On Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:00:29 +0000, Abo wrote:

Are they still on offer? To be honest, I'm probably going to spend a bit
more, there are some 6" Newtonian reflectors on eBay going for about
£120, with an equatorial mount and 6.5mm Plossel eyepiece. With a 1400mm
focal length that'll give me what, x215? Comes with a 25mm one too. I
reckon it being a 6" should be useful, unless it turns out to be a dog
of course... Here's one:

http://snipurl.com/6inscope

So, while I wait for my expenses to come through which will fund it,
what do you think? Buy or avoid?

Avoid.

The mount looks to be far too light for the aperture.

The presence of a Sun filter in the package is *very* dangerous: They
must never be used, if you have, or get one, destroy it (safely). No
reputable telecope dealer would dream of including such a hazardous
item in any package, whatever the price.

The focal length of 1400mm means that the faocal ratio is about 9.3 so
it looks like the 'scope has a built in lens in the focusser to extend
it. As these are a bit of a compromise and the fact that it is
constructed in such a way isn't mentioned is a worry.

Anyway, I wouldn't buy from anyone who does not capitalise the Earth's
Moon correctly, never mind the omitted apostrophe.

The standard text of choosing a first 'scope is he

http://www.astunit.com/tutorials/firstscope.htm

In addition, the new Skywatcher auto tracking models are well worth
considering:

http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/astro...king_telecopes

- Mike