Celestron NexStar 130SLT or Vixen VC200L

[sOner]

Hello!

I'm looking at buying a telescope. I have to option to get the Celestron NexStar 130SLT for $800 or the Vixen VC200L for $900 (I know, this is great value). I'm a 15 year old so I need something which is lightweight and easy to use. I live in Perth so I get a lot of light pollution. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[brian nordstrom]

:question: , Hello Emillo and welcome , The Vixen would be the better scope if ,,,,, here comes the 'But' there is always a but ,,,, the Celestron comes as a whole package , eg. , mount included so you will be using it almost straight away , the Vixen is (?) OTA only ? at that price you will need a mount , eyepieces etc. so if I am right here about the Vixen being OTA only I personally would say grab the Celestron 130 and learn from it as it will show you nice views for years .

The Vixen is a very good scope but if it has no mount you need at least an EQ5 minimum , or better HEQ5 but these are $500-$1000 depending on model so you see it gets expensive very fast and at 15 years old that is probably to much , sorry to say .

Grab the 130 and enjoy it , these are good ( complete ) scopes . my 5c .

Brian.

[dannat]

do you want it for visual or photography?

[sOner]

I should also mention that the Vixen is second hand and comes with a mount. Here is all the information I have on it: http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/viveash/miscellaneous-goods/vixen-telescope/1071412047

[sOner]

For the moment, visual.

[raymo]

My two cents worth. The tube of the 130 SLT is too long for the type
of mount, and therefore focusing is difficult, as the tube shakes badly.
Hanging a heavy weight under the tripod helps, but it is still annoying.
I personally would go for the 127 SLT which is much more stable, due
to the much shorter tube.
raymo

[brian nordstrom]

:question: Hmmm , the. Vixen looks to be an excellent deal , the GPDX alone is worth that , can you arrange to see it in the flesh. , so to speak ? .
A scope and mount of this quality should be worth a lot more , I might be wrong but there is an old saying. , If it seems to good to be true it normally is . But hey if kosher its a really good bargain.
Again. , my 5c good luck a please keep us informed as to your next move.

Brian.

[NTgazer]

Hey sOner, the ad posted says $1400 for the vixen, have you negotiated? Best of luck, I've just recently purchased first scope and know it feels like a bit of a mine-field at times picking what you want.

[sOner]

Yeah, I negotiated.

[sOner]

I've decided to go with the Celestron NexStar 130SLT. The Vixen VC200L would be a bit complicated to use and a bit heavy. I need something which is easy to use and is lightweight. Also, the Celestron is brand new and comes stock with GOTO. The Vixen is secondhand and to upgrade to GOTO would cost an extra $500 which is way out of my budget.

Thanks for the help though! :)

[Amaranthus]

I think you've made a good choice, based on your needs and budget.

[julianh72]

I think you've made a good choice for a beginner telescope! The 130 SLT is very easy to transport, set-up and use, the GoTo is easy to align and tracks well, and it has enough light gathering power and magnification to start exploring the night sky.

As raymo said in an earlier post - the configuration of the relatively long (and flexible) tube with the side-mount can be prone to a bit of vibration, but I have no trouble with visual use as long as I focus with a gentle touch, and then try to avoid touching the scope while observing.

The flexibility of the mount / OTA is a bit of a limitation for photography, however - although to be fair, the 130 SLT isn't really intended as a photographic instrument. It's fine for lunar / planetary video imaging, but anything that needs a few seconds of exposure (e.g. bright clusters and nebulae) will probably show star trails, even at quite low magnification, unless you can absolutely avoid touching the scope and mount, and keep it out of any wind. I recently bought a second-hand Celestron 5 SE (Schmidt-Cassegrain), which has a similar mount and similar light-gathering as the 130 SLT, but with almost twice the focal length (1250 mm vs 650 mm), and has a much shorter tube than the 650 mm Newt. Even with the significantly higher magnification of the 5 SE, I am finding there is no problem with vibration / star trails even for 30 second exposures (unguided).

[raymo]

Having decided on the 130 SLT, I strongly suggest that you buy a
12v rechargeable battery [ about $40 in a car parts shop ] and
power it externally, as it will chew up batteries,[just a few hours out
of 4 AAs] . Just watch out for cord wrap when slewing around the sky.
I gaffer taped my battery to the opposite side of the mount from the scope, with just enough cable to reach the socket, and avoided the cord wrap problem.
It has a great advantage over most other GoTo systems, in that you can use any bright stars to align the mount, not just the ones that the mount offers you. You can even use a bright planet such as Jupiter.
A great option that you will always be grateful that you found the money for with that scope in particular, would be an electric focuser
that would avoid the shakes that you get every time you try to focus.
I imagine the Skywatcher one would fit. About $90. Maybe someone
on the forum has fitted one.
raymo

[sil]

I fitted the skywatcher electric focuser from Bintel to my 102SLT. Very easy to install and use and pretty much a must for imaging.

For visual I can recommend the Baader Hyperion eyepieces as an affordable step up from celestrons cheapie eyepieces they include.

As for power pick up a "power station"/jump starter. Auto stores and jaycar have them. They are a rechargeable 12V battery with cigarette lighter sockets and other options. Some have torches built in. They are perfect for for astronomers, the cig sockets are common and buying/making cables to power your goto mount, imaging cam, gps etc is easy. Be careful if you intend to throw in NiMH batteries instead of suggested alkalines if you are going to use the battery compartment, scope mounts are precision devices that rely on exact power requirements. Alkaline batteries supply 1.5V but rechargables are 1.2V so you can only use the ones the manual states or else you risk overburdening and frying the motors. Typically all scope gear runs off 12V and running from the lighter socket has always been the best option for people taking their scope out to a dark site so the best option is to get a power station with lighter sockets. If your mount doesn't already come with lighter socket cables you should be able to take the mount to jaycar or battery world and pick up a cable to fit mount and power station if you are unsure. Some power stations also have usb sockets for you to power your phone/tablet too but don't waste money on the ones with digital capacity readouts, the old style analogue needle guage versions are accurate and often half the price as the otherwise identical "digital" versions.