Decisions decisions...

[dharma66]

I find myself suddenly in a rather wonderful position.

I've suddenly and unexpectedly been granted budget approval of £1000, plus whatever I can raise from the sale of various items.

I reckon I can raise another five or six hundred.

This will be my first 'serious' scope, as I've only ever previously had a small Tal-1 reflector, that I haven't used in over 20 years!

My interest lies in purely visual observing. The idea of coming home from 12 hours wrestling errant computers at work, then sitting down and having to look at them again as part of a hobby fills me with dread. So absolutely no AP for me.

This leads me to be considering a dobsonian. And I want goto. I know all the reasons for not getting goto, but I often work 60 to 70 hours a week, and I reckon I'll just be grabbing the odd couple of hours maybe once or twice a month, so I really don't want to be spending an hour and half of that time trying to find things. And maybe a few trips to darker skies each year.

So, I have a choice. I either sell stuff now, wait till I have the extra pennies, then go for, probably a Skyliner 300p goto, or go over to FLO right now, and click on that delicious 'buy now' button on the 250px, and use the extra pennies over the next few months to get a few extra eyepieces, maybe filters, shroud etc, etc.

I'm leaning towards the second option, as I suspect that the 12" is a considerable step up in size from the 10", and whilst it'll normally only be moving about four yards from the garage, it will occasionally have to go into a medium sized hatchback (though I'll be able to borrow a larger MPV for short trips). And I think a few accessories would be good.

However, I'm open to hearing alternatives.

Given what I've described of my situation and given a budget of about 1k now, or 1.5k in a couple of months, is there anything else I should be considering?

[Naemeth]

300P Goto gets my vote .

[badgerchap]

I'd be for your second option - having just spent my budget on a load of stuff and then realising how much stuff I still need (alright - want), I'm left wishing for that lottery win! On the other hand, I reckon you could spend your whole life buying astro gear and still want more, bigger and better!

[ronin]

Whatever scope yu get budget on a collimator and 2 extra eyepieces as well. You will want these if not immediatly then pretty soon afterwards. So £140-150.

If the 300P is faster then f/5 then you could need eyepieces at the non-budget end.

Next make sure that getting a 300P is sensible. They are not small and not light. Have you seen one?. Finding out that it sits around doing nothing owing to it's size is a waste. You would see more with a small 80mm achro as they are easy to take outside and simply look through.

On the CN forum someone build themselves a 36 inch dob. They said they could not actually using it in the last 10 years. They used the 10 inch they had.

[nightfisher]

my vote goes for the 250, hit the buy button, it will feel good!, if your only likely to use a couple of times a month this will do you just fine, factor in some nice eyepieces and a shroud, you will have a great set up, 250mm aperture is a lot

[moriniboy]

I have the 300 flextube goto. Great views and great weight, I made a trolly for mine to transport around on.

If that will not be a problem for you then go for it.

By the way the 300 only just fits in my C-Max

[DOBBY]

I'm guessing it's the flex-tube version you're looking at..the 300 will easily go in a hatchback... you will need to budget for a collimating tool & a power supply...extra eyepieces can wait a while though till you know what you want to view

[dharma66]

I've not seen either scope. I'm aware they are quite large, thanks to the 'Oh my god look at the size of that thing' thread.

I have a feeling the 300 may be just a bit larger than I can comfortably handle on my own, and I also think extra eyepieces would be good, so I am leaning heavily to the 250.

But what about catadioptrics? Should I be considering something along those lines? I know very little about them. I've discounted newts on polar mounts as I have no interest in AP, and can get more aperture in a dob. Similarly with refractors.

But SCTs and maks are a bit of an unknown quantity to me...

[Woking]

Don't get too hung up on GOTOs, a decent finder and star maps/planishere does the job too. Also they don't take as long setting up the GOTO either.

[rowan46]

you will get more apparture for your money with a dob even a goto one than an sct. your biggest sct will be the nexstar 8se after that the price starts to come over your budget. sct's have their advantages they are easy on eyepieces and relatively portable but they don't compete on price with a dob

[Phil-lost!]

I think you should have a look at the scopes first, i went to the opticstar showroom in sale near altrincham before buying mine, took the missus as well so she new how much space in the house would be lost!

[sologuitarist61]

Yep I would go for the 250 and spend the rest on really good EP's. Whatever, enjoy spending it.

[carean01]

I went from a Tal-1 to a 250 skyliner goto. Glad I didn't go any bigger, it's a chunky bit of kit.

[DazC]

250 with extras.

You can't beat extras!

D.C

[dharma66]

I am going to try to look at the 300. Optic Star have it in their 'see it in our showroom' status, so it makes sense to pop in and see. Sadly, they don't have a 250 in, but maybe seeing a 300 will convince me. Although the more I look at pictures of the 300 on the 'LATSOTT' thread, the more I think it looks quite reasonable...it will live in my locked garage, so space is not an issue...

And if I can raise 500 quid selling a couple of neglected musical instruments, I could be ordering the 300 in a couple of weeks, with spare available for a collimating tool and power tank...

