Jeff Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 Looking in the $200 to $300 range. Did see a few things that I liked here's one I was thinking about. Thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated. https://a.co/d/6XrggDj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightspore Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 3 hours ago, Jeff said: Looking in the $200 to $300 range. Did see a few things that I liked here's one I was thinking about. Thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated. https://a.co/d/6XrggDj Looks OK, probably Synta (aka Sky-Watcher) made. Not sure what $300 is equivalent to, £400? Synta have a tradition of making 130mm Newtonians. I have no idea about its optics. Could be a spherical or parabolic mirror, probably the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tufty Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 On 11/11/2022 at 8:10 PM, Nightspore said: Not sure what $300 is equivalent to, £400? On 11/11/2022 at 4:29 PM, Jeff said: Looking in the $200 to $300 range. Did see a few things that I liked here's one I was thinking about. Thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated. https://a.co/d/6XrggDj $300 is around £250 - I am here learning myself, but I know a few people swear by the Skywatcher 130 newtonian - the gysker looks to be same livery... For me a lot would depend on where the scope was going to be set up, and what you were going to look at mostly, what kind of space you have etc. I'm sure others will be more helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonlit Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 I'd be careful with relatively unknown brands like that unless you find reviews of that specific scope that can tell you what you really get. I'm a beginner too and I picked up a big 120mm f/8 achromat refractor as my first scope. Got suckered into buying another (very cheap) SW Skyhawk 114 (spherical mirror, Bird-Jones) reflector later too get some experience with those and it is awful. If you go for a Newtonian reflector, be absolutely sure that it has a parabolic mirror and no lenses in the focuser tube. I love my refractor and will always recommend one as a beginner scope, as there is little or no collimation needed and they give sharp, crisp images. I advise you to read up and think about what you want from your first scope. Don't get astrophotography-oriented gear before you have some experience with visual observation. Consider buying a used scope to get the cost down, scopes last almost forever if they are cared for. I found this blog very useful for letting me avoid pitfalls and learn about scopes in general: https://supercooper.jimdofree.com/choosing-telescopes-complete-essentials/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightspore Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 It looks a bit Synta, but I can't be sure. Best to stick to known brands. I bought this 90mm 'Omegon' Maksutov Cassegrain a few years ago. TBH it wasn't much cheaper than the Orion StarMax I really wanted. What initially attracted me to it was that it was a bit faster than the 90mm Synta-made Mak's and a bit lighter. I'm not sure of the OEM, although I believe these are Japanese, and sold under various brands and liveries. It is the worst scope I've ever bought. Any visual acuity disappeared after about 40x. In fact it was difficult to achieve a sharp focus at all even at lower magnifications. Plus, the OTA appeared to be made predominantly of Bakelite. I ended up with the far superior Synta-built Orion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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