WTB: Beginner telescope

[antares1]

Hello,

juz looking to get a beginner telescope for my friend, budget <S$300 for a used scope, hopefully can get the entire set e.g. mount, lens...

Thnx!

[Gary]

Hello,

juz looking to get a beginner telescope for my friend, budget <S$300 for a used scope, hopefully can get the entire set e.g. mount, lens...

Thnx!

Hi antares1,

Saw your first post about getting a beginner telescope below $300 for yourself back in Dec 2011:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=10213&p=73633#p73633

Any updates if you manage to buy a telescope since then? If you did, would you recommend this telescope for your friend?

[antares2063]

Hi antares1 (=P)

maybe you can check out beginner scopes from local dealers like astrobargains or Mcgill.com.sg...however for such a tight budget, the choices will be quite limited.

As much as possible, do try to join in public observing sessions to get a feel of telescopes first.

Regards,
Junwei

[antares1]

Hi Gary, thnx for noticing my post from such a long time ago, haha... have got any scopes yet coz no $$. but attended one of your session TPY library, great session!! thnx!

hi Junwei, managed to up budget abit so think i might b getting the 'Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P FlexTube™ 130mm (5.1")' from mcgill for S$360, mainly coz it seems quite ez and hassle-free to start viewing...

[Gary]

Hi Gary, thnx for noticing my post from such a long time ago, haha... have got any scopes yet coz no $$. but attended one of your session TPY library, great session!! thnx!

hi Junwei, managed to up budget abit so think i might b getting the 'Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P FlexTube™ 130mm (5.1")' from mcgill for S$360, mainly coz it seems quite ez and hassle-free to start viewing...

Hi antares1. Thanks for your compliment. Glad you enjoyed that session!

Before you buy the Sky-Watcher Heritage 130P, you may want to read this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11589&hilit=heritage+130p

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to dissuade you from buying this unit, because like all telescope, there are always pros and cons. But there is no harm in reading more user opinions about this scope before making your final decision.

For example, you mentioned about hassle-free. In some areas it is indeed hassle free - dobsonian system - no "complicated" setup like eq mounts involving counterweight, aligning to north, suitability for use in low lattitude, need pier to raise mount to prevent counterweight from hitting tripod legs..etc. It is also hassle-free as in not requiring the truss tubes to be dismantled and assembled during use.

But there is also some "hassle" in areas like doing a collimation which involves more steps compared to SCT (none for refractors and MCTs). Also as mentioned in the above thread, the "hassle" of needing a shroud in bright areas. Need for a table/tripod to raise it to suitable height for observing outdoors.

So what is a hassle and what is not is very subjective and varies from person to person.

Best is to talk to the owners of this scope like Depardeuz and Mane ask about their opinion about using this scope. Since his last reply at the above-mentioned thread, I think Depardeuz have some additional insights about using this telescope. Thanks to him bringing it to our sidewalk sessions, I have also managed to spend some time with it and get to know its pros and cons better.

Good luck and hope you can own a telescope soon and start observing!

[depardeuz]

I am pretty surprised by the interest in the Heritage scope recently.

Before I start babbling off the cuff, my apologies to my brethen at TPY and BSP if any part of my comments make you so queasy and decide to buy a newtonian after that instead.

May the Force be with You.

PROS:
1) It takes a lot less afford to setup and tear down compared to my brethen's scopes which are mounted on EQ mounts with which require alignment and counterweight. Yes, practice makes perfect for those eq mount guys. But you get the idea.

2) The flextube actually takes up a lot less space compared to a similar solid tube newtonian. This translates to saving space in your dry box.

3) Upon proper collimation done, you could split double stars, see Saturn's Cassini Division, Jupiter's cloud bands. All within the reach of this scope.

4) The OTA comes with a dovetail fitting! I could fix this OTA on any mounts that can accept dovetail fitting! I placed my OTA on the Synscan GOTO mount with no issue except kinda hard to clear at zenith.

Cons:

1) The scope requires collimation every time u wanna use it. You will need to get a collimator eyepiece or tool. I did some modifications by changing out the stock secondary collimation screws and made it tool free collimation for the secondary mirror. The primary mirror is actually tool free collimation by default. And actually got it to hold its collimation reasonably too, despite the frequent retraction of the flextube.

