Ok, not really DIY...but HiLux and pv questions

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One more day of painting (tomorrow if the rain holds out) and i will have my money saved up for a nice shiny new skywatcher 250PX.

now i have a question for you guys in the know, what is the likely reflectivity of the mirror? i will likely be keeping the scope for at least 3 years before i mote to bigger and better. OOUK's HiLux coatings give ~97%, they claim that this is a 25% improvement over standard for the average scope...is this a reasonable assumption as for ~£170 it doesnt seem like a bad deal.

also what would you guys suggest that the wavefront pv of the standard mirror would be? would it be less than or around 1/4, im just wondering about buying one of their research/ultra mirrors instead (~£560)...in that case i would put the money that i would have spent on the hilux coating to a new mirror and get it after a year or so.

the scope will initially start out as a standard planetary/DSO dob, no AP, no tracking...but i do intend to mess about with those once the time comes and i get more experienced.

[Tom How]

I also think the Hilux coatings from OO sound extremely attractive and I would think they are a step up from Skywatcher mirrors. An 8 inch OO mirror costs about as much as an entire SW 8 inch scope! That said, I've heard very good things about the coatings on SW refracting telescopes, so maybe their reflector coatings are also quality stuff.

Skywatcher don't tend to make any claims about the coatings on their mirrors, or the quality of the figure, but on the other hand I've never heard any complaints - but they aren't likely to be much better than 1/4

The OO high grade optics sound nice, but I have a suspicion that the seeing conditions that will allow you to benfit from the better grades are few and far between.

That said, I have heard the following quoted byOO "Each time you go up a PV you will increase the contrast and detail by roughly 20%"

You pays your money and takes your choice. If I were you, I'd get your skywatcher and enjoy it for a couple of seasons, and then look at an upgrade.