Skywatcher 200 auto or 250

[Sam Bo]

Hi all

I've been considering purchasing a Dob rather than a 200 PDS on an HEQ5 as I would like to get out observing rather than waiting for a scope for imaging. My thought is to save up for a Evostar on an HEQ5 for imaging later.

I would like to keep my budget to around £500. Thats means either the 200 AUTO or the 250 without AUTO.

Is it better to go for the bigger aperture, or is the auto worth the lack of the extra 50?

Cheers

Sam

[Carbon Brush]

I'm not a dob person. But I used to have Orion Europa 200 & 250 reflectors. In handling the 250 felt a lot lot more than 50mm bigger. In viewing, I never seemed to get the benefit of the extra light gather.

Hope this is useful.

[SeedyF]

Sam - I have just ordered the 250 Goto after spending ages deciding I wanted the 250 Auto only to discover it has been discontinued! But that's another story.

I added tracking motors to my original scope and I have to say it was the best thing I ever did. It's great to watch Saturn or Jupiter in high magnification and not have to worry about keeping it in the field of view. Having never handled a Dob yet I am making an assumption but presumably you have to adjust it manually in Alt & in Az to keep an object in view on the scope without auto . That's more of a nuisance than simply twisting the RA control on an equatorial mount. So the auto would be a good choice.

But by the same token the extra apperture will also be well worth it! As they say apperture is key in lots of abserving.

FLO did tell me they can supply the 200 & 300 auto but suggested Skywatcher were phasing the Auto out in favour of the Goto.

On reflection that probably hasn't helped much!

[swamp thing]

Hi

As you can see from my sig....I am a Dob person.

TBH there is very little in actual size difference between the two. Most commercially available Dobs in these apertures are around 1200mm in length (that's 4' in real measurement ) so the only difference is the diameter of the tube, and a small increase in weight.

However there is a difference in performance the 10" is quite a bit more powerful.

Dobs move differently than EQ mounts in that they move in whatever direction you push them, so Alt-az movement isn't even noticeable, they just move in whatever direction you want when gentle pressure is applied, and stop whenever you release pressure.

I personally would always put optics before anything else, but I find using a Dob, easy as falling off a log.

If you are unsure how you would get on with a manual Dob I would strongly urge you to try one before opting for less aperture.

Because if you find them as easy to use as most of us Dob owners, you'll kick yourself for opting for smaller aperture and eletrickery.

Regards Steve

[Anders]

I find using a Dob, easy as falling off a log.

Haha that is so true.

I just got my first Dob a couple of weeks ago and i have no trouble at all with tracking at powers up to 450x. Manual tracking becomes second nature after an hour, at least it did for me

I'd go for for the 250 hands down.

[Sam Bo]

Thanks all for your responses!

Looks like its a go for the 250 :-)

Sam