Quote:
Originally Posted by AnotherNewbie
Thought that Celestron was a bit too cheap, is it me or are the celestrons the toys I'm trying to avoid?
How about this one, with a set of eye pieces will fall into my price range.
Due to my past bad experience I want the mount to be as good quality, if not better that the telescope. I am happy to settle for a manual eq mount as long as its good, I can then upgrade to a motor or computerised mount when I buy what ever it is I need to start astrophotography later on. |
That's not a bad 6" telescope, but unless you live somewhere really dark, views of galaxies may be disappointing. You really need 8" (200mm) diameter for that. Though everything else - planets and other deep sky objects would look pretty good in it. Though it has a short f/5 focal ratio, which may mean that some wide angle eyepieces won't look so good at the edges. A longer focal length would be better.
You want a motorised telescope, which requires accurate polar alignment. Be warned, precise polar aligning isn't easy to do, even with a polar aligning scope in the equatorial mount. I always wind up with sore knees and a sore neck when I do it, so I only do it on the rare occasion I want to take photos.
However, with rough polar aligning and just using the two knobs on that telescope, you would have a satisfactory view. Same goes for a dobsonian telescope, where one just pushes it around.
The other thing you can do, is just wait and keep checking out the second hand telescopes listed here. Some great deals do come up.
Regards,
Renato