Care
Most telescope damage happens between sessions rather than during them. Three things cause it: moisture left on the optics, dust ground into a coating by a cloth, and knocks in transport. Each has a different answer.
Dew that dries on its own leaves nothing; dew sealed in a case does not dry. The rule that protects optics is simple — let the telescope reach room temperature and dry in open air before it is closed up.
The published internal dimensions are the whole specification. A universal case with loose foam allows the tube to move, and movement over a long drive is what knocks a Newtonian out of collimation.
Waterproof, UV-resistant, and ideally able to vent. A sealed cover over a warm telescope traps the moisture the telescope itself gives off.
A cleaning kit, at first. The single most common cause of a damaged coating is enthusiastic cleaning of a mirror that only needed a dust cap.
600D Oxford, 360 g/m² · sealed seams · 45 kg · no padding
A made-to-measure bag in 600D Oxford polyester with sealed seams and waterproof zips, carrying up to 45 kg and supplied without padding or a rigid base.
Best for: A Dobsonian rocker box or a mount head that no standard bag fits
≈ €29
120 × 160 cm · 420D Oxford · silver coated · base drawcord
A 420D Oxford cover of 120 × 160 cm with a silver water-repellent coating, an adjustable drawcord at the base and its own storage bag.
Best for: An assembled telescope left under cover between sessions
≈ €16
120 × 165 cm · 420D Oxford · 546 g · silver finish
A 420D Oxford cover of 120 × 165 cm at a published 546 g, with a silver finish that reflects light and an adjustable fit.
Best for: Covering a telescope at a dark site, where the cover has to be carried there too
≈ €16
99 × 31 × 31 cm · foam sides and base · adjustable inside
A 99 × 31 × 31 cm padded bag with foam at the sides and base, hook-and-loop internal adjustment and external accessory pockets.
Best for: A refractor or a small reflector plus its accessories in one carry
≈ $40 / £33
120 × 160 cm · silver outer coating · up to 1000 mm tube, 203 mm aperture
A washable silver-coated cover of 120 × 160 cm with a base strap, sized by the maker for telescopes up to 1000 mm long and 203 mm of aperture on a mount.
Best for: Covering an assembled 8 in telescope between sessions, under shelter
≈ €14
It should be left to dry in air first. Sealing damp optics into a case keeps the moisture against the coatings, which is how a bloom starts.
If the telescope lives outside under it, yes — otherwise condensation collects underneath. Where a listing states anything about breathability, this site reports it; most do not.
As rarely as possible. Each cleaning risks scratching a coating, and a little dust costs almost nothing in contrast. A dust cap does more good than a cleaning cloth.
Any figure written into the body of this page was true on the day it was written. The amount shown next to each instrument is requested from the retailer as the page loads, and it is that amount, not the text, that stands.
Telescopes and mounts are discounted over and over through the year — hardest of all in the weeks before Christmas, which is exactly when most of them are bought — and a struck-through figure on its own says nothing whatever about what the same model was charged at four weeks ago. UniverTrack keeps a week-by-week record for each retailer, so a discount is measured against a figure somebody genuinely paid instead of one invented for the sale — and it says when the moment to buy has genuinely arrived.