The more I look over what I can sell to raise pennies, the more I realise how much I have laying around. I reckon over the next few months I could raise another 500, which might get a couple of decent eyepieces?

This will probably be the last telescope I ever buy, so I'm kind of thinking if I can stretch to the 300, maybe I should?

Whilst this was just fantasy, thought I had it all figured out. Now there's real budget, it's suddenly very confusing again.

[Naemeth]

Go for the 300P then! It makes sense, and you will be getting amazing views.

[Tinker1947]

Go for a 300 if its affordable, the Goto, really means you won't have to do any nudging, tracking DSO's is so nice....

[Eastridge]

Having gone through the same process with only a 'lump sum' budget I'd now go backwards. If your budget is truely limited to that, look at what you will need to spend on Telrad, possibly coma corrector , possibly LP filters & c.3 decent quality eyepieces etc. then if you can still afford the 300 go for it. If not the 250 + decent eyepieces will give you more pleasure than a 300 + poorer EP's.

Of course, if you will have the money to upgrade to £100+ eyepieces in nearish future do it the otherway round and get the best , bigger scope now.

[murgen]

Go to optic star, as you have said, and stand next to the 300 like I did. Then you will know for sure.

It is about the size of a medium fridge freezer and about as easy to move about.

The 250 is noticeably more approachable size-wise and still a serious instrument and it was touch and go for me whether to go for this or a newt.

In the end, I went for the 200 explorer on an HEQ5 pro, and I cart the bits out one at a time to the set up - nice and easy.

The 8" newt on its mount is still mighty impressive and causes jaw-dropped expletives when people see it for the first time.

You can't beat standing next to the object of your desires to drive home the practicalities.

(and you will get plenty of really sensible advise from Sathya)

M

[todd8137]

I have a 300p it's a great visual scope and if you got he flextube it may fit in you hatch back this scope will last you a life time

The views of galaxy's nebulas clusters planets are all mega I have 3 great scopes snd mo to .but I fin as big as it is the reflector gets more use than the others

Cheers pat

Vote for he 300p

[Damo636]

If I had that sort of budget I personally would be looking at a 14"-16" without any of the electronic gubbins ,

At the end of the day aperture rules in visual observing and as you state this will be the last scope you will buy I would cast my vote in favor of the 300p. I can have my 12" carried from the shed, set up and ready to go in less than 5 minutes. I find it

no more difficult to handle than the 8" I had previous, the only difference being I have to lift the ota and base separately.

[Etoille]

The other accessory that might help with a manual dob is a decent finder. In addition to the standard optical finder that came with it, on my 300P Flextube I also had the already mentioned Telrad which I found very useful indeed but these days you also have the option of the smaller Rigel finder as well.

As someone already mentioned, with a large Dob you will also need a decent colimator. A cheshire is more precise and I found it neccessary in order to set up the instrument properly in the first place - including correct focuser alignment - but it needs to be used in full light. A laser collimator will let you set up relatively quickly and is easier to use in twilight/semi-darkness, especially if you change the standard adjustment screws on the secondary mirror for Bob's Knobs. I found it useful for subsequent quick setups of the primary to secondary mirror alignment.

With regards to GOTO's, part of the enjoyment for me was actually learning about the night sky and finding the objects myself without the aid of a GOTO computer, however having a driven scope (not neccessarily GOTO) would eliminate the need to keep nudging the tube, but I didn't find this to be too much of a problem, and then only at high magnifications.

[dharma66]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

In regards to the goto, it's absolutely essential to me. If I had the choice of 16" manual or 6" goto, I'd pick the goto. I know if I have to spend ages hunting things down, I'll use the scope twice then put it on eBay. Have no desire to learn the sky by heart whatsoever. That's what computers are for.

I know many will disagree, but it's goto or no scope fo me.

Everything is on hold until I can get to opticstar.

[jabberwocky]

id go for a manual dob, biggest for your budget and then some nice televue eyepieces.

i always thought id want goto, but for me 'the hunt' is part of the fun, ive used goto and to be honest it was a let down, never underestimate the thrill of finding a DSO all by your self, most dso are faint smudges and you may be utterly underwhelmed when your goto slews straight to it, where as finding yourself after star hoping around the sky will enhance the experiance.

[x6gas]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

In regards to the goto, it's absolutely essential to me. If I had the choice of 16" manual or 6" goto, I'd pick the goto. I know if I have to spend ages hunting things down, I'll use the scope twice then put it on eBay. Have no desire to learn the sky by heart whatsoever. That's what computers are for.

I know many will disagree, but it's goto or no scope fo me.

Everything is on hold until I can get to opticstar.

I'm a goto fan too. Frankly, for me star hopping holds little appeal. That doesn't stop me learning the sky though... I always have Stellarium with me to see what's around.

However, do be aware that you will need to set up the GoTo system on every session, if you intend to use it, that is. I have German Equitorial Mounts and have never used a GoTo Dob, but I can now do a fit-for-purpose alignment in 5-10 minutes...