Most scopes come with an attachment called a dovetail which attaches the scope to the mount. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if these added features are worth the cost. This allows for polar alignment which is essential for serious astrophotographers and those wanting to take quality time lapsed movies as well as longer exposure pictures. So if my choice would be a scope that has photos of not great quality and mediocre viewing quality vs scope without photo option but the viewing quality is better, I would go with the viewing quality. (11.33 kg) Our Rating: 9.2/10; View On Amazon. It works great on double stars (for its size, with an eyepiece upgrade). If you are considering this one you may find you have fewer options for re-mounting it or dispensing with the table which could be a nuisance if you want to take it out into the sticks. If I would consider this option, I don't want to buy a scope and mount separately and then not being able to attach it. I have mak, reflector and refractor scopes and if I had to lose them all except 1, I’d keep the refractor as an all round tool. As you say, no collimating required. As light loss is an obvious enemy to scope performance, the more light that can be retained, the better. The names of these lines have varied a bit in the past, but currently available lines includes the SLT, SE, and Evolution models. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth/sky-watcher-star-discovery-wifi-az-goto-mount-tripod.html, https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi-alt-az-mount-tripod.html, https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/sky-watcher-az5-deluxe-alt-azimuth-mount.html. I would suggest that rather than buying from your favorite online retailer, you buy from a specialist astro telescope retailer with a liberal returns policy. Complete NexStar Guide: SLT vs. The Newtonian optics used in the NexStar 130 SLT produce images that are about 5X brighter than the 60 SLT counterpart. (11.33 kg) Our Rating: 9.2/10; View On Amazon. I think these will be better all round on deep sky nebula and clusters (galaxies are harder but with the apertures you are looking at, galaxies are harder full stop), moon and planets. The mounts that come with the NexStar 4SE and 5SE models have a built in equatorial wedge that allows the mounted telescope to tilt upward at an angle. Continued use of SGL indicates your acceptance of our cookie policy. Celestron 130SLT ($370) - Same OTA as the Mini 130, but with a 2" all-metal focuser - nice, I suppose. The Nexstar+ GoTo is easy to use once you figure it out from the manual. The one and only case for purchasing an SLT instead of an SE will be the price point. These a range of refractor, reflector, and Maksutov Cassegrain telescopes. The Orion StarBlast 6i Intelliscope reflector telescope; The Celestron Nexstar 130 SLT computerized telescope; The Gskyer professional astronomical reflector telescope; The Celestron 21023 Cometron FirstScope; Having mentioned this, finding good reflector telescopes can be quite a daunting task. The Celestron NexStar 130 SLT Computerized Telescope removes the issue of struggling to find a planet or star using a paper star map. Even under the moniker of NexStar, there are a few “sub-lines” of products that are currently available. My personal view on this is to consider an achromatic refractor for your budget - either 100mm or 120mm. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Celestron Nexstar 130SLT - wider FOV which is better for DOS, but will this badly affect planet view? The mak will be good on the moon and planets. The goto/ push to is a feature that I cannot budge on. Using a Celestron NexStar scope, viewing thousands of objects becomes feasible for even the most novice of telescope owners. Which one of them would you recommend or do you know of any other better scopes that would fit our needs (within budget EUR 550)? This is a dob with pushto, compared to goto in the other 2. Celestron, like all other telescope manufacturers, has a number of different series of telescopes to choose from. So based on your explanation do you think, the MAK would be the best for our needs based on the 3? Also, the collination scares me. I live in a town approx 20km from Dublin so the light pollution is not as bad as in Dublin (that's just my observation on how is see sky with naked eye vs what I saw when lived in Dublin) . Celestron NexStar 4 SE telescope. Beginner refractors tend to be of small aperture otherwise the cost is alarming. Celestron NexStar . These telescopes are clearly manufactured and marketed towards those users who when given the choice of “Go Big” or “Go Home,” without question want to “Go Big.”. Choosing the best telescope for you may seem like a daunting task. It's easy! Pretty soon, viewing objects outside of our solar system becomes a necessity. All you have to do is simply point the telescope at three bright stars (The brighter the better), and your NexStar will synchorize itself with your view of the night sky regardless of location or season. These are the SLT 90, SLT 130, SLT 102 and SLT 127. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use. Also be aware that whatever you buy it will come with the bare essentials to get it working on the first night, and it will be much improved by spending some money on a set of half-decent eyepieces at £30 to £50 each, and an external power pack in place of the near-useless primary batteries. After I bought a specialist planetary camera, I got an image of Jupiter with the Mak which clearly showed the Great Red Spot, which I found almost impossible to see visually. Hi @mil5nov, how long have we got to solve your dilemma for you (ie. You should be using an external power pack, or have spare primary batteries on hand.