Help required please for a newbie..

[great_bear]

Estrella,

It's unusual for someone to come to such a good decision so quickly!

(normally people take a lot more persuading!)

The Skyliner 150 is such a good choice - and it's more than merely a "beginners" scope - it will remain an "old faithful" for a lifetime - and one which you can add countless little accessories as extra gifts over the years. Tracking isn't a gimmick - but as another newbie decided recently - if at a later date tracking is desirable, you can just purchase a suitable mount and some tube-rings and fit the 150 onto that. You'll not need tracking at the beginning - and some are perfectly happy to live a lifetime without it.

I hope you'll stick with this choice - I don't think you'll improve on it

[Estrella Azul]

I said it was a favorite but still not 100% decided. There is another, a Skywatcher Explorer 130P SupaTrak Auto which has put a spanner in the works and I would like some opinions on this one if possible. I know the aperture is slightly smaller but not by much and looks quite sturdy. Perhaps someone out there has got one for their comments? Would appreciate them.

[great_bear]

I have a Sky-Watcher 130P SupaTrak Auto.

(and a SkyMax 180 Mak Pro, and a 100mm Mak, and a 80ED Spotting Scope)

The Sky-Watcher 130P SupaTrak Auto is a nice telescope to be sure. However, it is rare that the tracking is truly needed, and even though it takes minimal setup (just switch it on when level and facing north) it's still extra faff.

Sweeping it across the sky requires patience because you have to wait for the motor to drive you to wherever you want it to go. Then you've got all the start-stop-start-stop to get it in exactly the right place.

If I'm honest with you - we aren't using the SupaTrak mount at the moment - and may not even use it at all in future. Instead we just use the Explorer 130P on a manual Alt-Az tripod (AZ4) instead. This means we can carry it outside and use it immediately.

If I was doing this all over from scratch, I'd have got a Skyliner 150P Dobsonian instead - no question about it.

[munchkjn]

Hi Estrella,

I have a Skywatcher Explorer 130P with a Supatrak mount. Although it isn't a GOTO, it does track objects at the rate the earth spins round at your location. I believe you can get one of these new for around the same price as the Skyliner Dob 150.

It has a 5.1 inch aperture compared to 6 inches for the Skyliner, which means it lets in a little less light but the 130P seems to be perfectly good telescope and I wouldn't imagine there is much you could see in the dob that isn't also available to the 130P, it has good optics and is also a manageable size which may be a consideration.

Hope this helps.

[munchkjn]

Oops,

Didn't see the second page on this thread... Seems I have just repeated what's already been said.

Great Bear is right about a little bit of faff, but it really only takes a minute or 2 to setup and the controller allows you to centre the view really easily. The tracking is a very useful feature though.

[great_bear]

It has a 5.1 inch aperture compared to 6 inches for the Skyliner, which means it lets in a little less light but the 130P seems to be perfectly good telescope and I wouldn't imagine there is much you could see in the dob that isn't also available to the 130P

The differences are appreciable. The 150P gathers forty percent more light (significant), has higher resolution, also better contrast because of the longer focal length, it has less coma, is much more tolerant of different eyepiece designs, and is more stable because of the Dobsonian mount. With the 130P it's not just setting up the tracking that's the faff, you've got the dismantling / packing up of the tripod bits and pieces - I don't know about you, but I find those wing-nuts a time-consuming, pain-in-the-butt to screw into place in the dark - and don't even mention dropping one in long grass!

Alternavely, for all those benefits above, the 150P is cheaper and tolerant of cheaper eyepieces too - so the savings add up. Since you can place it on a sturdy tracking mount later, it's the winner of the two by a long shot.

[Estrella Azul]

A big thank you to everyone for their advice and expertise in helping me choose the best starter telescope for my husband! I have decided to go with the 150P and shall be ordering it tomorrow morning! Will keep you posted!

[ollypenrice]

A big thank you to everyone for their advice and expertise in helping me choose the best starter telescope for my husband! I have decided to go with the 150P and shall be ordering it tomorrow morning! Will keep you posted!

Frst rate choice. He will have a real telescope. Don't forget the need for some kind of mapping of the sky such as provided by the free Stellarium. However, printing out paper charts is a better idea than taking a computer into the field because the screen, whatever you do to it, clobbers your night vision.

The best paper charts are Wil Tirion's SkyAtlas 2000.

Olly

[Estrella Azul]

I have just ordered the scope and have got some freebies with it. One of which is a guide which hopefully will get my husband started! However, I am sure he will go onto the web and want to find out more and more! I myself cannot wait for it to arrive! Maybe I should put one of them on MY wishlist!

[star girl]

That was my problem. Did so much research into buying a scope for my husband's birthday that I ended up getting one for my birthday too. I used the excuse that his was too heavy to be portable so we just had to get a more manageable one.

Hope you both have loads of fun with the scope you chose.