Celestron Regal vs. Vortex Viper or a used scope? (1 Viewer)

[qwerty5]

I am planning on buying a scope soon, and am wondering if anyone has an opinion on the Regal vs the Viper, or any other suggestions for good quality scopes under $700. If I buy either of the two scopes mentioned it will be the 65mm version, because I can't afford the 85mm versions, and I don't know that there are any good quality 85mm scopes for less. I am leaning towards the Regal since it costs less, and can take astro eyepieces. I am also not opposed to a used scope, but I have looked around and haven't found much. What are the best places to look for a used scope without the chance for a lemon?

 

[CMB]

The 65mm Pentax PF-65EDAII is another scope to consider. It also accepts astro eyepieces. We have both the 65mm and the 80mm. Both paired with fixed eyepieces from Televue.

We also have a Kowa TSN-883 with zoom.

We use the Pentax scopes along side the Kowa. For the price the Pentax setups are extremely good and rival scopes costing more when the Pentax scopes are used at 40x or less.

65mm body only is about $550.
65mm body with Pentax zoom is about $750.

 

[BKoh]

Consider the Svbony SV406P, available in 65mm and 80mm. I have the 80mm and am pleased. It takes standard 1.25" astro eyepieces, I have also bought additional eyepieces for it.

More dicussions here:

Svbony 406P/46P 80mm spotters anyone?

I’ve bought a few cheap generic astro parts from Svbony before and just noted they also sell some 80mm ED spotters. Both come with a 20-60x zoom and seems to get reasonable reviews. The interesting part is the 406P advertises it can also take 1.25” astro eyepieces (don’t know about the 46P)...

www.birdforum.net

 

[Jkloz]

I recently got the regal and am very happy with it . The stock eyepiece is good but gets soft at higher mag . I fixed this with the baader hyperion zoom which just makes the scope awesome .