New scope for an old astronomer

[alowen]

Morning all, my dad has a Meade 125 etx that he just doesn't get on with. It's to complicated for him. He's rarely used it and has recently decided to start star gazing again. I'll be selling it soon on here hopefully.

My question is, what's a simple goto scope 6" or 8" for a 70 yr old ? Weights a slight factor but not the end all be all. Budget of around £800 max.

Thanks in advance.

Al

[ollypenrice]

A nice refractor on a manual altazimuth mount or a Dobsonian without electronics. The refractor - an achromat would be fine - is plug and play and would have less aperture. The Dob would have more but need occasional collimation.

Olly

[Ags]

You could consider the NexStar 6SE - it weighs in at less than 15kgs.

If you need the star locating but not the tracking features, then an Orion intelliscope 8" dob might be good - it guides you to the stars but you must push it round manually. It breaks down into 2 parts less than 10kg each I think.

My intuition is that anything equatorially mounted would be too much weight-wise.

[Ags]

On second thoughts, i don't know if the suggestions i made are any less complicated than the ETX...

[AndyH]

A simple refractor on an alt/az mount might suit? That way you can have a seat whilst viewing too. Some sort of cassegrain lets you do this too of course.

Is it the mount rather than the scope itself that he doesn't like?

Andy.

[Helen]

Having had an ETX125, and now owning an SE , I'd say the SE is MUCH easier than the ETX. And with the SE you can change scopes too mine works a treat with a PST and a Megrez90.

I can carry it with the scope on it - and I'm only 5 foot tall and not very hefty!

Helen

[Martin-Devon]

I'd also go for the Nexstar 6SE - it gets very good reviews, simple to use, not too heavy, and an impressive piece of kit

[alowen]

Thanks for all your replies and advice. I have just come home and received a call from my dad saying he has just bought a:

Meade ETX-LS 6 !!!????

I've just looked around the net and it appears to be a pretty neat piece of kit, i think the lightswitch part appealed to him the most.

Its due here before the weekend, so i'll post up some pics and a mini review (weather permiting).

Thanks again

Al

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'm gonna churp in here and suggest the SW Heritage 130P Dob. It is UUBER portable. Its only a 5.1" apeture but it delivers. It punches above its weight.

The whole thing weighs in at about 6 Kilo (or maybe 6 Lbs.........i really cant remember). The Dob mount has a handle so the whole thing can be carried with one hand (I do it myself while in the wheelchair).

Being a Dob.................there are no electronics on it so your father would have to find objects under his own steam (as with any Alt-Az scope).

It is ideal for observing from a seated position. It takes about 30 seconds to set up from taking it out of the box til observing (It might need a few mins to let the mirrors cool down).

I am a wheelchair user and i have found this scope a Godsend. I can not praise it enough for users who are disabled,less mobile,advanced in years etc.

Just something to think about.