Buying a new scope on a shoestring!, advice please!

[Timi09]

Ok so at the moment this is hypothetical, but i may have a challenge for you

there may be scope for me to buy a new scope (hehe sorry)

It will be for personal use, and so will only be for observing

I am still a big fat newbie but id like an easy to transport scope that I can use quickly. and see a lot with as I like tracking my progress and what i've seen.

at the moment i'm considering:

Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

Skywatcher Explorer 150P EQ3-2

Skywatcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2

any advice on these or any others (in the price range as i'm not made of money!) or advice on how much it would be an improvement(or not) over my astro-master 114 would be super hyper massively greatly appreciated!

[NGC 1502]

Hi, to keep price down, I'd look for a Dob, 150 or 200mm, & keep an eye on

the "for sale" section, here at SGL. A Dob puts more money into the optics,

rather than the rest of the scope, than any other type.

The downside is more maintenance, collimation etc.

Good luck ! Ed.

[Timi09]

thanks a lot for the advice there!, yes i was thinking of the dob myself

is collimation/ maintenance really tricky with these then?, and what is the size of this thing overall?, i'm guessing more into the optics as you said = better observing for me though.

again many thanks for you help

[Timi09]

is collimation/ maintenance really tricky with these then?

Apologies, a quick search of the forum found a post explaining collimation .

very sorry, I just don't think enough!

[Mouse on the Moon]

I've found a dob really easy to use (a decent finder is a must though) the major downside is is keeping the object in view at high mags as the sky is FAST at 200X. As a newbie myself, a dob is like the transit van of the scope world - nowt fancy, but you get a lot of value for your money.