First scope Skymax 127 or Nexstar 127 SLT - or something else?

[alexl]

Hi

First post here, so be gentle!

I've done a fair bit of research and a couple of posts in the sky at night forum, and have narrowed my first scope down to the Skywatcher Skymax 127 Mak on the Goto mount - however I have just discovered the celestron nexstar 127 SLT mak, which I belive is the Same OTA on the celestron goto mount

My criteria for coming to this conclusion are the following

1. Budget - £300 to £400 on the skope which will leave me another 100 to 200 or so for an eyepiece kit, and various odds and sods

2. Portability / speed - It needs to initially be stored in the corner of a bedroom, until I build my nice new shed, and it needs to be able to be set up in the garden fairly quickly, or easily karted off to sites away from the local light polution - which is fairly significant. Also I have a 5 year old child who would be interested in looking at stuff, but not if it takes hours to set up.

3. Targets - currently more interested in solar system stuff and the brighter DSO's. and maybe some simple webcam photography or short exposure SLR of brighter targets - the light polution probably negates dimmer DSO's anyway so getting a huge skope to see them is probably not going to gain me anything, and will loose the portability.

4. Futureproof. I believe both the nexstar and skywatcher mounts use standard dovetails, so other OTA's can be mounted (albeit only small / light ones) and also the 127 OTA could be mated to a EQ mount if required in the future.

I have read reviews of the skywatcher scope which look good, but there are some questions about the flimsy tripod on the mount, so I'm leaning towards the nexstar if it is the same OTA on a slightly more robust mount.

Any comments / suggestions?

[StarMan1701]

Hi Alex,

Welcome to SGL.

You are correct in assuming that both telescopes are essentially the same OTA. I don't think there is a great deal of difference in the mounts either although, not having seen the SkyWatcher version 'in the flesh', I am open to correction.

The main differences are in the finder and the GoTo software. The SkyWatcher is supplied with 6x30 optical finder, whereas the Celestron comes with a non-magnifying 'red dot' finder, which tends to make initial alignment a bit easier.

As for the handset software, I have no experience of the SkyWatcher, but the Celestron software is very slick, and the 'Sky Align' feature really does make alignment quick and easy, even if you don't know the sky at all.

I hope this helps...

Lee.

[richbyers]

Can you not get the SW scope in OTA only as well? then this would rule out the flimsy mount as you say is its main weakness

rich

[tarqs101]

I have the nexstar 102 SLT and the handset and mount are very good!!

Gavin