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greetings to all from Oxfordshire

hawker

By hawker
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hawker

hawker

Posted
Posted

Good morning,

I thought i would drop a greetings to all in oxfordshire.

I am very new to this, so new that i don't have any kit yet but am looking at ideas and isn't there a lot out there!

If there is any advice from anyone in Oxfordshire that would be greatly appreciated.

I wish you all clear skies!

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hawker

hawker

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thanks for all the welcomes!

I have been looking at the idea of getting an Explorer 200 pds but have seen that the prices have gone up today. Looking to invest rather than upgrade what would be a good mount for starting on to lead on to ap later on down the line. I have thought of the Heq5 and EQ6 on either pro or syntrek. Or should i just start on the EQ5 with no motors or add motors later?

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Cunhaval

Cunhaval

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Hi, Hawker. and welcome to the lounge :)

If you are looking to future-proof, then buy the best mount you can afford - no-one ever complains that their mount is TOO steady! A 200 on an EQ5 is do-able for visual, but is at the limit of the mount. It (and you) would be much happier with an HEQ5, or best of all, an EQ6 - which would also best accomodate future imaging. Any economies are best made on the scope, rather than the mount.

Good luck with your choice :(

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runoffshed

runoffshed

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Why not get along to a society and see/try out a few scopes and binoculars before rushing into a purchase. There will be lots of free advice from astronomers concerning their scopes and whether they would buy the same again etc...Saves a lot of time and money in the long run.

A previous poster mentioned Abingdon Asto Soc so can I give a mention for the Chipping Norton Group Cnaag

That gives you a society in the north and south of the county so hopefully you can get along to one of them.

Good luck!

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Hawker and welcome to the forum.

First thing is to take your time, there's no rush and as they say, "....the stars aren't going anywhere". Next, I would then separate out the decision making process into two camps, Dobsonians on one side and all the remaining mounted scopes on the the other. Dobs represent the best value for money as most of your cash is spent on aperture and in particular the mirror but ultimately closes off any future ideas regarding imaging, particularly deep sky. The other mounted scopes all have their virtues and I would separate this group further into those that are fork mounted and those that are mounted equatorially. The equatorial option will provide you with be the most flexible options with regards to what type of scope you finally put on them, namely newtonian, Schmidt Cassegrain (+ other variants) and of course refractors.

I can only tell you at this point what I did in a similar situation to yourself (assuming funds permitting!) and that was to go for the NEQ6 simply because its the biggest mount with the biggest payload for the money which would effectively future proof any other decisions that I made regarding what scope to get. Nothing worse that going for a small mount that matches a small scope only to find that should you want to change to a bigger scope - then you've got to change the whole lot. I'm not an imager BUT this mount is a very good choice for that too and so effectively leaves that door to me in the future, should I change my mind. Clearly there are even bigger mounts out there but they are proportionately more expensive.

Regarding which scope, I would go along with other suggestions above and advise you to go along to a couple of observation evenings at your local astro club and take a look for yourself to see if what you observe fulfills your expectations. This is a personal matter that only you can decide upon. Ultimately what you're after is a flexible system that allows you to separate items and change them about a bit. Again the dobsonian is the best value for money and does what it says on the tin (..or tube!) What ever you decide, please test out your ideas with us and only purchase recognised brands because you can always resell it on with minimal loss should you find that in the longer term astronomy is not for you.

Its a tricky business buying kit and we have all made similar mistakes in the past so we understand your need to want to invest correctly.

Clear skies

James

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