Orion SkyView Pro 8

[a_canuck]

hey folks, thanks for having me. read a lot of posts (4 hours) and deceided to join. my question: been out of "gazing" for 20 odd years i'm getting back into it now and from hours/days/weeks of reading i like the orion skyview pro 8 with the equatorial mount, good for now and ready for pics later. opions and suggestions would be very welcomed!

[brantuk]

Orion make very acceptable scopes and 8" is a very useful size for a terrific first scope. I've not seen that mount before - it looks like a variant of the EQ5/CG5. It will probably cope with observing but seems a tad lightweight for imaging. If you google around you may find a specific review that tells you more

[gdheib0430]

Was also curious about this scope as well...would it be preferred to grab one of these or a 10" dob...I am assuming the bigger the aperture the better and it is probably just a matter of portability or not. I know with the pro you can buy more weights if need be but aparently it works really well as an intermediate scope for imaging later down the line and they sell kits specific for that scope for adding goto and later on to attach any imager to it...as for a dob I will most likely be living in a very light poluted area so I don't think I can really go with a dob because I will need to get out and about...

I think my main question really is; does 2" extra on aperture make that much more of a difference? Here are the ones I am looking at for my second scope when I get serious about everything...

Orion SkyView Pro 8" Equatorial Reflector Telescope | Orion Telescopes

DOBs: Either the manual 10" or one with goto already installed...not sure how good it is on the one preinstalled.

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic Dobsonian Telescope | Orion Telescopes

SkyQuest XT10i IntelliScope Dobsonian Telescope | Orion Telescopes