NexStar 130SLT or 4SE Nexstar

[KISSMAD (Bruce)]

Are these a better option?

SkyWatcher Star Explorer 130P Newtonian
http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/...oductview.aspx

SkyWatcher Star Explorer 127 Mak
http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/...oductview.aspx

SkyWatcher Star Explorer 102 Mak
http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/...oductview.aspx

[ab1963 (Andrew)]

hi there
the advice on this post is rock solid and IMO and a good second hand scope is the way to to go,I waited to buy my lx90 lnt 8 inch and it cost me as much as the 4se and was even cheaper when I had sold what came with it that I didn't want,i listened to users on iis whose knowledge comes usually from experience at some expense,and I know the urge just to get a scope is huge but patience will pay off in the end.hope that helps

[Atmos (Colin)]

If you want to go down the path of a GoTo SCT I would recommend Meade over Celestron because one thing I have heard resonate over the years is that the GoTo capabilities of the Meade (pointing accuracy and the like) are a lot better in the Meade variants than the Celestron. Meade also tend to be a bit cheaper.

I have owned several Meade SCTs and have never been anything but happy with how it performs. In saying that, for astrophotography I would go for a Celestron over a Meade, even having never used one. Once you get past all of the marketing mumbo jumbo on both sides, I personally get the feeling that Celestron optics have a slight edge over the Meade.

Another cheap way to go could be down the lines of an Orion GoTo Dob or getting a standard dob and installing Argo Navis.