Telescope Guide 2024

[@3dfxvoodoocards6]

Excellent video. Among other telescopes I own the Svbony 102/714 mm ED and I’m really pleased with it. The sharpness, contrast and overall image quality on the the Moon and planets is very high even at 200x magnification. The dual speed focuser it also very nice. And it’s very lightweight at just 4.0 kg, that’s why I use it very often. Svbony sells it with 460 to 540 $ depending on the period of the year, which is an excellent price considering that other companies sell this version for around 750 $.

[@trainguy55-f6q]

A non-sponsored plug for the SvBony 102mm. Awesome scope. Great optics and build quality. I replaced my 40 yo Meade 8" SCT with it. Missing the long FL a little, but so much smaller, easier to use, and more suited for wide field photography. Just my 2 cents...

[@Zillasmoke]

Very good guide! I appreciate all of the specific price categories.

[@thisissparta3965]

Yeah, well at the moment (being someone who ❤'s scopes) have a collection of telescopes, spotting/field scopes and binoculars. Currently I have the Celestron 90 mm SLT Mak, 127 mm SLT Mak, Sky-Watcher 127 mm Sky Max Mak (side mounted), Sky-Watcher ST 80, Sky-Watcher 90 mm Evo Star to name but a few primarily upgraded with WO and Baader light trains. The humble ST80 (less than £150) has upgraded focuser, RDF, tube rings, 60 mm guide scope converted to a right angled finder with illuminated cross hair EP and a golden laser pointer (not practical for outside astronomy in the dead of winter as the golden laser doesn't work below a certain temperature (I might try a dew band on it)) however my green laser works a treat at low temps. I think that little project bumped the ST80 from about £135 to beyond £1000 (hey, I love my ST80). The SLT 127 has a complete Baader light train from visual back (Click lock) to prism diagonal with micro focuser to a Hyperion MK IV zoom EP and a RACI illuminated finder. All is mounted on the Vixen Porta ii mount on upgraded AL130 tripod (Hal 130 is next). Given all that I have spent on scopes and binos over the last 2-3 yrs if I could go back and do it all again then I would just have saved all that cash and invested in the ultimate telescope (a Takahashi). I say ultimate because I don't relish the thought of going on a 20 yr waiting list for an Astro Physics. Taks can come up on eBay often enough but AP's are like hen's teeth 😂 Edit. I forgot to mention my Sky-Watcher 130p Heritage Newtonian. Did you know you can remove the dovetail rail and mount it with 130 tube rings for better rotation and positioning of the EP. Another amazing discovery of this is that the 2 forward screw holes that mount that dovetail can now be used to perfectly fit a Sky-Watcher or Astro Essentials finder shoe. The hole spacing is exact. So a finder scope or laser pointer can be mounted at that point without having to drill any extra holes in the tube for mounting like I have seen with this scope on some Google images 👍 The Heritage 130p is another Newt that looks awesome on the Vixen Porta ii.

[@شعرکوتاه-ع7ظ]

Humans have always been interested in observing the sky and invented the telescope for this purpose, whether the telescopes are installed on satellites or the telescopes that are fixed on the ground. Thank you for your good information.

[@BurningFlame1999]

Very interesting video. Bogdan if possible and if you find it interesting for the channel of course, please make a video with cheap beginner telescopes that you would recommend, at under 300 euro.

[@BogdanDamian]

@BurningFlame1999 Thanks for the suggestion. I put this idea on the list for future videos.

[@frankvrba6247]

I did purchase an Askar 120 APO a couple months ago. I mounted it on a ZWO AM5N. Sadly, I haven't' yet taken it out because of getting all the associated accessories collected and mounted. As of today, I now have all of them but it's completely overcast and probably will be until, maybe, Sunday. Fingers crossed.

[@VickiAnkney]

Frank ; Thats the package I was planing on putting together.But what tripod did you use for the mount? Thats what's holding me back, I want the strongest one and sturdy. I don't do astrophotography I fill it's a waste of time, for me that is. Please let me know. Thanks

[@peterpiper7094]

Great recommendations 😊 I treated myself to the Altair planeta 101 ☺️ I had my eye on it for a while and I wanted it at the introductory price so I had to take the plunge ☺️it’s like the TS 102 you had on your list, it’s amazing and it has the removable tube section so I can attach the binoviewers ☺️☺️. As an idea for a Christmas video let’s hear what’s on your wish list eyepieces mounts Ota’s. I’m thinking about a heated jacket 😂😂but if this cloud doesn’t clear soon I may have to buy a dust cover for my telescope 😂😂 wishing you all the best ..Peter

[@ericvan-hollebeke1760]

Vidéo intéressante comme toujours avec des sous titres en français vue de la Normandie. Très divertissant et instructif, c'est vraiment un plaisir de vous suivre. Merci.

[@DK-df2hi]

Appreciate the video. Can review mounts with a focus on mounts that would be good for both visual and astrophotography? Maybe do multiple price points.

[@MatthieusStuff]

Thanks Bogdan, great recommendations! I have the sv503 102ED which is awesome and a good C5 that holds its own against the sv503. I agree with your top picks too though the $2000 category is a hard call. The C9.25 is a bit of a do it all scope by being relatively portable in spite of its fairly big aperture. I have a 16” dob and globular clusters are just amazing in it!

