Finally decided...127 SLT Mak owners please!

[Orion_the_Hunter]

Ok, I think I have FINALLY decided which 'scope to go for; Celestron 127 SLT.

In addition to this I am going to buy a powertank, a dew shield, a few eyepieces, TLaO and a 45 degree erecting prism.

Have I missed anything?

Do I need to buy a cable to connect the mount to the powertank seperately?

ALSO, I can't find any reviews in the review section on this scope, so it would be interesting to hear from owners of this scope about their findings, good or bad.

Thanks,

Ed

[John]

Good choice I think although I've only owned the Skywatcher non-goto equivilent. The accessories look right too but I'd stick to terrestrial viewing with the 45 degree erecting prism - they are not too good optically for astro work.

I wouln't hurry on the eyepieces front - there is just so much choice around. Better try the scope out for a few sessions and see where your interests take you.

[Orion_the_Hunter]

Thanks John.

The only reason I thought ot a 45 deg erecting prism is because I am disabled, therefore I need to think about my viewing position.

[RikM]

I also have the Skywatcher non-goto version and I love it. I think they are optically very similar, so you should be very happy with this scope.

Rik

[John]

Thanks John.

The only reason I thought ot a 45 deg erecting prism is because I am disabled, therefore I need to think about my viewing position.

Right - I quite understand in that case. If you ever find you need a better quality 45 degree (I don't know which one you have bought) William Optics do a premium quality one I think.

Hope you enjoy your new setup

[Orion_the_Hunter]

Thanks again.

The only reason I am going for the Celestron version of this scope is because it is easier to set up the goto.

I will mainly be using it on a largish balcony, with a view from SOUTH EAST EAST to WEST, and therefore I dont think I could correctly align the Skywatcher because I have no view of the North.

[rwg]

I have the Skywatcher version of the 127 Mak and it is a lovely scope - nice and compact and gives great views. Sturdy too. I also had the SLT mount for a while and the two are fine together, although you wont want to hang anything heavy off the back of the scope (SLR cameras, for instance) because the mount would then struggle. By far the best alignment method for the SLT mount is 'Auto Two Star', and this should work given your field of view - you just need to be able to identify one bright star in view.

As to the power tank, I bought the sky-watcher one and it comes with a cable tucked into a 'secret' flip down compartment on the back. No need to buy one separately.

Don't be disheartened if you can't see anything at first - likely as not it will come with the focus so far off that you won't see any stars or even out-of-focus donuts at all. It takes a suprisingly large number of turns on the focus adjuster to work through the focus range on these scopes, and it isn't helped when you're not sure if it's pointing at a bright star or not because you haven't been able to align it yet... It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem - how to focus if it's not pointing at something and how to align if it's not focused... The easiest answer is to start with the moon - can't miss it so you can forget abou the alignment and get the focusing sorted.

Robin

[Steep]

I got the Celestron 127 SLT last week, not really long enough to give an in depth opinion but I am impressed with the build quality of the scope so far. The mount is a bit lightweight for use in windy conditions (gusts make the image wobble) but I assume that will be the same of any scope in the same size/goto range. My biggest problem so far has been getting time when the conditions are right to actually get out and use the thing.

Alignment has been a problem for me, mostly I suspect because I've not yet spent the time leveling it properly first. Sky align is very hit and miss, I've had it align successfully but then be way out when it slews across to an object some distance across the sky, most often it fails. Two star align is easier, but again the mount needs to be level to begin with. One important point to remember is that the hand set speaks American, for it to align successfully you need to put the date as mm/dd/yyyy not dd/mm/yyyy as we would normally do.

I find the red dot finder awkward to use and it's on the list to replace asap, the red dot can't be dimmed enough to be able to align on less bright objects, again I suspect some time spent practicing with it would probably make it easier.

Two eyepieces are supplied and of them the 25mm is ok, it's easy to use, gives a wide field of view and seems sharp enough. The 9mm is not so good and I've not yet had any successful viewing with it. It's my intention to replace them both with a Bader Hyperion zoom eyepiece which gets good reviews and should be a step up from both the supplied ones.

Ref the 45 deg eye piece mount, it will give you more options but even the 90 deg one can be swiveled round so that you can access it from the side, it doesn't need to be vertical.

I use a car battery and a lead I made myself ( had all the bits lying around anyway) which seems to be fine. I'd keep some AA batteries handy just in case you want to pop out for a few minutes without dragging all the kit along as well though.

I don't know if the above sounds negative or not but it shouldn't, I'm impressed with the scope and the technology and am still very excited and itching to get out with it.

[Orion_the_Hunter]

Thanks everyone. I rekon I'll just get a high-ish power LER ep to go with it for now.

Is the 127 slt's mount that inferior to the SW one?

[rwg]

The Celestron SLT and Skywatcher Alt/Az Synscan mounts are physically pretty much the same - the software in the handset is the difference and the consensus seems to be that the Celestron is easier to use.

Robin