Recommened Smallish Telescope

[Phoebe2713 (Charlene Lester)]

Hi I'm looking at downsizing . What is the best computer smallish telescope ? Any ideas welcome.

[dannat (Daniel)]

How much r u looking at spending? What size is your current scope?

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Hi Charlene,

Yes, can you please give some more context? What are you downsizing from? What is your approx. budget (to the nearest $1000)? What do you want to look at?

[Wavytone]

I am guessing you could be after a computerised small scope on an altaz mount - with tracking and celestial database - for about $1k depending which scope you pick.

1. Nexstar MAK90SLT from Andrewscom.com.au, $899 - 3.5" aperture, could be underwhelming.
2. Nexstar MAK127SLT from Andrewscom.com.au, $999 - 5" aperture is beginning to be useful,
3. 6" Meade lightswitch http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/...oductview.aspx I have never seen one come up for sale secondhand so presumably those who have bought them must be fairly happy.

The best small telescope is a Questar 3.5" but I suspect this is not what you had in mind http://www.company7.com/questar/telescopes/quest35.html
Occasionally they come up secondhand for around $3k at Astromart or on Cloudynights.

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Takahashi FS60. Several varieties: C, CB, CQ.
She's ultra portable for the commuter.
And the optional CQ module near-doubles the focal length.

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Oh, computer not commuter! A Meade ETX?

[Profiler (Profiler)]

Have to agree with everyone else - some rough parameters concerning your budget and perhaps what 'type' of scope you are after is quite pertinent.

Wavytone is correct that one of best 'small'ish scopes around is the Questar. However, if you aren't after a reflector and want a refractor then Logan is quite correct that the Tak FS-60 is a superb 'ultra' small refractor.

So it comes back to what you are after or hoping to achieve within whatever may be your particular budget.

It also helps to clarify what you consider "small" I have one friend who considers his 10' Dob to be his small scope and another friend who decribes his 100mm refractor as his "big" scope

[sophie (Jim)]

I just picked up a William Optics Zenithstar 71 (comes with a free 1.25" diagonal) for $520ish or $498 USD from their online shop inc shipping. It arrived bloody fast too - three days.

Beautiful piece of equipment especially for the price although southeast Queensland weather at the moment means I've only been able to use it in the daytime so far.

There is another special at the moment that includes a Smart EQ mount for $998 USD, but you'd have to add another $100 or so for GST.