What's value money? And quality?

[tko1502]

Spok beam me up!!! I'm already onto it!!!! This place is great! Thanks guys and obviously girls! Well iv just been and collected my new toy!! So now it's time to assemble it together ready for tonight as from what the guy in the shop told me it's fore-casted a great weekend!!!

[brantuk]

For barlows the celestron ultima is a good quality and firm favourite with many people. It's around £85 new (£50-£60 s/h). A cheaper but good alternative is the Tal 2x or Tal 3x (max £35 new).

I had a 150P scope (my first) and didn't realise how poor the supplied ep's are till I put a Hyperion Zoom in it - suddenly the scope was singing and dancing lol.

It's a substantial step up in quality and is like 5 ep's in one with click stops at 8,12,16,20, and 24mm. Might be a tad heavy for a 130 so try it first (around £100 s/h for a Mk2). The new Mk3 is out now at about £165 so the Mk2's are coming up s/h more frequently.

I reckon it's a better purchase than an ep kit. If you do look at kits - the Revelation set is good vfm with very reasonable quality ep's (£80 s/h).

You currently have 12 post - the "for sale" board will appear after you hit 50.

For other ep's I would join a local astro soc once you have your scope. You'll get loads of help and folks will lend you ep's to try out to give you more of an idea. Ep's are a personal thing

[tko1502]

Many thanks for that I really appreciate all the help!!! Well iv just opened the box and I'm lost!!!! Feel like I'm in some maze haha

[brantuk]

Lol - keep the questions going if you get stuck - be nice to see a pic of it once you've set it up

[tko1502]

Well Brantuk! It's like me with my guitar I know the song and all the right chords but won't exactly play them in the right order! Same goes for me assembling my telescope! Iv got it together but I don't think it's exactly in the right order! And is it normal for the images to be upside down??? As this has already become annoying! Ha

[FraserClarke]

And is it normal for the images to be upside down??? As this has already become annoying! Ha

Yes - it's normal.

You can buy bits to make it right way up -- but do you really mind if Jupiter is upside down?? It's only a problem for looking at things on the ground.

[brantuk]

Yup - upside down and the wrong way round too you'll find!

But it's not a problem - it's the same in all newtonian scopes lol You do get used to it with practise. And I know what you mean about guitars as I play a little too - good analogy

[brantuk]

What region of the country are you in btw? I ask because we have a very active local social group in the E.Mids - you'd be welcome to join us

[tko1502]

I'm in Sheffield! So bit of a travel then again if I was off maybe it would be a nice drive down sometime, my only problem is my and the missus have just had a beautiful daughter so times are hard at the minute with just juggling work and family life! Iv searched and there's a club about 10 miles from me so I'm going to give them a email find out what is what! Iv just been reading my manual and it says the 20mm ep will give correct viewing of right side up as it's more for terrestrial viewing? Im going to try it in a minute! I don't know if I'm disappointed at the minute or not as some of the pieces seem to be really cheap and flimsy, especially with it having made in china on it! Lol never a good thing!

[tko1502]

Oh does anyone know if it's possible for me to take a picture with my iPhone and post it up here!? Or does it have to be done through a laptop/desktop???

[brantuk]

Don't know about the iphone pics - I only have a basic £5 mob phone - but someone will advise.

Our dark site is at Jn24 of the M1 so just pm me if ever you want to visit. We do have members from that area who do an occasional visit.

Yep "made in China" doesn't bode well at first glance - but you'd be surprised how much astro stuff is made there, and some of it can be very good.

Try your's out on the night sky before jumping in to ep purchases - you really do need to know what's best for you - so your local club will be invaluable help in that

[tko1502]

Thanks for the help Brantuk! Don't want to take up all your time! Hopefully someone will advise me on a way to get pics up! And the laser dot sight do I need to set that when it's dark? For obvious reasons? As that and the motor drive are the only things to tackle but just looking at it looks complicated and that's with reading the instructions! Haha

[tko1502]

Ok so while I'm sat here thinking of my next step iv been doing some searching on the web, iv found my local astronomy society, but on there website it says you have to be a member and the membership is quarterly and starts from April-June=£80, July-sep=60, oct-dec=£40, jan-mar=£20!!! that's alot of money in my eyes I don't know if some of you are in clubs like this but I just can't afford to pay that sort of money out I don't pay that much out for soccer in a year!

[brantuk]

That does sound expensive - but maybe they have particular objectives for the group that everyone is happy contributing to (e.g rental of darksite or provision of observatory and scope). Most clubs I know are £30 or less per year - but then I am a bit of a cheapskate lol

Generally - most astro socs are happy to have you along for free for one or two visits before you make your mind up about joining.

[tko1502]

Well they have 40 members according to there website and are classed as a charity and there objectives are to help others gain knowledge and help understanding and being apart of it? But it seems very very hefty for a year that's what £200 for a year! That's silly amounts!

[Ags]

You can set up the red dot finder in the day (or at least I can with mine, as it goes up to quite a bright setting). I think daylight is easier as you can clearly see what you are aiming at.

[brantuk]

Most clubs, societies, churches etc set up as charities in order to avoid paying tax on membership subscirptions/collections etc. Otherwise they'd have to be a business as they would be deemed to be "profit making" by the taxman.

£8k a year though from 40 members sounds like a serious attempt to purchase an observatory and decent scope. If you compare to the "Vulcan Bomber" society though who need to raise half a million to keep it flying, the astro soc could be thought of as cheap lol

[coffee_prince]

I think its supposed to be £80 the whole year. The price decreases depending on how late in the year you join, every quarter you probably pay £20.

Thats what I thought anyway as thats how its the membership is put out on most astro club pages

My localclub also offer £30ish a year

As already said. you can probably try it out, most places offer open viewing sessions

[the_laughing_crow]

You can take pics with your iphone, its just takes a little fiddling. I managed to take a few photos with my HTC Desire so theres no reason why you couldnt with your iPhone. You'll find it hard to get the camera lens in the right place. I found the best way to get an image was to turn the brightness of the camera way down and hold it about 5-10cm away from the eyepiece until a bright dot appears on the screen. Then move the phone closer whilst trying to keep the dot on the screen.

Good Luck!

[tko1502]

Thanks for that I'll have to try it, got to say was very upset last night after constantly looking out of my window and finding thick clouds everywhere!!! Oh well I guess it's a waiting game now! Iv only got prob 60 years left in me so I should get one good night hahaha

[brantuk]

Lol Tko - that's the astronomy curse you're experiencing - buy a new scope and it brings a month of clouds with it

[tko1502]

It's just my luck lately I'll tell ya!!! Well after a full week of work with not a day off I'm looking forward to my 2 days off! Hope it clears up!!! Trying to get the other half into it but she's more interested it the soaps I'm afraid!!!! Lol

[tko1502]

Just another thing when I went into rother valley optics I asked about moon filters and solar filters, he said the solar filters start from£60 but they can sell the film needed to make one for £30, and you make a surround out of cardboard? But the filter film looked to me like baking foil???? Also I work for the company who made the powder coating for the Hubble telescope! Which impressed me straight away!!! Do u use powder to clean the lens??

[bcfcciderhead]

Try this link for the scope your after, i was after the same but went for the Skywatcher 130p, as people have said i dont think there's much in it with theses two, but i only have what came with it and having some great views and enjoying it.

Celestron Astromaster 130EQ-MD: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics