Nexstar 114GT

Was thinking of buying one of these as I'm a bit of a novice. Is this a good
scope to start off with?

TIA

Redman

On Sat, 15 May 2004 19:09:39 +0100, "Redman"
wrote:

Was thinking of buying one of these as I'm a bit of a novice. Is this a good
scope to start off with?

I've got one of these and I'm very happy with it. It's portable and
quick to set up. Quality seems to be a bit variable. The first two I
bought didn't *go to* very well at all. The third one is absolutely
fine. Some of the tripod materials are a bit flimsy but at the price
you can't complain. For more info have a look at
http://www.scopereviews.com/page1u.html

How much are you looking at paying for one? They have been pretty
heavily discounted in recent weeks.

I've had one of these for about 4 Years and am still quite happy with it for
casual observing.
It does have a few nuances, ie when setting up up in the Southern Hemisphere
for Cape Town it attempts to look for Polaris as a guide star and appears to
set itself up for the the Northern Hemisphere. Methinks some programmer
needs a geography lesson.
Where Meade will assume you're in the same location for each use, Celestron
forgets the previous location and forces you through a few additional menu
options and entries with each use.
Its easy to insert the tube assembly into the mounting the wrong way around,
make sure that the writing on the tube and the small logo on the mount run
in the same direction and you'll be OK.
It will also readily slew to objects that are below the horizon and lose
alignment when the Tube collides with the mounting as a result.
The scope had a few connector issues last year, I opened it up and
hard-wired the connectors and its working fine again.
The red dot finderscope is great to use but is easily left switched on and
leaves you with a flat lithium battery.

Ditch the AA battery supply unit, you'll be keeping Duracell in business if
you continue to use it. Be carefull to ensure that the replacement battery
and connector are the correct polarity before using an alternative source
through. I use a 12V 1.2Ah lead acid battery and can use for several
evenings before the need to recharge.

The cost of the additional bells and whistles on the nexstar could have
afforded larger aperture but I was pleased to trade the aperture for
convenience in this instance.

In all its a great little scope, very portable and easy to use.

Good luck with your choice.

Chris



"Redman" wrote in message
...
Was thinking of buying one of these as I'm a bit of a novice. Is this a
good
scope to start off with?

TIA

Redman

In message , Redman
writes
Was thinking of buying one of these as I'm a bit of a novice. Is this a good
scope to start off with?

I've been quite fascinated to see several of these on (UK) ebay starting
of at 0.01p. Can these be genuine or are they likely to be counterfeit?
--
Neale Hind
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

"Neale D. Hind" wrote in message
...
In message , Redman
writes
Was thinking of buying one of these as I'm a bit of a novice. Is this a
good
scope to start off with?

I've been quite fascinated to see several of these on (UK) ebay starting
of at 0.01p. Can these be genuine or are they likely to be counterfeit?
--
Neale Hind
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

Often just a stating price. Check the sellers history before buying
something off Ebay. personally, I've bought loads of stuff and never had my
fingers burnt. In fact the standard of service is usually very very good
from folks. But check first. Some stuff that looks cheap is often shown VAT
free (and if sent from overseas will often attract import duty)

Martin

"Martin" wrote in message
...
Some stuff that looks cheap is often shown VAT
free (and if sent from overseas will often attract import duty)

Do you know how much that can be? I was looking at ordering a scope from the
US???

Thanks

Dre

Dre wrote:
Do you know how much that can be?

See section E 10 of the FAQ:
http://astunit.com/faq/uksciastrofaq.htm

Best,
Stephen

Remove footfrommouth to reply

--
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
+ Stephen Tonkin | ATM Resources; Astro-Tutorials; Astro Books +
+ (N51.162 E0.995) | http://astunit.com +
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +