Opinions On These Startravel Evostar Options.

[gordyb]

Hello i am going to buy a Startravel 102mm in a few weeks time for £175 on the AZ3 but another option i never considered was this,i could get the Evostar 90mm which would be better on the planets with an AZ3 for £125 and the Startravel 80 OTA for £85 total £210.Is it worth £35 for the second option Thanks Gordon

[Moonshane]

Personally, I would say if you can afford £210, then go for the SkyWatcher Startravel 120mm AZ3 Refractor Telescope for £219.

This will give you much more aperture than any of the other options and really nice wide field views. Aperture gives you more detail on fainter targets but also importantly, more resolution at higher magnifications too. Chromatic aberration will be an issue for brighter targets but you can get a filter for this and at higher magnifications, it's often not as bad as you'd think.

Of course, being a dob lover, I'd suggest you consider other options but that's just me.

[nightfisher]

the evostars are good value and i agree if you can stretch the budget a bit the 120mm will be a good bet, maybe look at second hand market also the tal 100 is a superb scope, the startravel scopes will have more cromatic ab than evos on planet and moon objects

[gordyb]

Thanks Chaps It seems to be clear the more aperture you can afford the better cheers Gordy

[catburglar]

I have a Star Travel 120- it's great up to about 80x mag, but beyond that gets a bit fuzzy, so not much good for the planets in my opinion. Chromatic aberration is present, but I don't think it's the only aberration at play.

Mine is an older model, so the newer optics might be better, and I've never tried any of the minus violet type filters so can't comment if these would improve the situation. I certainly get more pleasing planetary views through my ZS80.

If planets are your thing stick to the evostar range, if it's wide field the star travel will do very nicely. If it's a good all rounder you're after, then I still think the Evostar is probably thte best bet.

[gordyb]

I will be buying a 8" dobsonian down the line so the decisions above were based on that thanks Gordy.