Upgrading

[Andymack]

Wondering if anyone can help. I've had a 114mm Celestron Astromaster for just over a year and I'm thinking about upgrading. My question is, if I went up to a 130 mm would there be a much noticable difference in viewing or would I have to go even bigger? The only trouble is my budget's a bit tight (no more than £200) so my options are a bit limited. Any opinions welcome. Thanks.

[yeti monster]

You'd certainly notice a great improvement over the 114. But have you thought about upgrading your EPs. I had a 114 Celestron Newt, which could only give as good as the supplied EPs, until I upgraded to WAs, these transformed the scope. The benefit being, that you can retain the better EPs for use in a future scope, the WAs even performed well enough in my 10" SNT. Save up for the scope that you REALLY want, then make the jump. Just a suggestion, I'm sure there'll be plenty more.........

[Steve C]

I'd agree with Yeti, upgrading the standard supplied ep's can make a world of difference.

Put it this way, any scope set up is only as good as the weakest link will allow it to be, by upgrading your ep's the quality & clarity can improve greatly.

[brantuk]

What's your approx budget for upgrading?

[Andymack]

Can go to about £200 or so. I had my eye on this Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 130 had some good reviews.

[Andymack]

Thanks for the advice, something to think over.

[brantuk]

130mm would certainly give a marked improvement - I would suggest a better step up might be a 150P dobsonian which is well within budget and you'll see a lot more by way of dso's

http://firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=dobsky150

(first one on page)

[Andymack]

Not so sure about a Dob. Aren't they harder to track objects with? Although the size/price certainly does make it attractive.

[brantuk]

Tracking with dobs is generally manual although there are motorised versions (some with goto ability).

However it needn't be regarded as difficult. Once practised you can become quite expert at it.

And the addition of a "wixey" magnetic angle guage for around 25 quid will make it effortless as you'd only need to sweep in azimuth

[Andymack]

Great stuff! Thanks a lot. Now to decide between a set of eyepieces or a Dob. More importantly I've got to persuade the Mrs

[brantuk]

Lol - well we've all been there - good luck with that and don't forget to add the cost of a bunch of flowers to the scope for the real cost