Which scope?

[Mr Moff]

Hello people,just wondering if you could help me.

I was after an SW 200p Dob,but they were out of stock in the places I tried.

So it's looking like the weekend is when I'm looking to buy my first scope.

I'm looking at spending between £400 to £500 on a better scope than the one I was initially going to get,which will leave me with around £100 for accessories.I pretty much know what accessories I'm going to need like, colimator,star chart and a couple of eye pieces.

Anyway,the 2 scopes that I've got my eye on are,

Skywatcher 250p Dob,

Skywatcher Explorer 200p eq5

Which one would you guys go for?

Will a 10 inch perform noticeably better than the 8 inch?

Or any other scope suggestions?

Thanks.

Danny.

[haitch]

Bigger is better but go for an Eq mount if you think you might want to stick a camera on it to have a play (which is all you will probably manage with an eq5 anyhow)

Do Pi x radius squared to see why 2" makes so much difference

[Tribal-Wolf]

Depends what you want your scope for? You will get brighter images with a bigger aperture so will see more but you will have to nudge your scope to follow things. The eq5 is a good mount but will still shake a bit with winds and is less stury than a dob mount.

[EdskiMax]

I was looking at a 200p on an eq5 - What you mean by (which is all you'll probably manage anyway?) - Should i be put off by this?

[Mr Moff]

Thanks guys.

Yes I have started to think about using a camera.I think that's something I could get into.

I basically want to see a bit of everything really.In the future I would like to have one of each,but it is hard choosing which one first.

I've got until Friday when I can place an order,which gives me 3 days of thinking time.Or 3 days of help from you guys.

Can I ask which one you guys would pick if you had to choose from those 2?

Danny.

[Tribal-Wolf]

I would choose the Dob I think.

[haitch]

I was looking at a 200p on an eq5 - What you mean by (which is all you'll probably manage anyway?) - Should i be put off by this?

Don't be put off for visual use. I'm not an imager myself but own a CG5 (the Celestron equivalent to the Eq5) and have been very happy with it.

It just has limitations in terms of load carrying and tracking accuracy for deep sky imaging.

Most people who image consider the next mount up (the HEq5) the minimum for serious imaging and better still the Eq6.

A big 8" tube on an Eq5 will also suffer from vibrations in the slightest breeze.

If imaging is where you want to go forget aperture and spend your money on the best mount you can afford and a fast Ed "apo" refractor. Then get prepared to start the real spending (so glad I prefer to look with my own eyes!)

Btw I think you can guess my prefered scope type from my sig - get a dob! (oh, and no, the 14" has never been on the CG5!!!!!)

[Mr Moff]

I'm not planning on any kind of pro photography really.I just want to take some reasonable snaps of some things using a Panasonic lumix tz18.

Which of the 2 scopes would you say is easier to track a moving target?

Danny.

[haitch]

I'm not planning on any kind of pro photography really.I just want to take some reasonable snaps of some things using a Panasonic lumix tz18.

Which of the 2 scopes would you say is easier to track a moving target?

Danny.

Neither without adding motors

The dob can track for planetary stuff if you get a flextube auto or goto version but it doesn't rotate with the Earth so the object rotates on deep sky objects limiting the exposure length.

The Eq can have motors added (or goto) to track with the Earth's rotation. There are succesful images with an Eq5 it's just not the easist mount to get the best results out of.

The dob has to be bought motorised realistically where as the Eq can be motorised easily later.

[Mr Moff]

Ah I see.So what about following stuff that moving using your hands?is one easier than the other?

Is there many different pro's and con's between the 2?

Danny.

[haitch]

Well an Eq mount, if reasonably polar aligned (I find plonking it down on flat ground with on eye on Polaris and the other on the mount sufficient once it is already set to your latitude) can be made to follow an object manually by just turning the RA axis knob.

The dob is just moved by just nudging it - takes a little practice but easy once you are used to it. Dobs are designed as deep sky scopes which often also means low magnifications and wide field of views which makes tracking easy in any case. That said I don't have any problem tracking planets through my dob with my 7mm Nagler (scope f/l is 1600mm ish so mag is around 230x)

HTH

[haitch]

Mind you the dob is more intuitive I find when it comes to getting to the object in the first place - just point it where you want. The Eq has to be wrestled a little ( and possibly flipped and scope rotated in the rings) if you are going to a different part of the sky.

[EdskiMax]

I'm growing more attached to the idea of a nice 200p dob the more i search the forum!!

[Mr Moff]

Thanks for all this info mate.Its much appreciated.

I'm slightly leaning towards the Dob at the mo.10 inch really does slightly sway me as well.

Danny.

[haitch]

Thanks for all this info mate.Its much appreciated.

I'm slightly leaning towards the Dob at the mo.10 inch really does slightly sway me as well.

Danny.

I don't think you'll regret it - for visual aperture is king.

A couple of other considerations - can you move it around ok? (most reasonably fit adults shouldn't struggle with a 10" dob) Can you transport it if you need to take it to a dark site (check the tube length and the back seat of your car - or in my case space from boot lid to back of front passenger seat with rear seats folded down and be prepared to leave rest of family at home).

Imaging is best on a good sized budget with a dedicated scope and after reading up a LOT first I believe.

[Mr Moff]

Transporting it is something I didn't think about.I drive a 2 door impreza and the back seats don't go down,so I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fit.

My other hobby is flying radio controlled helicopters and the field where our club is gets very dark at night,so I could always ask one of the other members to take it up there for me.

There isn't any houses for at least a couple of miles in any direction so hopefully it should be a good place for observing.I think both hobbies should blend well together because we can only fly until it gets dark,then the scope can come out.

Danny.

[haitch]

Transporting it is something I didn't think about.I drive a 2 door impreza and the back seats don't go down,so I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fit.

My other hobby is flying radio controlled helicopters and the field where our club is gets very dark at night,so I could always ask one of the other members to take it up there for me.

There isn't any houses for at least a couple of miles in any direction so hopefully it should be a good place for observing.I think both hobbies should blend well together because we can only fly until it gets dark,then the scope can come out.

Danny.

If the size does become the issue you could look a the flextube models - a bit more pricey but more compact to move.

[Mr Moff]

Good thinking mate,I'll check them out.

Danny.

[huggiebear]

I've got a Celica and managed to just fit in the scope into the back seats

[Mr Moff]

Thanks huggy bear.That sounds encouraging.Maybe it'll fit in the width of the boot then.I can't quite get to the back seat itself because the front seats don't tilt forward.

I'll just have to try it and if I can't get it all in I'll figure out another way of transporting it.

There is the option of borrowing my mums corsa though.With the back seats down there's reasonable space in that.

I'm sooo desperate to get one now.

Danny.