Ranking The Best Reflector Telescopes on Tripod (3″ to 10″ Newts)
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While Dobsonian telescopes dominate our rankings and are hailed for their affordability and exceptional viewing capabilities for the price, other types of telescopes, such as a good quality tripod-mounted Newtonian reflector, may fit your needs too.
But if you ask us, we mostly see reflecting telescopes mounted on tripods as a bit silly. The larger reflector telescopes we’ve used ended up being very heavy and unsteady, putting the eyepieces in awkward positions on their equatorial mount. When it comes to smaller reflector units, they aren’t as cost-effective as a Dobsonian of the same aperture and are also a lot less convenient than an equivalent catadioptric or Dobsonian.
In this article, we’ve ranked some of the best and affordably-priced Newtonian reflectors on tripods, which are meant for visual observation at the eyepiece and are easy to use if you’re new to the hobby. These telescopes don’t offer the best value for the money compared to a tabletop dobsonian, full-sized dobsonian, or even some refractors and catadioptrics sold at similar prices, but they are all fine and affordable instruments. Compared to their Dobsonian counterparts offering the same aperture, you are paying 2 or 3 times as much for the same optics and ultimately the same views at the eyepiece.
If your prime intent is to do deep-sky astrophotography, you’ll want to pick out a Newtonian astrograph optical tube and a separately sold mount, which may not be from the same manufacturer.
Small catadioptrics or refractors are typically lighter than an equivalent aperture reflector on a tripod. Catadioptrics tend to be also more compact. For instance, my SarBlue Mak70, a Maksutov Cassegrain catadioptric, is barely bigger or heavier than a 20-ounce beverage can and sits atop a lightweight and compact tripod. It accompanies my 5” Maksutov as a “grab n’ go” scope for when I want to quickly go outside and get sharp views of the Moon or planets without much effort.
- Altitude-azimuth (Alt-az or AZ) mounts, such as Dobsonians, can be straightforward and easy to use, moving both vertically and horizontally like a familiar photo tripod, making them suitable for beginners. However, unlike Dobsonian alt-azimuths, most of the manual alt-az mounts that come with tripods are wobbly, imprecise, and generally of low quality.
- Generally perched atop a tripod or pier, Equatorial (EQ) mounts are aligned with the Earth’s axis of rotation, allowing for smooth tracking of celestial objects across the sky by turning a single knob or with an automatic clock drive.
Ergonomically, Dobsonian mounts offer a more user-friendly experience and compact design than any sort of alt-azimuth on a tripod or an equatorial mount, which makes them the best mount for handling and transporting larger telescopes. Their design is also inherently simple and intuitive to use as well as to manufacture.
Generally, if you are forgoing a Dobsonian mount, especially with a larger Newtonian reflector, an equatorial mount is the best alternative mounting choice and the easiest to find good examples of.
The majority of good-quality tripod-mounted Newtonians are mounted on German equatorials (GEMs, for short), with a few smaller units that are on alt-azimuth mounts. There are also computerized versions of both mounts available that aid in locating and tracking celestial objects with relative ease.
Rank Category: 76mm (3″) Reflectors
Rank Category: 114mm (4.5″) Reflectors
Rank Category: 130mm (5″) Reflectors
It features a computerized GoTo mount, which, when controlled via the SkyPortal or SkySafari app on your smartphone or tablet, automatically finds and tracks celestial bodies for you after a short alignment process that the app walks you through. However, whether or not you need a GoTo system with this relatively small aperture, wide-field-of-view telescope really comes down to whether or not you want the convenience of being able to aim the telescope unpowered (you can’t with the Astro Fi) and whether you’re willing to pay the extra cost for it.
The DX 130AZ comes with the same set of accessories (eyepieces, red dot finder) and 2″ focuser as the Astro Fi 130.
The included (though mislabeled) set of three 1.25” Kellner eyepieces isn’t bad either. The mount this scope sits atop is definitely on the small end for a 130mm telescope but holds the Gskyer 130 optical tube plenty steady at all but the highest magnifications.
Rank Category: 150mm (6″) Reflectors
While this scope used to have a 2” focuser for the widest possible field of view with 2” eyepieces, we’ve noticed that Celestron has opted to switch it to a 1.25”-only unit. However, if you’re new to astronomy, we guess that the lack of 2” eyepiece capacity might be of little concern, and this scope can still provide sweeping wide-field vistas of deep-sky objects even with the limitations of the 1.25” focuser format.
The Omni XLT 150 is mounted atop Celestron’s CG-4 mount, a mid-sized German equatorial mount that we love. The mount is rock-solid with this configuration and very well-constructed.
What you’re paying for here is the electronics of the Advanced VX German equatorial mount and its beefier tripod. The mount offers automatic tracking/pointing, and being an equatorial mount opens up the possibility of long-exposure astrophotography of deep-sky objects.
While the Advanced VX is extremely sturdy with the relatively petite 6″ reflector on top, it’s about the largest telescope we’d let this mount reliably carry for deep-sky astrophotography. However, we think that this 6″ reflector tube itself isn’t ideal for deep-sky astrophotography due to its lack of a 2″ focuser, which restricts camera compatibility and precludes the use of a coma corrector. This telescope package still yields impressive images of smaller deep-sky objects when used with the right camera.
Rank Category: 200mm (8″) Reflectors
10″ Reflector Telescopes and Above
While a 12” or 14″ reflector on a large equatorial mount is technically portable, it fills an entire truck or SUV and costs us nearly as much as the SUV itself. A mount big enough for an 8” Newtonian telescope, like the Celestron Advanced VX, costs over $1,000 USD. An equatorial mount big enough to hold a 10” or 12” reflector adequately, such as the Sky-Watcher EQ6R or Celestron CGEM II, costs over $2,000 USD. In either case, that’s more than twice as much as the corresponding telescope tube itself typically goes for.
As the aperture of the telescope increases, so does the weight and physical size of the optical tube. In the case of larger Newtonian reflectors, designing a German equatorial mount that can not only bear this increased weight but also maintain precise tracking and stability becomes a complex engineering endeavor. This usually means there are drastic increases in the weight, complexity, and cost of the mount as the aperture goes up.
Setting it up ourself might also be a bad idea due to the strain of lifting a heavy telescope tube high onto a mounting saddle or into a set of tube rings. Plus, we’ll need to lug around what amounts to a stack of barbell weights to balance said telescope on its mount.