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What scope/s do you have and why did you go for it/them?


MrsR

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I was saving up for a C8 SCT & came across a 2nd hand C11 for a great

price so took the plunge glad i did cause i knew aperture fever would

kick in sooner or later more interested in lunar & planetary viewing

at the moment so went for a SCT would love a refractor something a bit

more portable the new TAL from FLO looks amazing .

clear skies :(

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I have a 80mm for guiding a 100mm for imaging (refractors F6)

I have a 10" Dob on its way for playing with and an 8" Newt incoming also to have a play imaging with. (ill probably get a Mak newt in the future for DSO's)

I would like a 180Pro Mak for Luna and Planetary, I would also like a Solar scope for Sundays when the sky is clear.

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Celestron CPC 925, bought as they appeared great vfm and I had used as my 1st scope the Celestron 6se, thought it best to stick with what I was familiar with.

As a contrast to the scope I have the big bins, wanted a grab and go option. No surprise to know I am pondering over whats next although I will be keeping my current eqiupment.

Hope you have great views with whichever you choose :(

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MrsR.........

Ease of use, portability, quick set-up, even quicker pack-up.........in one word, "convenience". That new scope will quickly lose it's shine if it's an effort to carry it outside, assemble it, align it, and then when you're cold and tired, disassemble it, carry it all back inside again, and put everything carefully away.

Regardless of what type of scope you buy, this should be your most important consideration.

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Hi,

The only that I bought intensionally was a SW 120 ED,the

other three just turned up and were adopted.

This also happened with motor bikes, I bought a Susuki 1200

the other three came out of the blue.

Beware of TV EPs as I am sure that they are capable of

breeding, how else could I have so many.

mijijim

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well Two years ago I was faced with the same delema, but I am a firm believer in buying the best you can affort to avoid disappointment. I ended up going for the celestron c6-sgt on cg5 mount which is a 6 inch reflector on an equatorial mount. Its a great scope and I find it relatively easy to use. I bought it because I wanted to get into astrophotography and it seemed a good all rounder. My only regret is that I did not go for the 8" model, but if I had gone for the 8" i expect I would be telling you now that my only regret was not going for the 9.25" model :(

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I currently have an Orion Optics 150 F5. Bought it new for £299, sold it for £230 6 months later. It then came back up for sale 14 months later for £90. Which unintentionally worked out well. One of those scopes i shouldn't have sold, so really pleased to get it back.

It's a great scope, compact and lightweight. Has nice optics, nice focuser and mounts nicely on the AZ4 for ultra easy setup.

Also have a 12" Dob which is awesome but has to go. I cannot do any form of deepsky observing from the backgarden, which means it can only be used at a dark site. But as i give a lift to other people, there's no room for the 12 in the car. It hasn't been used since September '10.

Recently bought a Lomo MN102 for a bit of fun. It was cheap and promised the highest grade optics. It is extremely good but no better than the 150 F5. Another scope that needs to be sold again.

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1. ETX-80 - I had had a few scopes previously (including a 10" dob) but had never really got on with them and so they had remained unused. I wanted something that was simple to set up and use, so I could get SOME observing done. Does not get a lot of use anymore due to purchase of ...

2. 6SE. Having started to actually use a telescope, I wanted more aperture, while retaining the ease of setup/use that the ETX had given me.

3. 102SLT. Wanted to start imaging and the 6SE is not the most suitable instrument for that. This was purchased second hand (so to some extent the answer to why I bought it is 'because it was there'). With hindsight, I would probably have gone for an 80ED or 100ED instead, but ironically this is the scope that tends to get most use.

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Initially I didn't know what I wanted. So I thought I'd plum for the Vixen (A80Mf, 910mm/f11.4) and porta mount to give me a starting reference point. The manual aspect would also teach me alot without getting into the technology.

The Vixen is good for lunar, however I decided I wanted to look more at the DSO objects and that requires either (a) aperture or (:) length of exposure. I like the idea of photography so decided to get a mid-range mount and pick a scope that could do ~f6.5. Enter the secondhand pentax 105 SDP at 670mm/f6.38.

The pentax is flawed with condensation and lens fungus in the rear corrector (I didn't pick that up until after the first observation session). I will be taking the drastic step to clean inside the rear cell and realign (I even have a dehumifier on order to reduce the dust/water vapour in the 'clean' room). The rest of the scope is perfect. I'm confident that after the clean the scope will continue to give good results for a long time to come - I see it as my baby and it needs some TLC :(

Even in it's current form, the Pentax gives exceptional visuals and images! Even managed the rosette neb so I'm looking forward to post-clean!

Next step will be a camera & filters.

Going forward I do want a large aperture fast imager - a large ~14-18" SCT with a camera replacing the secondary mirror.

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I wanted maximum bang for my buck within a budget of £300.

Initially I wanted goto and was looking at a 130SLT, but a visit to Scopes n' Skies, my local astro shop, came up with better advice. I was interested in visual astronomy rather than astrophotography, so the Skyliner 200 was suggested.

Simple to use, more aperture, and potential to put the OTA on an EQ mount in the future.

I love it :(

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Well I first started off with my Nan's 60mm brass refractor. Very dirty optics, but showed loads of detail on the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter. I couldn't afford a scope 20+ years ago, so opted for binoculars as a birthday present, and hads permanent use of the scope. A few years back, I had the funds to buy a scope. I had spent a few years looking at double stars and the brighter Messiers etc, but always wanted to observe more of the DSO's impossible to see with the old scope. I bought my 16" Lightbridge and it suits me fine for its purpose. As it's stoo heavy for myself to pick up and go on a whim, more recently I bought the Skymax Muskotov 127 GOTO for planetary and lunar imaging, not forgetting that it's a good all round little pick up and go scope that will give good enough views of many objects out there.

I suppose it's all down to what you really want to use it for. Unfortunately, being such an addictive hobby, most of us (including myself) seem to want it all. Guess i'll have to wait for my lotto numbers to come up.....! :(

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I've gone thru' more than a dozen. I believe everything I read and that any scope is superior to the one(s) I own. Its taken me 10 years to get here but this is my line-up.

Bearing in mind I have no interest in imaging:

A TOA130NS - Gorgeous, perfect-everything its cracked up to be. Alas, too much scope for me! It'll be up for sale soon! Mind you, I can keep an eye on our neighbours 5 miles away and make sure thy're not up to mischief. Like standing next to them. :(

My keepers:

An AT/Sharpstar 106 f6.5 - great all rounder and portable. Colour-free and takes high (200x-230x) magnifications like an NP101.

An Intes-Micro 715 Mak-Cass for doubles, planetary and lunar. Superb at all of these.

If you want a high-magnification scope I highly recommend a good Mak-Cass or Mak-Newt. However does suffer in average to poor seeing.

Ten inch, f5 Newtonian for DSOs. Regardless of how many refractors you have (and I've had 6), a Newt will beat it every time (unless Sir is filthy rich and can afford one of those 12" TMB jobbies). Also excellent for planetary and lunar, though I dislike the difraction spikes.

Despite being an refractorholic, if I had to choose one it'd be the Newt.

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I only have the one scope because I've just started but I couldn't decide what kind of telescope I would want and was scared off by the thought of not getting a good one or where i live being too light polluted and putting me off once i'd purchased one.

After watching the first episode of the Stargazing Live show we tried using my girlfriends mom's bird watching scope to see jupiter. We could make out the 4 easy to spot moons round jupiter and the astronomy bug bit us. We went onto amazon of all places and read purchase reviews on some of the scopes on there. We read good reviews on the Astromaster 130eq and went for that as it was at a very good price. And if it was rubbish we would sell it on and it wouldn't break the bank and we could also see if our location would be good for observing.

Well since the first day it turned up i've loved it. I knew I wouldn't see the objects the guys with large aperture are seeing but have been really pleased so far. And love the challenge of pushing the little scope to its limits really. :(

Also portability-wise its great and we are going to the lakes in 2 weeks for a holiday and I have got it to fit in my large travelling rucksac, mount and all, so that we can trudge up a hill to get a really good view *hopefully*

The 130's (skywatchers / celestrons etc) seem the size a lot of people test the water with. And so far I think they're great :)

Porl''

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My first (and currently only) scope is the SW Skyliner 150p Dob.

I went for it for a couple of reasons

1. It was in budget which was ~£200 and provided the most apperture.

2. It was dob mounted, I was a little unsure about eq mounts and wanted something pretty straight forward to use.

3. I possibly didnt spend as much time researching as i should have.

I love my dob, it's shown me amazing things, but i'm now looking for a scope to accompany it, and allow me to do a little more precide imaging.

