My first Scope!!!!

Just snatched myself an older ETX 60AT package (the backpack observatory thingy) from a discovery store that's closing out on its stock... hence i was wondering....

Was 180$ too much to pay for the thing? It's new and sealed in the box.

Also: would it be a good scope to start out on astro photography and for casual camping/star gazing?

I'm quite excited, but have not opened the box yet for fear of buyer's remourse (5 day return period), hence i was wondering if it was a right choice...

thanks guys.

Not a bad price if it came with the tripod and backpack (although I did see one here today used without those accessories for $75).

The Discovery Store also has an 80mm f/5 ETX backpack scope, which would have been better in the same genre, but I'm sure it's more in the $299 range.

I would not count on doing astrophotography with that scope for a variety of reasons. In fact, it is quite limited in its aperture for visual use also.

In sum, I think I'd return it if you can, get an Orion catalog, and study the choices a bit more. Then get yourself to a few star parties and look through a bunch of scopes to see what does the trick for you. For the same amount of money, for example, you could get a used 6" Dob, which is a much better starter scope, IMHO.

My $0.02...,

Hugh Bartlett

Just to play devil's advocate:

My first scope was an ETX60 which I bought at Walmart for $200 and then added $100 for a tripod. I liked it and used it for about three years. I knew nothing about deep sky objects and spent my time looking at the moon and planets and their moons. I enjoyed what I saw and took it camping with me. It's very portable. It did not turn me off for astronomy at all. I bought a coupler for my 5 megapixel Sony camera and took pictures of the moon. I saw the moon and Saturn in ways I had never seen them before. Then I started taking pictures of flowers and birds with it.

I now have a 10" Orion Dobsonian. I am still learning the sky, and I like to set up my ETX60 alongside my Orion to give me a better idea of where to point my Orion. The GOTO works great after all this time. The ETX has been blown over in a wind storm, used and abused, shoved into cars and trucks, and still it points exactly to the object I want. For me, it was a fine first scope.

Bob