I’m just starting out on my Astro journey, so am trying to work out what a basic rig should comprise of. So far it’s a Askar 71f, Jewai 14, modified Nikon ZFc and a Stellvita.
but my next reading has taken me down the rabbit hole of guiding.
so the question is whether a guide scope and camera can be done cheaply say <£200 or am best advised to save up for something longer term.
Thanks
Yes, it can and it is. Mine costed less than 130 quid. 32mm f/4 guide scope around 35 quid and the rest on a second hand mono guide camera.
I’ve seen some decent prices on the Svbony 715. Would that make a good guide camera , or is a mono camera a must
If you bin it 2x it’s fine.
Absolutely you can. My guide scope is an old Short Tube 80 achromat. You can find these used for almost nothing. Just about any camera will work so again, keep an eye in the used market for something at the right price.
A typical 50-60 mm scope from Omegon / SVBony with ASI 120 MM guide camera can be a good cheap option. There are lot of pre owned options available on EBay and even on Astrobin market place. Good place to start
I am not a fan of guide scopes but you can get basic setups like the iOptron iGuider that has both guide scope and basic camera for just over $200 and a whole lot less on one of the astro sales places.
As others have said, you can find older guide cameras used for very little as well if you have your own OAG or Guidescope. I have sold several older SX units in the past for around $100.
I’ve got my eye on the touptek off axis device so would only need a camera. That’s £80, leaving £120-140 for the camera. The zwo asi 1200mini would seem the obvious choose, but I quite like both the touptek and svbony brands
If you are going to use the scope with a Mirrorless or DSLR you’ll have problems with an OAG and you may have to shop for bigger sensors and mono too.
My 2 cents….guiding equipment can be cheap if polar alignment is good
Eric Gagné · Jun 10, 2026, 04:53 PM
My 2 cents….guiding equipment can be cheap if polar alignment is good
i have a asi120mm and a $60 dollar guide scope.
with just over a degree pa error my hem15 guides under 1 arc sec with round stars.
im not suggesting this is a good thing though, or i get good result :(
Svbony offers a few cheap combos:
📷 image.png
I bought the third one and it served well for my Rokinon 135mm rig. It’s very well built and works right out the box, at least with NINA. In your case, the guiding pixel scale would be a little tight around 1:3.6, but the price is unbeatable.
📷 image.png
https://astronomy.tools/calculators/guidescope_suitability
For a couple extra bucks, the middle option looks great with a 50mm f/3.8 scope (190mm FL), yielding a 1:2.3 ratio:
📷 image.png