Advice on Telescope Needed!

Hi,

I'm quite new, i have had a simple refractor telescope for a number of years
now, but now i'm looking to buy a new telescope and require some advice from
people in the know. I'm looking for a telescope with computer connectivity.
Costs are reasonable, but obviously the cheaper the better, although quality
is also very important. My field is meteorology so as you can imagine, i'm
not fully up to date on all the complicated specification codes surrounding
telescopes.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

"Michael Di Bernardo" wrote
in message k...
Hi,

I'm quite new, i have had a simple refractor telescope for a number of
years now, but now i'm looking to buy a new telescope and require some
advice from people in the know. I'm looking for a telescope with computer
connectivity. Costs are reasonable, but obviously the cheaper the better,
although quality is also very important. My field is meteorology so as
you can imagine, i'm not fully up to date on all the complicated
specification codes surrounding telescopes.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

Hi Mike

I'm not sure what you mean by computer connectivity? Most GOTO scopes have
handsets (computerised) that'll point to a requested object. Celestron and
Meade scopes can also be connected to a computer via the scope's handset and
a computer's serial (rs 232) port. If your PC doesn't have a serial port
then a USB-RS232 convertor can be used.

There's an awful lot on the market that'll do the job and the two important
questions that need to be asked a what are you hoping to achieve with the
scope and how much have you got to spend?

If you're looking to do imaging then you'll be wanting the best possible
mount and drive's that you can afford, if observing then you'll be looking
for the largest aperture you can afford.

A simple GOTO 60-70mm refractor can be had for abround £250 and 4 1/2" GOTO
can be gotten for about £300. The Celestron 5" SCT goes for £900.
At the higher end of "cheap" there's the Meade LX90-LNT 8" at around £1500
and the LX200 GPS 8"£2300. The LX90 and LX200 share the same optics, the
LX200's handset, drives, mount and focusser are more sophisticated.

The LX90 is a very good compromise when faced with considerate funds.

Celestron also make an 8" GOTO. Their Celestron NexStar 8i goes for £1200
and their LX200 equivalent, the Celestron NexStar 8 GPS, goes for £1900.00

There's obviously a huge amount of subjectivity regarding preference and
like people choosing between, say, Ford and Toyota and there's an argument
to be had. I have one Meade (you'll have guessed - the LX90) and 2 Celestron
GOTO scopes and prefer Meade's product over the Celestron for the
functionality and PC interface software.
The drive accuracy seems more accurate on my Meade and the customer service
I've experienced from the Meade stockists I've dealt with has mostly
exceeded my expectations.

For Celestron products see:
http://www.dhinds.co.uk/

And for Meade, try:
http://www.telescopehouse.co.uk
and
http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk/

Hope this helps

Regards


Chris