and very light, of the 3 i think this is the best option, don`t forget the bigger the mirror the more detail and fainter images you can see

[Breakintheclouds]

I have a Skywatcher 130P AltAz Goto scope in superb condition which I'd like to sell. I've found it gives really very good goto performance and although for a lot of people a big part of the fun is searching for objects, for me it maximised the time I spent observing.

This scope gave me a love of astronomy. Send me a PM if you're interested.

[red dwalf]

could be a good buy, i loved my 130p autotrak

[ashworthacca]

I have a Celestron Nexstar 5SE with GOTO and as I'm a complete beginner I've found it invaluable in locating stars/galaxies etc. The setup is an absolute breeze and i've had a couple of hours use where I've not had a single GOTO object not located first time.

As I become more experienced I'll probably drop the GOTO and move to a bigger scope but for now it's a must for me.

[arad85]

Having started with a 6" goto, I'd say buy a dobsonian You can get an 8" dobsonian for near enough the same price you can get a 5" reflector. That's 2.5x the light gathering power - see further and see it easier.

If your worried about learning the sky, don't be. You'll still have to as you won't know what's visible and what's not from your location (especially if it's a back yard and you have houses around you) so you'll need to learn something about what you're looking at...

[Rossco72]

The big advantage of GOTO is being able to find object that are faint and hard to find without GOTO, yes there's an intial setup time, but in the UK where observing time can be very weather limited, the extra time spent observing rather than searching could be priceless.

I have a non-goto Alt-Az which is great for just grabbing and having a quick look around but it is very difficult to pick up faint galaxies and nebulas. Goto makes life simpler but of course costs more and requires a basic alignment to get started.

Unless you know the sky very well and can find objects with ease then it would be GOTO for me. Just my tuppence worth.

[arad85]

The big advantage of GOTO is being able to find object that are faint and hard to find without GOTO,

Unless you know the sky very well and can find objects with ease then it would be GOTO for me. Just my tuppence worth.

... and with £250, you are spending most of the money on the mount. Don't forget the difference 250% more light (which is what an 8" scope gives you over a 5" scope) will give you would enable you to see those objects anyway

As I said, I started with a goto (6SE) but very quickly got disillusioned with it as I selected things in the tour only to see it pointing at the next door neighbours house, the trees, my house etc.. as I selected things which were above the horizon but not visible from my location...

[pvaz]

I think the 130 will be a better by. Aperture is the most important thing.

I bought a dob with "push-to" cause I was afraid I wouldn't learn my way around the sky. I only used the controller twice, one for testing and another to find an object. Now I regret my option since it cost me the same has a bigger dob without goto.

I like to learn, so I bought "Turn Left at Orion", a telrad finder and printed free telrad maps on the web. I have much more enjoyment when I learn the sky and when I can find things for myself it's a great feeling. With 2 months in the hobby, and a fair bit of reading supported by trial and error, I just need an atlas with me (I use SkyAndTelescope pocket sky atlas) and my telrad finder. Now it only takes me a few seconds to a few minutes to find things for the 1st time and it comes with the bonus of impressing any guests.

[kniclander]

personally, I enjoy the thrill of the hunt more than anything else - finding Neptune for example is a thrill and the whole process form printng out star charts to tracking it down is fun but with the best will in the world, it doesn't look like much once you've found it. TBH, most objects you see through a scope (especially a titchy one that you'd get GOTO for that money) don't look like much so i would imagine that just slewing from one grey smudge to another would be pretty dull. The exception (of course) is bright clusters and bright planets and the moon which can look great even through a titchy scope but you wouldn't need GOTO to find them.

also, without GOTO, you learn the sky, if that's what you want to do and you learn to starhop and you can get a much bigger scope.

I don't really get the argument, "oh, the weather's carp so I've got to see as many objects as I can tonight" - they aren't going anywhere - they'll still be there next time.

Having said that, i've never had a GOTO so maybe I'd love it

[John]

As you can see from the posts here, there are mixed views on the value or otherwise of GOTO however there is agreement on one thing - get the largest aperture scope you can afford ie: the Skywatcher 130 of the 3 scopes you list.

Rossco78 says (correctly) "The big advantage of GOTO is being able to find object that are faint and hard to find without GOTO...". But the conundrum is that those same objects will also be invisible, or at best highly unimpressive, in a small aperture scope - so go for GOTO by all means, but not at the expense of aperture ....

John

[Capricorn]

Goto's have their place like all other scopes and it is best to look at what they are best for. Usually this means they are used as a scope for getting hold of and taking ouside to have a look at a selection of objects.

Look upon them as a general purpose scope and not a "specialist" one. Specialist as in an apo triplet for imaging, a large newtonian for getting as much light as possible.

Many will quote the price for a goto as opposed to a scope but you have to add in that with the goto package you get the tripod, usually fairly sturdy, and a set of motors and handset. Buy a nice ED80 refractor then consider that an EQ3 mount and motors means £260 on top.

As to "also, without GOTO, you learn the sky" I have no idea why this is believed by anyone and even less why it is quoted. 2 weeks ago at a large public observing meet, I was showing people the way around the sky and how to find things. I have 2 goto's. On this oft quoted statement I shouldn't be able to even understand what those twinkling little spots of light up there are. Same would hold true for astronomers on Hawaii, the Canaries etc in those nice big goto's that they have and use.

They are what they are, a scope for general observing with the feature of a computer to point you in the right direction - if you set it up properly!! They are also a telescope that some astronomers use. So would other astronomers please stop critising those that have chosen to have and use one?

[frankie13]

cheers m8s very useful info any one used the dobsonian heritage 130p would this be a good starting point

[pvaz]

As Capricorn said there is nothing wrong with gotos and you can learn the sky while having one. Some days you may feel like hunting, others you may want the computer to do it for you. What I found out is that I ALWAYS feel like hunting and, after a long day at work developing software and setting things up for other people to use, the last thing I want to do, is to setup a scope. Eventhough it's a simple process, but doesn't always go perfect at 1st try.

That said, if I knew what I know now, I would have bought a 10" for less 150€ then my 8" push-to, or a 12" for just 30€ more while staying within my budget. But that's just my opinion and it's a personal choice. You can say scopes are like colors, some people like blue others like red.

The only things people agree is:

1) Aperture: The biggest the better.

2) Buy something you'll use. Don't buy one so big and so heavy that you won't be able to carry out yourself.

Some people love goto, some don't care about it. You need to make your own mind.

If it was me buying a 1st scope now, with a 250£ limit, my choice would be:

Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian costs 175

or for 265£

Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian costs 265

Or maybe a bigger one on 2nd hand market

Clear skies,

Paulo

[Rossco72]

Another point i would like to agree on is that for a first scope, the second hand market is great. You can get a better scope for the same money or the same scope for less money. Ideal when you're starting out and the list of accessories in endless...

[NickH]

get the Dob, and the add DSC's to it at a later date if you want push to an object... best of both worlds (barring lack of tracking if you get in to imaging)