Shopping worldwide for telescopes
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:30 am
Hi all,
very keen to start out in this hobby and would like to seek your opinions.
I have a relative who is a pilot and offered to carry back a telescope for me through check in. all i need to do is mail order the scope to the hotel and he can check it in all the way to singapore. he flies to US, europe, japan, UK etc so the choice for vendors is very wide! Just not sure where i would get best value for money.
i would like some points:
1. Long-ish focal length for planetary viewing, maybe about the 900-1500mm kind of range, i think the 2000mm territory will be a bit tricky for a beginner to get used to.
2. Preferable with GOTO mount as i will be a lazy astronomer in the beginning. also plan to let my kids use it and maybe get an interest in astronomy so GOTO will be helpful to take care of the alignment/tracking. At the minimum an EQ mount that can be motor driven.
3. astrophotography is not a priority at the moment.
4. not particular on type of optical system. Keen on MCT's and SCT's due to their compact size and long focal lengths, also don't mind dobsonians due to potential aperture fever! staying in a semi-D house so storage is not a limiting factor (subject to wife acceptance of course!).
5. Most important, budget is about S$1000 or less. don't want to spend too much on a first scope.
fire away! Thanks in advance!
Alan
very keen to start out in this hobby and would like to seek your opinions.
I have a relative who is a pilot and offered to carry back a telescope for me through check in. all i need to do is mail order the scope to the hotel and he can check it in all the way to singapore. he flies to US, europe, japan, UK etc so the choice for vendors is very wide! Just not sure where i would get best value for money.
i would like some points:
1. Long-ish focal length for planetary viewing, maybe about the 900-1500mm kind of range, i think the 2000mm territory will be a bit tricky for a beginner to get used to.
2. Preferable with GOTO mount as i will be a lazy astronomer in the beginning. also plan to let my kids use it and maybe get an interest in astronomy so GOTO will be helpful to take care of the alignment/tracking. At the minimum an EQ mount that can be motor driven.
3. astrophotography is not a priority at the moment.
4. not particular on type of optical system. Keen on MCT's and SCT's due to their compact size and long focal lengths, also don't mind dobsonians due to potential aperture fever! staying in a semi-D house so storage is not a limiting factor (subject to wife acceptance of course!).
5. Most important, budget is about S$1000 or less. don't want to spend too much on a first scope.
fire away! Thanks in advance!
Alan