Go2TelescopeCompare telescopes

Compare

Which of these two is better for what I want to do?

Pick two telescopes and a purpose. Where we have written a verdict for that pair you will land on it; where we have not, you get an honest specification comparison that says so.

What do you want to do with it?

Nebula and galaxy imaging are both deep-sky astrophotography, but they reward almost opposite telescopes — so we score them separately.

Comparisons we have written

These are hand-written, not generated. Each answers all four purposes separately, because the answer changes depending on which one you pick.

Every telescope you can compare

14 telescopes are in the catalogue. Any pair works — reversing your selection always lands on the same page.

The full catalogue, with the specifications that most often decide a comparison.
TelescopeTypeApertureFocal ratio
Celestron EdgeHD 11 (OTA)Schmidt-Cassegrain279.4 mm (11")f/10
Celestron NexStar 6SESchmidt-Cassegrain150 mm (5.9")f/10
Celestron NexStar 8SESchmidt-Cassegrain203.2 mm (8")f/10
Celestron RASA 11 (OTA)Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph279.4 mm (11")f/2.2
Explore Scientific 8" Ritchey-Chretien (OTA)Ritchey-Chretien203.2 mm (8")f/8
Explore Scientific ED102 FCD-100 (OTA)Apochromatic refractor102 mm (4")f/7
Orion SkyQuest XT8 Classic DobsonianDiscontinuedDobsonian203 mm (8")f/5.9
Sky-Watcher Classic 200P DobsonianDobsonian203 mm (8")f/5.9
Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED (OTA)ED refractor72 mm (2.8")f/5.8
Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P EQ3Newtonian reflector150 mm (5.9")f/5
Sky-Watcher Quattro 200P (OTA)Imaging Newtonian200 mm (7.9")f/4
Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 (OTA)Maksutov-Cassegrain127 mm (5")f/11.8
Sky-Watcher StarTravel 102 (OTA)Achromatic refractor102 mm (4")f/4.9
William Optics RedCat 51Petzval refractor51 mm (2")f/4.9

How the comparison works

  1. Curated pairs win. If we have written a verdict for the pair, you go straight to it — in our declared order, whichever way round you selected them.
  2. Everything else gets a specification comparison. Clearly labelled as such, assembled from the same data and the same scoring rules, with no pretence that it is a hands-on judgement.
  3. Purpose changes the answer. Row order, winner markers and scores all shift when you change what you intend to do.

Read the full methodology