Jump to content
  • Join the online East Midlands astronomy club today!

    With active forums, two dark sites and a knowledgeable membership, East Midlands Stargazers has something for everyone.

Am I Mad - should I return it?


Toymaster

Recommended Posts

The other day I was in my local electronics store and in a moment of weakness with vouchers in hand I bought a Celestron 114 EQ Newt on an eq2 mount for just over £100.

It's still sitting in the box while I wonder if I should keep or return it.

Noticed most here buy another well known brand. (very PC here :-))

Quite fancied one of the SW 127s

What do you think?

I know it's not exactly going to break the bank at this px and I am a beginner....

Ade

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It'll work fine Ade - but you may have a little problem with the "finder scope" - they don't put very good ones on the smaller Celestron newts and you will probably want to upgrade the finder scope to something more usable.


 


Personally I would never buy a scope from a high street store - much better to use a proper astro retailer, and we know all the good ones to recommend for you.


 


The 127's are very nice - especially for imaging planets - and they're not bad to look through either though the views are quite small. I have one if you want to come see it or try it out on a clear evening. Celestron and Skywatcher are the two most popular brands in the "entry level" market as well as doing some very nice advanced gear too. :)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ade, we've all got things on the spur of the moment. I did that with a Celestron C11 last week.

There is nothing wrong with the Celestron brand, but as we talked about on Saturday night (probably much to your daughter and son-in-laws boredom), there is no one scope for all occasions. The one you have will be ok for solar system objects, but i think the Mak 127 would be "better", though it will cost you three-four tines as much as if you buy brand new, but they are often appearing on astrobuysell second hand. In fact there was a motorised alt-az mount for the 127 on SGL classified yesterday for £50, and you could probably hang around and get the scope for £150....

If you are in doubt, i'd say return it, you'll always find similar priced ones again if you hunt for it.

Then make friends with someone who has the kut you want, and go round to theirs and look through it. I've got a 127 (SW) but it's currently on loan in Boston.

Does EMS have a 127 loan scope?

Whatever you end up with, you'll still want something different after a few months I bet :) You better get a part time job to help fund this new resource-sucking hobby!

It was lovely to meet you in my star trails room the other night.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if your after a 114 newt you Cant go wrong with a TAL1. See them all the time on second handsites for £100 and the mirror and optics are much better than most. I have a 130 sky watcher and my mates TAL gives better sharper views.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your replies...........


 


@Kim:  Would be great to pop over one clear evening, but its unlikely to be this week as my Daughter and Granddaughter are staying. I'll PM you when I'm free.


 


@James: Good to talk as they say. Hannah and Steve really enjoyed the event and certainly were not bored. 


 


@Andy: Thanks, I've taken a look at the TAL1 - Looks like they have put more of the cost / quality into the scope but not sure about the pillar tripod.


 


@Mick: Think we spoke on Saturday? Sorry if I'm mistaken. Noticed that that the Powerseeker 114eq is longer than the AstroMaster 114eq I bought the other day - I guess the difference is in the mirror? Parabolic versus non parabolic?  Is one better than the other? A loan scope to play about with for a few clear nights sounds good. Pity there is not a Mak to try.  The shorter more portable / storable scopes appealed to me especially if driven just in case I get drawn to the Dark Side  :D


 


AstroMaster still in box and I've got 28days to return it - Got carried away by my enthusiasm, the price and it being the last one in stock. Also my Granddaughter who is with us this week is mad on "Moongazing" and it would be good to give it a go. Even though she is only three she managed to cope with my spotting scope the other night once I had set it up, focused it and closely supervised her. She only managed to view Jupiter with her toy binoculars - no surprises there  :)


 


Jury still out.............  Many thanks


 


Ade


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to be honest with you, I would return it and say it's not what you were looking for. It really isn't going to be up to what you want from it. 


 


Celestron are a decent brand, but some folks have been having problems with the more expensive and larger mounts packing up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to be honest with you, I would return it and say it's not what you were looking for. It really isn't going to be up to what you want from it. 

 

Celestron are a decent brand, but some folks have been having problems with the more expensive and larger mounts packing up.

 

Appreciate your honesty.....

 

Must admit I do like the look of the SWs.

 

Ade

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Adrian we did have quite a long chat on Saturday.


 


The 8" scope is due to be returned in about 2 weeks time, if you can wait till then you can borrow it.


 


Let me know.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Adrian we did have quite a long chat on Saturday.

 

The 8" scope is due to be returned in about 2 weeks time, if you can wait till then you can borrow it.

 

Let me know.

 

Thought we did but was not absolutely sure. Senior moments and all that  :(

We really enjoyed it and found it so interesting - Everyone we talked to came over as so enthusiastic and friendly - Well Done.

