4se for a beginner's scope?

[GazzMeister]

Greetings All

I am new to astronomy and I currently have a 130x900 reflector from Australian Geographic (where I work). I am wondering if it would be worth my while getting a 4se (which we also stock). I can get it half price (staff discount) $795. Is this a good telescope to keep me going for a few years? I can get a 6 or 8se from our sales rep but as we don't stock them at the moment I can only get around a 25% discount. I'm really after a telescope that will give me a few years usage before upgrading :-) (Meade RCX400. One day.... One day.)

[netwolf]

You would be better of with the 5"+ The older 5's were very good. My mate has one of the older Nextstar 5's and its really a nice portable scope. The 8" is the top of this range and if its in your budget then its a good one to get. However some would say a single fork arm is not really the best support for such a big tube. You could always upgrade later to a EQ mount to put the 8" on. The older 5" mount was exatcly the same as the 8" mount so you could upgrade the OTA later on. There is a 5" I think on ebay at the moment.

The other thing is that you might be able to get a better price if you shop around, I have found Aust Geo to be a bit overpriced on telescopes.

Regards
Fahim

[davewaldo]

Hi Gazz,

As I see it you would actually be taking a step backwards with that scope in many ways.

Your current scope has a 5 inch mirror whereas the 4se has only 4. This means that assuming the mirrors are similar quality you would actually see much less through the 4se.

If you look at some of the Australian telescope dealers you will find you could get an 8" or 10" Dobsonian of very high quality for less $ than your 4se.

I guess what you need to decide is how important the electronic GOTO functions will be to you. If your just begining (in astronomy) this feature may seem very important, however I would say that if you are keen on this hobby you will soon learn how to find object to view visually and you would be very rewarded with great views from a larger diameter telescope.

The difference between a 4" and an 8" would blow your mind.

If its hard to decide I would recomend visiting a star pary or observing session in your local area so you can try some other peoples scopes before you buy. I did this, and instead of buying a 3" refractor as I was planing I purchased a 10" dob... and I havn't looked back! :)

enjoy.

[KG8]

Hi Gazz. I don't know anything about the scope you have at the moment, wether it's motor driven etc. If it is I don't think you will gain much by going to the little 4" mak. If your reflector is not motor driven then you will certainly benifit in my opinion, even thought the mak is an inch smaller. I like the compact size benefits of the 4se style of telescope your looking at over the bigger reflectors. I have a large celestron sct but also a little celestron 90mm, or 3.5 inch Maksutov, which I pull out and use just as much. Mainly because it is so easy to set up, I can even carry it in a backpack on my bike. The price you quote from work is ok, not really half price if you look around, eg: [ http://www.telescope.com.au/ $999.00 ] but still a good saving. If your into tech things you will love a little goto over your reflector I think. And if you can pony up another grand?? The "C6-SGT Go-To XLT" at andrews is a bargin... http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm
pic.. http://www.celestron.com/c2/images/files/product/11079-XLT_c6sgt_large.gif

[acropolite]

Ditto what Dave said. $795 will buy you a 10 inch dob with some left over for extra EP's and accessories or with an extra $100 added a 12 inch, there's no substitute for aperture and something that's not go-to will force you to learn your way around the skies. Compared to the 4se a 10 inch dob will have roughly 6 times the light gathering area. Ultimately after the initial wonder of the go-to wears off you will be left with a hunger for more power and your ability to view faint fuzzies with the 4se will be very limited.

[davewaldo]

After all... its the quality of what you can see that will keep you coming back for more and more viewing. And the more you can see the more you will want to get the scope out and use it!

[GazzMeister]

Hi All

I'm really keen on the big aperture dobs, I'm not sure how hard it is to track a planet or other object with high magnification eyepieces. I never knew how fast they would move across the field of view before I got my current telescope. I've never actually really had a go at a dobsonian before so I'm not sure. I've always thought that an equatorial mount would be easier to use but after seeing all the positive reviews of big dobs I'm a bit confused. I know that the telescopes sold at my work are overpriced but I can get them at 50% off which brings them closer to a realistic price. To answer the question of what my current telescope has to offer, it's exactly the same as the one for sale on this site from John Saunders. I guess I'll just have to calm down and go to a few astronomy society meetings, and have a go, before I blow all my cash on something I'm not going to be happy with. Once again, thanks for all the help!:thumbsup:

Gareth

[erick]

Hi Gareth! Well, I guess that you will need to try it sometime at a Society gathering. My experience - I've recently bought a cheap 6mm Plossl eyepiece - so a fairly narrow field of view. I put it in a 2x barlow in my 8" F6 dob and I'm at 400 magnification. I haven't had a great problem tracking the planets by hand as I observe. I haven't timed it, but I guess they move across the field of view in some 15 sec. Enought tome for me to set up, then invite someone to have a look and they get a good 10 sec before the object slides out of the field of view. However, it's woth mentioning that I have improved the altitude and azimuth bearings on my basic scope to make the movement quite smooth to allow the little nudges needed to return the object to the other side of the field of view. Of course, it's not often that 400 magnification is much use (seeing quality!) - more often I'm not exceeding 250 magnification where the problem is less.

Eric :)

[erick]

Now, I forgot to mention that there is an option to add tracking to a dob that's good enough for observing - sit it on a tracking platform (an equatorial platform). Commercial versions are pretty expensive (up to $1,000?), but I'm looking at a design that I hope to build myself for less than $150.