Telescope Reviews

Ok,

I know at least one person has to have an opinion on Telescopes. I have an old 4.5" reflector that I have kept in decent condition for about 15 years or so. It was bought for me as a gift in my early teens. However, I want something a little better. Now I could go on Ebay or something and buy one now, but I would rather have personal recommendations. Im not looking to be able to see the people on the planets around the stars of Andromeda. I am looking for a decent telescope at a reasonable price.

Anyone have any advice?

What ever you do, dont buy from EBAY!!!!!!!

It depends, if you want to do astrophotography then you would need a GOTO scope which is what i have. I have a Meade 4.5 reflector. You can get a good dob for about 250$ which has more power than your 4.5 but no astrophotography because you need the knowledge of the night sky to find the objects and you have to move it manually.

It also depends what your budget is. I would reccommend you to

www.oriontelescopes.com
www.telescopes.com (they have free shipping on orders over $150!!)
These two sites above are the best because they are good dealers and you can trust.

Hopee this helps!!!

I strongly urge you to consider Meade products. I've owned many telescopes and by far, Meade has the best quality to price ratio and excellent customer service support.

I also recommend buying a used scope. The price will be a fraction of the "new" price and most owners take very good care of their scopes.

For great light capture ability and ease of use I'd recommend a Dobsonian.

If you want to photograph, go with a S-C or a Maksutov. For the well known and popular deep sky objects, a 6-8" scope will produce very good results if you have dark skies.

Good luck!

edit to add.

The last scope I bought is my biggest, a 12" Meade LX-200 Schmidt Cassegrain. The dealer warned my that I'd soon get sick of lugging it outside and setting it up, he was right. It produces exceptional photographic images but I dont use it as often as I'd like since set up is such a big production. That's why I'd recommend a 6"-8" instrument.



[edit on 6/21/2007 by darkbluesky]

DOB telescopes give you your most bang for you buck.
I just got Orion XT10 Intelliscope and I am very impressed.
Meade, Celestron and Orion are the three best companies.
I am looking at a SkyShed POD
www.skyshedpod.com...

[edit on 21-6-2007 by junglelord]

I also recommend a dob. I really regret selling my Orion XT10i last year but I am having fun with astrophotography on my other scopes.

The type of scope you will want depends on how light-polluted your skies are and how much weight you want to move around. My suburban Atlanta location is not great for visual observations, even with a 10" dob. Under dark skies the views are great, but transporting that big dob is not an easy task. I would recommend the Orion or Meade dobs in the 8-10" range. You'll learn a lot and then decide how far you want to take it from there.

I have always thought about astrophotography as something I couldn't achieve. I guess I figured there would be little I would be able to photograph other than the moon.

What kind of things can be photographed by an average dude like myself?

Originally posted by Sight2reality

What kind of things can be photographed by an average dude like myself?

There are 110 Messierobjects (M1 through M110). They were first identified by a French Astronomer in the late 16th century. He was looking for comets with a crude telescope but found instead star clusters, nebulea and galaxies. All of these are fairly easily imaged with a motor driven 6" scope on a good equatorial mount. New entry level digital imagers can be had for a couple hundred bucks.

I took these two just by using a digital camera aimed into the eyepiece of an 8" Schmidt Cassegrain:





This is the most famous and most photographed Messier Object: M31...Andromeda:



[edit on 6/21/2007 by darkbluesky]

Originally posted by darkbluesky


There are 110 Messierobjects (M1 through M110). They were first identified by a French Astronomer in the late 16th century. He was looking for comets with a crude telescope but found instead star clusters, nebulea and galaxies. All of these are fairly easily imaged with a motor driven 6" scope on a good equatorial mount. New entry level digital imagers can be had for a couple hundred bucks.

I took these two just by using a digital camera aimed into the eyepiece of an 8" Schmidt Cassegrain:




[edit on 6/21/2007 by darkbluesky]

Those two pics are great stuff. Ive always wanted a good scope now I really want one. Havent had one since I was a kid, I think it was a 3 or 4 inch reflector made of cardboard. Great stuff.

I still have my Bausch & Lomb 560 I paid $50 bucks for at the local Flea market.
The thing is awesome but weighs a ton to carry in and out and sadly no auto tracking. I hate to give her up but I think its time for a new telescope.

This is a great thread! I have owned numerous little weak telescopes. Mostly just good for looking at the moon. I always wanted something bigger that I could get pictures with but didn't know what to look for in that type of scope. I'd like to thank every one for their opinions.

Originally posted by Salman001


It depends, if you want to do astrophotography then you would need a GOTO scope which is what i have.

When you refer to "GOTO", you mean the type of scope that has some sort of motorized mount with an autofinding capability right?

I'm glad I asked around here for information. Like I said, I have that old 4.5" thing. It's in decent shape, but its just not the best thing in the world to begin with. I just want something better. I was checking out the recommendations by the way, thanks!

Well, I guess I gotta ask....



Does anyone have a decent used telescope they are looking to sell?

If you think you have a particular scope in mind, there are several sites to research telescopes. I think the most well known site is Cloudy Nights. They have more reviews than anyone else.

Also, if you are not sure which telescope you want, I would recommend looking up the local Astronomy Club and find out when they have public star parties. You can get a lot of exposure to many types of telescopes and ask questions about them.

I would also recommend a Dobsonian to start with so you will learn more than if a goto computer scope finds everything for you.

Personally I have a 8" Meade LX200 and am building an 8" Dobsonian, so I will have the best of both worlds.

Have fun.

Edit to add:

Originally posted by darkbluesky
The last scope I bought is my biggest, a 12" Meade LX-200 Schmidt Cassegrain. The dealer warned my that I'd soon get sick of lugging it outside and setting it up, he was right. It produces exceptional photographic images but I dont use it as often as I'd like since set up is such a big production. That's why I'd recommend a 6"-8" instrument.

You got that right. The 12" is a monster, but I find my 8" pretty easy to setup and I swear I can see just as well as a 12". BTW, nice pics. I also want to get into taking pictures. What camera did you take those with? Are you using a focal reducer? I've been thinking about getting the Meade Astro-photography kit and a decent camera.

[edit on 6/22/2007 by Hal9000]