 

Well that's enough for the praise (not BS) so now to answer your question,

 

Yes please, it would be great to borrow the 8" when it returns if that is OK. 

 

Thanks,

Ade

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Yes please, it would be great to borrow the 8" when it returns if that is OK.

 

 

Ok Ade I'll make a note of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok Ade I'll make a note of it.

 

Thanks Mick - You're a Star  :lol:  :facepalm:

 

Ade

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Tweedledum

Hi Ade,


 


Echo comments from Baz. Have a go wih the loan dob and come along to a meet to see what other folk have then you can make an informed decision as to what you need!..Also keep an eye out on astro buy and sell!


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all for your input - all gratefully received and hopefully will help more than me.


 


Now for the current situation regarding the purchase of a new Celestron 114EQ Newt on the EQ2 mount for  Â£102. By the way I did look through the reviews on Amazon which in itself was interesting. A combination of inexperienced purchasers who loved it and a few clueless or receivers of faulty goods who rubbished it. There were very few experienced astronomers who reviewed it and those that did had purchased it as a beginners scope for members of the family (sometimes kids - that's me folks), all of who rated it fairly highly for such use.


 


Some nights ago it was a brilliant clear and frosty night and so I decided to take the plunge and unpack the scope, which I had kept in the box ready to return. It all went together easily and to my eyes looked of good quality for the money. In fact I don't know how they make it for that price.


 


Then it was time to give it a try - Took it outside and tried to view Jupiter. The red dot finder just didn't seem to get me anywhere near the target and it was a real pain to line up. I had no idea where the focus point was and due to my inexperience saw absolutely nothing (no surprises there I hear you say) and so I gave up and went to bed.


The next day in the daylight I tried again having set-up the mount and the balance better. The finder was nowhere near what I was seeing and so I calibrated that, but as far as I could tell the collimation was fairly good and only out by a "nats". after some practice I soon got the hang of using the mount when moving around  from the home position towards the north and Polaris. 


 


Then at night at last I was able to use it to see and track Jupiter, for me, with pleasing results. The red dot finder is a knack and gets you somewhere near the target and so I started with the 20mm (50x) eyepiece and then once everything was tracking changed to the 10mm (100x) eyepiece. The 20mm was easier to focus and had a wider field of view but the 10mm proved interesting as it showed up the effect of "seeing" and the stability of the tripod / mount. With both you could just detect  the bands on Jupiter, but if anything the lower magnification eyepiece gave the most pleasing results in terms of sharpness of image and larger field of view showing several of Jupiter's closer moons.


 


Conclusion: The eyepieces are adequate but I think things could be improved with better quality ones, but I won't know until I try some. The budget red dot finder is definitely a candidate for a change. Otherwise the scope for me seems of fair quality for the price paid and far from a total waist of space. It has a heavy stainless steel tripod that is fairly robust and more than satisfactory mount that manually tracks just fine. With the higher mag eyepiece you have to let things steady for a few seconds after adjustment before you can view with ease.


 


So what am I going to do?


 


I'm planning to keep it as part of my learning experience, but I will definitely upgrade once I know which way to turn. It will keep me going for now, which at the cost ain't bad, when you consider what I could have spent in a rush and then regretted it. Then in time it can be passed on to someone else to break their teeth on....


 


Hope those who said return it understand and don't think I'm being too much of a pratt   :)


 


At present I'm happy because I don't know any better until with your kind help I can try other kit......


 


Definitely want to try the 200 Dob and have a go with a SW 127 Mak at some time..


 


Keep the input coming in as I really do value it - honest!


 


Cheers,


 


Ade

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's about having fun; it sounds like this kit will allow you to have some fun and start seeing things and learning things and wet you appetite and make you hungry for more. This can only be good. And if you don't want to upgrade or get bored of the hobby you have lost relatively little but still gained a lot.

Win win.

:)

Wait till you get the bug and want to start taking pictures of things!

Looking forward to seeing you at an event and having a look through your scope myself.

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At a young age I started out with an old secondhand (1960s) Charles Frank 4" reflector, and saw many wonderful sights through it, partly thanks to the less light polluted skies in that era. I used this scope for many years and learned a lot. It was mounted more substantially than yours, but was rather heavy for its small aperture.


 


I would not want to be limited by such a small scope now, after having observed with larger ones, but used as a stepping stone and a learning tool that is ideal for a quick set up, your Celestron 114 should get you started nicely. Once you've experienced some other scopes you will know better where you want to go with the hobby, and the Celestron did not break the bank.


 


As per James above, have fun :)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.