Buying hesitation and confused frustration

[Debostar]

Remember that I asked about whether I should get the Celestron Nexstar 4SE or 5SE in an another post?

I go to the dealer in Dubai today, and although they do have the 4SE as a display unit, they haven't got it in stock. The salesman suggested that I get the 5SE which is in stock, but, even though I'd love to get it, it's quite beyond my budget. So, he then suggests that I go for the Nexstar 102 SLT. It is only slightly cheaper and with the celestron powerpack, it comes up to the same price as the 4SE.

My question is, since there is nice viewing these days, and the 102 SLT is available, shall I just go and get it? Or shall I wait for some time when they do get the 4SE?

In other words, how inferior is the 102SLT to the 4SE??

They also have the 130SLT and it costs the about same as the 102SLT, but I seem to prefer the 102SLT.

If I get nice comments from you, in favour of one of the SLT models, I am driving to Dubai tomorrow again to get me one. (150 klicks from here)

On my way back from Dubai today, I stopped at a desert bar-b-que of my friends and I could see quite a few stars and Jupiter and the Moon, by naked eye, and I was thinking, I could have had the scope by now if I'd done my homework better.

So please kindly shed some light to a beginner buyer:icon_salut:

[Demonperformer]

The 102slt is a nice scope, but the focal length is considerably less, so the size of image you get from planets will be about half that of the 4SE. In addition, there is a certain amount of chromatic aberration with the 102 as it is an achromatic refractor.

That said, I have one and have used it for most of my DSLR imaging of clusters, etc and have found it to be quite a nice scope.

[Capricorn]

My concern is that if you get the 102SLT and it doesn't live up to expectations then you will wonder if you should have gone with what you wanted.

The 102 is nice and with the field of view would make the set up easier, which is relevant.

As I always prefer to make my own mistakes I would probably wait for a 4SE to arrive. If however the wait time for one is excessive then the 102slt is a good option.

[brantuk]

Well they are totally different types of scope as mentioned above, and each has it's strengths and weaknesses. For me it's personal preference alongside intended use.

For a first scope I think you'd get more joy out of the 4SE and that's what I'd choose

[umadog]

Looking at your previous post, it sounds to me as though you're more or less buying the first thing you see. In many ways there's nothing wrong with that as those are reasonable beginner scopes. However, I think it's only fair to point out that you'll get more bang for your buck if you buy a more simple, non-goto, scope such as a Dob. Learning the sky is easy and fun and a Dob of the same price would have a substantially larger mirror than the 4SE so you'll see much more whilst you're doing it.