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I got back into Astronomy a couple of years ago. After the usual 7-8 week trying to make my mind up what scope to get. I went for the Meade ETX90, my intention at the time was visual only, imaging didn't even cross my mind at the time to be quite honest. After a few month I thought, i'll give this imaging lark a go, so i got myself a LPI, at £60 it was not to much of a financial gamble than a CCD if i didn't like it.

Well the imaging bug bit, so i got myself a DSI 2 Colour, at the time they were going cheap. I really got into Deep Sky objects, but with an ETX90 at F13 it was hard work, and to be truthful aperture fever had already started.

So again, after the usual several weeks of make your mind up time, i went for the Meade LXD75 schmidt newtonian 10 inch, my reasons were, aperture fever, it was F4, so nice big fields of view, the schmidt correction plate to reduce the coma, it was an EQ, and finally not bad for the price. But the big put off was the nasty plastic focuser, if you go to any Meade SN review on the net and research the SN6, 8 or 10, everyone gives it bad press, it nasty, and cheap, and not up for the job, i suspect it was Meade cutting corners to keep the overall price down, it was a shame really because the optic's are very good, so i had to get a Crayford focuser as well, if Meade had put a Crayford on it in the first place a charged an extra £99 on top which was the price of the Crayford, i would of still got it. Overall it's a good scope, the drive is a bit noisy but with a tweek i reduced it a bit. What i would warm you about or anyone else thinking of getting the SN10, it is big and heavy, so not for anyone with a glass back, or just looking for a quick setup time. I'm really happy with it after a few minor mod's, also i mounted the ETX 90 OTA on the back of it as well so i can use it for Planetary work visual or imaging, or as a guide scope. In general Newtonian's in any form are good scopes in an EQ or Dob setup.

Simon

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I've gone through a few scopes over the past 20 years.

1. As a teenager, I started with an alt-az Tasco 60mm f12 refractor, with a finder that dropped into the light path. It was a christmas present, and it did me from the aget of about 11 to 13. It was a reasonable scope to be honest, couldn't really fault it.

2. I sold the Tasco, and added in all of my savings, and doing lots of little jobs for people to get enough cash together to get a 222mm f5.9 reflector on an equatorial mount, from Solis Scientific in Scotland. That scope was pretty fantastic as it allowed me to see so much more. The EQ mount was pier mounted.

When my parents moved house, the pier didn't move and I had gone to colelge and the scope fell into disuse and the mount deteriorated.

3. After I finished college I picked up an ETX-70 in Lidl, I added to the eyepiece collection, got a video eyepiece, and got all the computer connections hardware. Unfortunately that scope was nicked :'( and I kind of fell out of astronomy for a while.

4. As I started back into astronomy over the past 4 or so years, I picked up another ETX-70 as I needed the goto and the grab'n'go, for as little cost as possible as I was not exactly cash rich. Not as good as the one that was nicked, but it's sufficient for its purpose. I got a white-light solar filter and a #497 handset so it's a lot more user-friendly than the older one.

5. I resurrected the OTA from my 222mm with plans to use it as a dobsonian then as a base for a travelscope, but I found that the images were not ideal and I was having a hard time focusing with my newer eyepieces. I learned how to startest and the mirror showed a turned-down-edge, and some astigmatism so I decided to move on. This mirror is currently in storage with a view to either realuminising or refiguring then using it in my briefcase scope when I get around to rebuilding it.

6. I picked up a nice 8" f6 mirror in an OTA from Linton here on stargazerslounge, and I built a dob mount around it and that was great for me - the difference in image quality was nothing short of amazing. I can now see double stars ~0.6 arcseconds easily enough, and detail on jupiter that come close to book-pictures.

7. The most recent acquisition was a 6" Meade Lidl on an lxd-75 from someone that had received it as a present and not used it in a year. I picked this up cheap, and I have been tweaking the mount and it has been very useful for me. As it turned out the 8" OTA that I got recently fit the dovetail just right, and this is now my main scope and it gets a good bit of use as it's quick to set up.

My current scopes and why I use them:

ETX-70 for keeping in the car and using when I go on holiday in Ireland - I can just stuff it in the boot and it will allow me to see stuff that I would miss otherwise.

8" OTA on LXD-75 mount, full goto. I don't get a lot of time to observe, so I treasure the quick setup and impressive images that this scope gives me, with the accurate gotos that I am now getting out of the scope. I've started to get into planetary imaging though I do need a better camera. I'm glad of the eq mount though - it makes observing so much more pleasant for me.