2) The OTA only accept a red dot finder. It does not have a finder shoe/bracket for you to fix up an optical finder or anything else for that matter.

3) I have tried viewing without shroud and stray light does get reflected off the secondary mirror. So u will need to fashion a shroud via a thin foam sheet which can be purchased from Popular Bookstores. And u will need to fashion out an elastic band to hold it in place.

4) Need for a solid surface to place the scope on when you are using the dob base.

5) It uses a helical focuser. And it does not allow you to change it into something else. Pretty smooth when use with an eyepiece.

6) It only accepts 1.25" format eyepieces whereas its solid tube Skywatcher Explorer can accept up to 2" format eyepiece.

All in all, the scope is pretty sturdy scope and can frame in star clusters such as Pleiades nicely. However, at the theoretical limit of 260x, image tends to be less sharp. It is really what your expectation is. End of the day, it is not the amount of money spent but where your expectation drives you. I started with a 3" Celestron Firstscope. So the scaling of the image on a 5" newtonian still "wow" me. I have seen through a 10" dob and bigger SCTs, refractors. Yes, their image and scaling surpass this scope. But for me, i stay at 5" cos 3 things to consider when u get a scope:

1. What do you want to see. Looking for planets is the initial phase, and there is only so much you can see.

2. What is your budget.

3. Most important, how much weight are you willing to carry to your ob site via public transport / own a car? I find this point can kill your interest over time. The weight can go up to above 6kg. If you were to carry those eq mounts with counterweight. It is way above this. Weight goes in proportion with the size of the scope. Of course, unless yours is one of those big dobs with collapsible design which make them lighter to transport and gives great aperture => $$$ and a trolley or a big travel bag. (See point No.2). So with my wife nagging and kids sighing (yes, my 2-year old daughter actually did that) when I get a scope or say that I am going stargazing, it can be rather depressing..

4. I am married with 2 young kids. Personally, I would like to go ob as often when the sky clears. But age, family, kids, may affect your allowable time. But then, this problem may just be faced by me only.

Hope my 2 cents is helpful. Welcome to the cockroach hobby....(we only come out at night unless u do solar..) Lol!

[Gary]

@Depardeuz - Don't quite understand your need to apologise before you mentioned your points. I enjoyed reading them and benefited from it. Thanks for sharing your views of this scope from a user/owner point of view.

In case other readers are wondering, BSP = BiShan Park.

Sighing kids are such a cute sight to behold! I hope they will experience a Milky Way starry night soon and have a better appreciation of their daddy's hobby. How I wish my parents were into stargazing when I was young. Sighing will be the last thing I would be doing. They would be the ones sighing to find more time to bring me out to stargaze. And back then, Milky Way was still visible in Singapore!

[depardeuz]

No mah, Gary, inevitably, will lead to some comparison between the different scope's pro and cons and might just be inaccurate from my point of view

[Gary]

No mah, Gary, inevitably, will lead to some comparison between the different scope's pro and cons and might just be inaccurate from my point of view

That's what a forum is for - to share and discuss different point of views! And being an astro forum, it will inevitably lead to pros and cons comparisons of telescopes! At least in the equipment subforum.

If something mentioned in this forum is factually inaccurate and someone is willing to correct it with convincing prove/argument, chances are, everybody will benefit from such a discussion.

Coming back to antares1 question, I would like to add that in addition to buying within a budget, it may be also important to find out what type of objects you will prefer to observe first and get a telescope suitable for that preference. Budget is important but not to the extent of "forcing" you buy something you may not enjoy very much base on your own unique preferences (e.g. portability vs aperture, refractor vs reflector, az vs eq, ...etc).

[antares1]

wow, thanks Gary and Depardeuz for your patience and the wealth of info!! VERY USEFUL!! guess the comparisons are well justified in a forum for sharing

as a beginner in stargazing, I guess he juz wanna look at the planets, get a feel of owning a telescope before investing in more sophisticated stuff. so prob this might fit his criteria for now.