Advice on Second Scope

[CGolder]

Hello,

I am looking to add to my viewing pleasure by aquiring a second scope, requirements are to be mobile and have a goto.

i currently have a 150p dob which i love but i dont have masses of time to study the sky and i normally view with the wife so a second eyepeice comes in handy, the goto would be nice to help point my dob in the right directions aswell as being my portable scope.

budget is around £400, i have heard good things of the celestron 4se and the skymax 127 anyone have any views on these too or any others for that matter?

(the plan is then to upgrade the dob to some monster apature one over the next year, dont tell the wife.. shhhhhh )

Thanks

Colin

[russ]

I think you have picked out the two best new options for a small portable goto setup. But it maybe worth playing the secondhand market for better bang for your buck. I've seen a few 6SE's come up for £450. And that's a far more versatile tube than either the two Mak ota's. It has an f10 focal ratio which can be brought down to f6.3 with a reducer. Couple with 6" aperture, you'll have a scope that can actually see the objects the goto is taking you too.

Another option maybe to build up your own setup. I notice that Celestron now sell the SE mount as a standalone unit without a scope. This leaves you free to purchase a more affordable tube. I know you already have a 150P but quite honestly the f5 version will make total mince meat of the Skymax 127 and 4se when it comes to the faint stuff.

[Astro_Baby]

I have an 8" on an HEQ5 but was finding it a bit onerous with limited time. I bought a Nexstar 4SE as a grab and go.

Upside is its small and portable, doesnt need much in the way of support equipment (ie cases full of finders, leads etc), its simple an relatively fuss free, views of bright objects are good and it requires no maintenance.

Downsides - the slew speed is very slow, no option for manual slewing, SkyAlign can be a pain at times to get an alignment (but not more so than any other GoTo) due to the slow slew speeds.

Latterly I acquired a TAL 100 refractor and although thats a bit bigger and longer its become my scope of choice because it needs even less than the Nexstar (ie no power) and gives better views than the Nexstar on bright objects.

If the lack of GoTo on the main scope is the problem why not get a 150 tube on an EQ5 with GoTo which might address all of your issues.

[brantuk]

I got a little W/O Meg for precisely the same purpose (portability) - I have it mounted on a S/W A/Z goto mount. You can get the meg's for a bit under £300 brand new - a fair bit less s/h - and the mounts often pop up on the "For Sale" section a little over £100 (or £180 new). They're smashing scopes as an alternative idea

[CGolder]

thanks for the feedback, I did take a look at the goto mount for the 150p, but i took the tube off the dob to see how easy it would be to transport and its way to big for easy transport (quite heavy too).

Some blighter did some damage to my car, will cost me £400 to professionally repair, If my home made repairs go well I might add that money to my telescope budget and stretch to the 6 se, I like the idea of being able to mount some decent size tubes on the same mount.

I like the look for the little megs, my dob is a f8 and i have no experience with anything faster, would i need to spend a lot more on ep's? i only have some standard possels at the moment but i am looking to get some better ones.

the sky watcher goto mount is very cheap... i am guessing its pretty restricted to smaller tubes.

[CGolder]

just to let you know i drove to ScopesNSkies today and purchased a skymax 127 with the intention of picking up a fast refractor to share the mount at some point to maximise my options bit wet and raining outside... lets hope it drys up and i get a chance to use it tonight

I also picked up some new lenses including a planetary, so very excited

[brantuk]

Yup - the AZ4 is a sturdier mount and easier to balance up cos the head isn't swept back, but a bit more costly. I've not use plossls for a while but a decent 2" diagonal is a good idea with the Meg. I use swans, radians, and (perhaps a bit too much) a hyperion zoom lol. But I'm also expecting great stuff when I get imaging with the shorter focal length.