Refractor help needed:(

[Seth]

I was wandering what is the minimum sized refractor I should get and could you reccomend any good models?

[John]

Hi Seth - welcome to the forum !

What sort of budget do you have ? - that will really dictate what size you can get.

Have you ruled out newtonian scopes completely ? - you do get a lot more aperture and performance capability per £ with those.

[haitch]

10" f15 should do it.

Seriously though depends what you want it for - visual/imaging widefield/planetary etc. and how you will be mounting it.

Tell us some more.

[Seth]

Well i already have a small newtonian but I heard refractors are really good for planetary veiwing which I am interested in. I have a budget of about £300-£350 but it could be raised to £500 max although that would involve alot of saving:) Also I suppose I might upgrade to a 8-10 inch dobsonian instead if a refractor is not a good idea with my budget.

Cheers

Seth

[Pete Presland]

there is a 180 mak on astro buy and sell at the moment for £315!

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

[Seth]

Cheers I'll have look:)

[haitch]

there is a 180 mak on astro buy and sell at the moment for £315!

U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell

Nice scope (I've seen pictures of it) but you'll need a substantial mount to put it on which will push it over your budget.

[John]

Don't know how big your current newtonian is but for a budget of £300-£350 you could get an 8" F/6 dobsonian which will outperform any refractor you can get for that budget on both planets and deep sky objects.

PS: Yes, the Mak 180 will need a mount which will cost more than your whole budget alone !

[Seth]

Thank everyone I'll probably get the dobsonian but one thing that put me off them was that my freind told me they are hard to move aroud to locate objects as they have to be done completely by hand is this a major drawback or does it just take time getting used to?

Cheers

Seth

[ronin]

An Evostar 102 on an EQ3-2 mount is £325

Skywatcher Evostar 102 (EQ3-2)£325.00

102mm (4") f9.8 Refractor

From FLO.

The next one up is the Evostar 120, again on an EQ3-2, this has a range of prices from £375-660. Guess it comes with different and mor sophisticated mounts, eg HEQ5 + Goto.

As the budget was up to £350 that is the Evostar 102, a little extra would get the Evostar 120, depending on the mount selected.

The 120 on an EQ3-2 may be a bit much for the mount. You may well need motors to drive it round and to reduce shake/vibration. Would say that the 120mm would be better on an EQ5. But that starts to push the cost above £350 by decent amounts.

The scope is an Achro, so some CA but at f/9.8 it should not be too much.

[Seth]

Thankyou Ronin It helped alot:)

Can't make up my mind between 8" Dob or Evostar 102mm

Thanks again everyone!

[Pete Presland]

Thank everyone I'll probably get the dobsonian but one thing that put me off them was that my freind told me they are hard to move aroud to locate objects as they have to be done completely by hand is this a major drawback or does it just take time getting used to?

Cheers

Seth

they are very popular. i know a couple members here who own them and are very happy with them.you certainly get a lot of aperture for your money!

[ronin]

No problem. You asked about refractors and as best I could see no answer.

A Dob will gather more light. If you get on with one then great, but a few weeks back there were several posts here by people that had bought a Dob and then couldn't locate anything.

You are aiming the scope up to the left while looking down and forwards. What the image in the finder is with the various inversions is another factor. Some get it, some don't. It's a learning process.

Unless you get a Dob with tracking, more cost, then you have to nudge the scope. Things disappear out of view unless you nudge. On an EQ you can at least add motors easily.

If possible visit a club and see what they involve. 10 minutes using one may help decide. Have fun.

[nightfisher]

a fantastic refractor would be the tal 100rs on the EQ5 mount, that would come in at about £500 ish but no tals in the country till late august, this is a very good refractor

[dweller25]

Hello Seth,

I am a dedicated planetary observer and drawer and have tried all sorts of scopes.

Without any doubt the best of the lot was the 8" F/6 Newtonian - you can buy it as a dobsonian first and then put it on a tracking mount later if you want to - the best of both worlds.

For comparison a 8" F/6 Dobsonian will perform the same as a 5" APO refractor costing 10 times as much.

[lw24]

Hello Seth,

For comparison a 8" F/6 Dobsonian will perform the same as a 5" APO refractor costing 10 times as much.

Woah, I wouldn't jump straight to that conclusion. There's far more than just how much aperture a scope has got that makes it good.

[haitch]

I own a 14" dob and a WO Megrez 88 on a CG5.

The Dob gets used more than the refractor (even for grab and go).

They do take a bit of getting used to with the nudging but stick to wide angle EPs to minimise the nudging and you'll soon get used to it.

There are also options such as equatorial platforms and tracking/goto dobs but that does seem to defeat the object of keeping the cost down with a simple (but stable) mount.

[haitch]

Woah, I wouldn't jump straight to that conclusion. There's far more than just how much aperture a scope has got that makes it good.

Aperture will always be king - you can't resolve detail with a small aperture and accurate mirrors will always be easier to figure than large lenses. (just my opinion )

My (2nd hand) 14" dob cost me around £600 including all the upgrades - show me a 2nd hand £600 refractor that can compete with it

[dweller25]

Woah, I wouldn't jump straight to that conclusion. There's far more than just how much aperture a scope has got that makes it good.

I can assure you I have not jumped to a conclusion.

I had a very good 8" F/6 Newtonian and still have a premium 128mm F/8 APO so I do know how they compare to each other.........

[Pete Presland]

I can assure you I have not jumped to a conclusion.

I had a very good 8" F/6 Newtonian and still have a premium 128mm F/8 APO so I know EXACTLY how they compare to each other.........

very nice sketches david

[twotter]

You could get a 200P dob now, then upgrade the mount later. I'm currently weighing up the CG-5GT vs the HEQ5, with the added curveball of the yet to be released goto dob base units

[haitch]

very nice sketches david

Indeed ... wish I had the patience to not be flitting from object to object and sit down and observe in detail.

[cs1cjc]

A 70mm scope gathers 100 times the light of an unaided eye. A refractor this size is very capable and can be taken anywhere - it is carry on luggage on a plane and can be kept in the back of a car. It takes no time to set up and will give lovely wide field views. It can be converted for solar use. Mine gets as much use as my reflector.

What you do need is a decent mount - in my experience a camera tripod will not do.

[Adz]

I think visually, people who choose refractors over reflectors are for the other reasons other than visual performance. No collimation, easier to store and transport, better orientation etc.

[Moonshane]

I think both have a definite place even if you have one or the other already. Obviously with a 16" f4 and a 6" f11 I have pretty much all bases covered other than widefield views as they both have a focal length of 1600mm. Therefore a 72mm Megrez will be my next scope and will sit well alongside the other two/act as a holiday scope/maybe a solar scope too. There's no doubt that fracs give a more pinpoint view of stars.

I'll be making sure I have a decent mount too though first.