Budgets for Accessories

Strictly speaking, the SkyMax-102 AV set includes all you need to get started in your new starwatching hobby. However, as commented in other webpages of this website, for a full enjoyment and also for practical reasons you will soon realise that a significant expenditure in accessories is called for. I have tried to classify them in groups to provide guidance about priorities, so that the amateur reading this text can plan his expenditure over time (I planned for it two years ahead!). Needless to say this text reflects my own taste, experience and ideas and “the mileage of others may vary”. I list costs in Europe including p&p.

Bags

As soon as you try to bring your SkyMax-102 AV out from your home, using the original cardboard boxes will prove less than practical, if not outright risky. And as soon as you have just a handful of accessories, it will be a complete mess of large and small cardboard boxes. In the Bags & Cases webpage we have listed the following. Note that the two aluminium cases are the most convenient ones not just in terms of quality, size and weight, but also on cost.

ITEM	€
Telescope - Cinmaul Cylinder Military Barrel Bag	42
Tripod - Neewer 31"x7"x8"/80x18x20cm Bag	21
Accessories - PeakTech P7265 Aluminium Case	38
Mounts and Finders - PeakTech P7310 Aluminium Case	48
TOTAL	149

Accessories you will need ASAP

To learn the basics and know where your sky objects are, you will progress with computer programs, but nothing beats the convenience of a book to get started, and a printed sky map on a table. For Polar Alignment, and to find your sky object based on coordinates, you need a compass and an inclinometer. As soon as you get a serious speck of dust or eyelash grease on your eyepieces, you need lens-cleaning stuff. As soon as you try to watch at the Moon, and sometimes even planets, you will find the image too bright and need a filter. To move around your telescope and accessories at night without disturbing your dark-accustomed eyes you need a red head torch.

ITEM	€
Astronomy book and Sky map	44
Compass (minimum quality) and Inclinometer	32
Photo Lens Cleaning Kit	7
Variable Grey Filter	50
Head Torch White & Red	10
TOTAL	143

CONCLUSION: As soon as you get your telescope, be ready to spend a total of 149+143= €292 in bags and basic accessories.

Accessories you will soon find you also need

Within a few weeks you will realise that a finderscope is a most useful tool: it adds lots of stars to your view and it lets you point with accuracy to small sky objects. With polluted skies or low-altitude observation, a special filter will help (there are very sophisticated ones that are also very expensive: I list an affordable one). Once “out in the fields” the back of your hatchback car may not be the most convenient place to handle eyepieces et. al., and a convenient high-standing, light-weight and fast-folding table is a great help. Focusing is not particularly easy with our telescope and you will often find a focusing mask helpful. Finally, you really need a good high-magnification eyepiece to get rid of the poor bundled 10mm one.

ITEM	€
6X Finderscope	47
Nebula and City-Light Filter	39
Foldable Aluminium Table 100x60 cm	50
Focusing Mask	15
Explore Scientific 62° Ar 9mm Eyepiece	96
TOTAL	247

CONCLUSION: Within a few weeks you may find that you have spent in accessories a hefty 292+247 = € 539 !
This shows the convenience of planning this hobby in advance, so that you can (as I did!) start saving in advance and then allocate further expenditures to happy family events.

Accessories for full enjoyment of your telescope

Even more expenditure? Indeed. For looking inside an accessories case nothing beats a good red hand torch. For accuracy of telescope movement the slow-motion cables are very handy. For daylight nature observation you need the fully-corrected image (not reversed upside-down from the telescope, not reversed left-right from the 90º diagonal) of a 45º prism diagonal. You will soon get tired with your bundled low-cost red-dot finder: very lightweight and handy, but the adjusting screws have a life of their own and the dot is not small enough. As for the bundled 90º diagonal, you only get about 90% of light reflection, the plastic mirror gets easily dirty and scratched even by a lens brush, the screw sockets soon wear and need repair, and my tests show that it reduces sharpness in about 15%: some websites consider replacing bundled diagonals as an ASAP matter. Finally, for full-Moon watching (one of the most frequent and satisfying experiences with the SkyMax-102) you really need something better than the bundled 25mm 52º, and a good 14mm 62º eyepiece will make all the difference.

ITEM	€
Red-Light Hand Torch	25
Slow-Motion Mount Cables	32
Orion Twist-Tight Dielectric Mirror Star Diagonal	108
Amici-Prism 45º Diagonal	52
Good-quality Red-Dot Finder	78
Explore Scientific 62° Ar 14mm Eyepiece	96
TOTAL	391

CONCLUSION: Unfortunately now we are dealing with more expensive pieces of kit, and the numbers add up! We have put together in accessories a total of 539+391 = €930! And we have not dealt yet with ...

Astrophotography

We wish the flexibility of the smartphone and also the small-object detail of a camera. Since a DSLR is pointless with our telescope, we will manage with a really reduced budget (full details in our Astrophotography webpage).

ITEM	€
Orion Camera StarShoot Solar System IV Color	82
Focal Reducer 0.5X	46
FV-5 Smartphone App	3
Celestron NexYZ 3-Axis Smartphone Adapter	59
Skywatcher RA Motor Drive for the Avant Mount	60
TOTAL	250

CONCLUSION: In the above lists I have omitted a few items I got that either were unsuccesful (such as a small-cost zoom eyepiece) or are luxury items (such as a 20mm and 5.5mm eyepieces). Yet we got to an astonishing total of €1,180 woth of accessories. The good news is that (1) this expenditure can be spread over several months, (2) I can see no further accessories that belong to this telescope and (3) these accessories, well cared for, will produce years of enjoyment and fun.