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ROCKY'S TELESCOPE LIST By Chuck Hawks I devised this list in the late summer of 1999 when a personal friend, who had long been interested in owning an astronomical telescope, finally decided to take the plunge and purchase his first scope. Since I was no longer a telescope dealer myself, I simply bought copies of Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazines off the news stand, and examined the advertisements to see what models were currently available. I tried to pick reasonably versatile telescopes that would be within what I will call the medium price class (generally less than an 8" CAT with mount, and more than a department store telescope). Rocky has plenty of storage space, so overall size was not a consideration. Since there is no telescope dealer near where he lives, whatever scope he eventually chose would have to be mail ordered. I knew that Rocky would be dissatisfied with a telescope that was poorly made, or did not give decent optical performance. I therefore stuck with the most common, widely available, brands. I included a few models on Dobsonian mounts, since they are so economical, but advised Rocky that ultimately a good equatorial mount was worth the extra cost. Finally, I added some of the most common and necessary accessories, which I knew he might want almost immediately. The short list below is the result. |
| Celestron telescopes: | ||||
| G-3 | 1000 | 3.5" | Mak./Cassegrain | Ger. Eq. |
| C102-HD | 1000 | 4" | Refractor | Ger. Eq. |
| G-5 [*1] | 1250 | 5" | Schmidt-Cassegrain | Ger. Eq. |
| C150-HD [*2][*3] | 1000 | 6" | Mod. Newtonian | Ger. Eq. |
| Starhopper 6 | 1200 | 6" | Newtonian | Dob. Alta-Az. |
| Starhopper 8 | 1200 | 8" | Newtonian | Dob.Alta-Az. |
| G-8N [*2][*3] | 1000 | 8" | Mod. Newtonian | Ger. Eq. |
| Meade telescopes: | ||||
| ETX-90RA | 1250 | 3.5" | Mak./Cassegrain | Mot. Fork |
| ETX-90EC | 1250 | 3.5" | Mak./Cassegrain | Mot. Fork |
| ETX-125EC [*1] | 1900 | 5" | Mak./Cassegrain | Mot. Fork |
| Starfinder Dob. | 1200 | 6" | Newtonian | Dob. Alta-Az. |
| Starfinder Eq. | 1200 | 6" | Newtonian | Mot. Ger. Eq. |
| Starfinder Dob. | 1200 | 8" | Newtonian | Dob. Alta-Az. |
| Starfinder Eq. | 1200 | 8" | Newtonian | Mot. Ger. Eq. |
| Orion telescopes: | ||||
| Skyview Deluxe 6 [*3] | 750 | 6" | Newtonian | Ger. Eq. |
| Skyquest XT6 [*3] | 200 | 6" | Newtonian | Dob. Alta-Az. |
| Skyquest XT8 [*3] | 1200 | 8" | Newtonian | Dob. Alta-Az. |
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Basic Accessories:
Celestron accessories: Meade accessories:
Orion accessories:
Footnotes:
Notes: Anacortes Telescope (www.buytelescopes.com/), Astronomics (www.astronomics.com/), Pocono Optics (www.pocmtnop.com/), and Woodland Hills Camera (www.telescopes.net) seem to have among the best Celestron prices; Meade prices are generally pretty uniform as per Meade's published prices. All 1.25" oculars fit all scopes. At a minimum, you will need to buy 2-3 additional oculars, a star chart, a flashlight with a red lens, and a moon filter. |
Copyright 1999, 2005 by Chuck Hawks. All rights reserved.
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