The 222mm mirror will end up hopefully in a briefcase travelscope that will travel if I get out foreign on holidays.

The 6" OTA from the Meade package, I'll add a spherical lightfitting shroud, and it will be a portaball that I can use at my girlfriends house.

Future plans, depending on where and what I'll be working at and how much spare cash I'll have, are for an EdgeHD 11 on CGEM, or a big low f/ratio driven dob (20" f3.3).

My advice? Get an 8" or 10" driven dob such as the "Skywatcher Skyliner 200P FlexTube AUTO" as it'll make your life easier, with the aperture to actually see a lot of the stuff you'll read about more easily as well as removing some of the typical beginner difficulties suck as the tracking of objects at medium to high magnifications. 8" will show some nice images as well of the planets.

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My main interest was DSO imaging as a long-term goal, but being able to view the most on the way there. With my budget I started with the minimum best mount I could afford (HEQ5 with addons for PC based goto) and the biggest 'scope that would fit on it (200PDS). No regrets on what I have bought, apart from maybe some EP/barlow choices, and loving every minute of getting back into astronomy :(

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Ignoring the various options, I find that the TS 80mm ED is the best general scope.

Small enough to take anywhere. Sharp images, decent magnification, reasonable price and when I stick dual motors on the EQ5 I can glue a camera to it and try a few blurry images.

The WO Meg 90 is just that much bigger and heavier that it just rules itself out for ease of use by comparison. But it is nice.

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Mrs R ....

The best all rounder scope I have owned is a Skywatcher 8" F/6 Dobsonian. It has excellent planetary/Lunar performance and good DSO performance and cost less than £300.

Setup is really easy and it's a pleasure to use.

HTH

I'll second that.:(

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I don't know if this will help.

Having a scope on an equatorial mount without Go2 is definitely a steep learning curve but not something that is so steep to put me off. I have always had a technical/scientific bent and find the pleasure from getting things right is part of the enjoyment.

I had the same dilema but you get used to finding objects pretty quickly. I'm currently using "Turn left at Orion" (along with stellarium). There's an electronic version here, but much better having the book in the garden with you as a guide :(

Turn left at Orion: a hundred night ... - Google Books

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  • 1 year later...

Hi, I'm going to confuse the issue even further with my input!.

If in doubt go for a reflector, either a Newtonian on an equatorial mount/tripod or the Dobsonain variant (rocker box mount). Both are the lowest price per inch of aperture so you get more observing bang for your buck. Also, they are good all-rounders and will show you the greatest number of objects (depending on location, usage, sky quality, eyesight, etc).

I own the 200P Skyliner which is the 8-inch / 200mm Dobsonian version and this scope is the ideal balance between aperture and portability. The tube and mount separate to make carrying and transportation easier, both pieces fit into a standard hatchback (with the rear seats down), is set up / broken down in 5 minutes and has enough light grasp to show a wide range of objects including lunar, planetary, and deep sky. Prices are £270-300 new and sub-£200 second hand. There are several reviews of this scope in the members scopes section to help you decide if this is the right scope for you.

The other piece of advice is the received wisdom that the 'best' scope is the one you will use. Read that as you will!

HTH!

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Hmmm...tough question.

Someone asked me the other day, and here was my take:

  • 12" dob. Big scope will strip down and can be transported to a dark sky site in the boot of my car. May not be the best optical quality on the market but the most transportable for the money (it was £400)
  • 8" SCT with long focal length (f10) good for planets. Shorter than a comparable refractor so more stable on my mount
  • 8" imaging newt - bit of an impulse buy but wide field imaging from light polluted skies
  • 80mm APO travel scope for simple hassle free imaging
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I have a home brewed 8.75" dob - I love it for its ease of setup and ease of pointing and it's a nice all round scope. The only drawback is it's built around a square tube so mounting it on my equatorial isn't really that feasible at the moment. Once the mirrors are back from recoating (should be here by the weekend hooray!) I'm going to look at round tube for it. I also have a Tal 100RS refractor which is an amazing instrument for the price. It's superb for planetary observations and it's more than capable for DSOs as well.

If it hasn't been suggested already, a visit to a local telescope supplier will give you a chance to see different scopes, how big they are, how they handle for you and even better, contact your local astronomy society and go along to an open air meet - you'll get the chance to actually look through a lot of different instruments that way too. ;)

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