[@ivegrbic]

Hi Bogdan, first of all, thank you for a great content you provide. You always say you're mostly a visual observer. I'm wondering what are your main targets for visual observation? To me it seems if you don't go the astrophotography route you end up having planets, maybe some nebulas and double stars... and that seems to be it?

[@BogdanDamian]

@ivegrbic Hi, glad you like the videos! While you can't see as many targets as you can photograph, these are still plenty to not get bored. The planets and the moon of course, but also DSOs with a mag lower than 6-5 such as NGC 104, M3, M31, M42, M4, M45, M5 and so on, are visible even from a Bortle 4 area on good nights. Every time I go outside I try to find new stuff to observe and this keeps the game interesting, at least for me 😃

[@liewsc]

Great video Bogdan, do you know if the sv503 102mm can achieve focus with the APM 30 UFF? I heard it can't achieve focus with some 2" eyepieces. Thanks again.

[@BogdanDamian]

@liewsc Thanks! I don't see why it shouldn't reach focus with a 2" diagonal and a 2" long focal length eyepiece since I have no trouble reaching focus with a binoviewer and a 1.7x GPC. I will however test this exact scenario for one of my upcoming videos to make sure 🙂

[@supermario8416]

Bogdan now that you have the Svbony 102 ED, do you still use the Skywatcher Evostar 90/900 mm achromat ? Will you keep the Evostar 90/900 mm ? How big would you say is difference in optical quality and performance between the Svbony 102 ED and the Evostar 90/900 mm achromat? Thank you!

[@BogdanDamian]

@supermario8416 I sold the Evostar after getting the SV503 because there was no point in keeping it. The SV503 is better in every way that matters. After using both for a while I would say that the views provided by the SV503 brighter, have more contrast and are a bit sharper. In terms of CA the SV503 is still better, but not by much. The slow focal ratio of the Evostar does a great job of correcting for CA. Build quality wise the SV503 is simply on a different level.

[@adibronson5137]

BRESSER Messier 12" Dobson Telescope a large 305 mm parabolic primary mirror, 2.5" HEX focuser and very lightweight telescope tube ?

[@Johnnybox81]

Gonna need a cloud removal guide my friend. :/

[@frans_d7989]

Thank you your for your review. I find there is a disturbing push by telescope manufactures for astrophotography using very small telescopes. I personally I cannot see why one would want to go down that path as there is a plethora of photos already on the web far better than I could do even if I had an unlimited budget. The beauty is seeing the object in the dark skies though the telescope eyepiece is something that a photo just cannot produce and this can only happen with a light bucket, having enough light to produce some color in the objects. From my experience unless they just wanting to view the most prominent planets, anything under 10 inch is going to be most disappointing for most people and 10 inch is just marginal as nebulae are just starting to show their beauty. It is a pity that you didn’t review some of the larger scopes and describe the pleasing views one can get compared t to a 100mm refactor.

[@timpuldupaserviciu.9003]

Bună ziua, am cumpărat un telescop Bresser Refractor 2 Goto 127 /1200 și are un ocular de 26 mm plossl . Am probat ieri prima dată, se vede foarte frumos și clar ,am putut observa Jupiter, dar nu sa putut vedea mai mare și mai clar . Poate mă ajutați dumnevoastră cu o sugestie și îmi scrieți ce fel de oculare să cumpăr să observ mult mai aproape planetele și galaxiile. Vă mulțumim frumos!

[@BogdanDamian]

@timpuldupaserviciu.9003 Buna seara, pentru planete as recomanda un SV215 3-8m zoom. Pentru DSO ar merge un SWAN de 32mm de la Omegon, insa pentru asta aveti nevoie de o diagonala de 2". Dar in general Plössl-ul de 26m este destul de ok pentru DSO si Luna. Aicea am mai multe exemple: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6q3lJVqep2omM0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn_ClGWkjMyGfbc

[@timpuldupaserviciu.9003]

Mulțumesc frumos ​@@BogdanDamian

[@cbf63]

Fyi...Buck is an informal reference to $1 that may trace its origins to the American colonial period when deerskins (buckskins) were commonly traded for goods. So it's more of a slang word.

[@thisissparta3965]

Hey that was a useful insight. Never thought of that before. Here in UK our slang is the 'quid'. Never questioned why but after this insight on the 'buck' I just had to Google 'quid' and came up with the following.... ....The word origin may be traced back to Quidhampton, a village in Wiltshire, England, once home to a Royal Mint paper mill. Any paper money made in this mill might have been called a quid. The pound sterling has a rich history of more than 12 centuries as the world's oldest currency still in use.

[@cbf63]

@thisissparta3965 interesting... have you heard the term mind your p's and q's?... that means mind your pints and quarts of beer and don't over do it.

[@thisissparta3965]

@@cbf63 heard the term. Sometimes to do with bad language? (swearing). I guess pints and quarts would trigger that. Every day a school day 😂

[@dff19707]

Because Orion is sadly out of business in 2024, I’m assuming that’s why my StarBlast didn’t make the list. 🤣