Going around in circles about purchase of new scope!!!!!!!

[sammycool]

Hello all,

Looking to buy my first telescope, but finding it hard to decide which one to buy. First looked at the Celestron Nexstar 127, after that I looked at the Dobsonian 200p, now I am looking at the cpc 800(which cost a lot of money). I am a little concerned if I buy a cheaper scope, that I would want to upgrade pretty quickly.

I have a lot of work to do to convince the wife to buy the cpc800.........but the question is- Is the Celestron cpc800 really worth spending all that money on?

I don't get a lot of spare time at the moment, so the idea of a quick setup really appeals to me.

Any help very much appreciated.

Regards Sam

[tommo b]

I feel your pain Sam!

I haven't got a scope myself. I'm convinced I'm going into Astro-photography in a big way, so concentrating on the mount first. The scope will come later.

Obviously portability comes into it as well. It's finding the happy medium between what you can afford/storage/what you want to do with it (well for me it is).

All I can suggest is take your time & do your research. The info on this site is brilliant.

Good luck!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Cheap and cheerful solution is the 200p DOB.

[ollypenrice]

Nothing's quicker to set up than a Dob. The 200mm scopes have the same light grasp but the Dobsonian has the option of giving you a much wider field of view. The Celestron has Go To and tracking. The tracking is nice on the planets at high magnification but is GoTo the way to get into astronomy? You can argue both ways.

I like the option of a very wide field so I'd go for the Dob, probably, but these things are personal. On a tight budget I'd always pay for optics before electronics.

Olly

[Stargazer_00]

The 200P dob would fit you well. It's quick to set up, easy to use and would give great visual performance for the budget.

[swamp thing]

Hi Sam

All three are nice scopes, and all have their merits.

The 8" SCT (celestron) whilst an excellent scope is still just that.....an 8" scope, so it won't be any better at showing objects than the Dob.its easy to lose sight of this when looking at the price difference.

The SCT will track and Goto objects for you after a careful set up, but it won't show them any better when you get there.

Manually finding stuff some see as fun, others don't, preferring to let the scope do the work. Tough to know which camp you'll fall in before using a scope.

Personally I would go for a cheaper scope first time out. This way you can find out what type of observing floats ya boat before out laying so much cash.

[Andymac79]

Have to agree with Steve there, and Olly. Spend the money on size, keep it simple. To drag a huge dob out is much simpler than polar aligning, setting the GOTO etc. Buy as many inches as you can afford and start enjoying it. If you want to move on then to sell the dob next year or whenever and upgrade it will be easy and will cost you very little.

But if you love visual astronomy then the dob will be a keeper.

[Naemeth]

Excellent advice from Steve. I prefer using my Dob as Push-To with my laptop, I know where I'm looking roughly, and use my laptop, there is a lot of trial and error but slowly I am learning the sky as well. GoTo isn't plug and play, you still have to align properly, and it's not always 100% accurate, you could end up with the object you want to see outside the FOV.

[sammycool]

Thanks for the quick replies......

The Dob 200p is very tempting(such great price), I am very much into photography already, I have a couple nice cameras, is there a setup out there which is a good all rounder. It is just that I know I will be hooked, so I want to cover as many avenues as possible.

I am currently studying for a science degree, and my next module is basically "SPACE".

I have two young children, work full time and studying......so time is limited......the cpc800 is just an 8" scope, but set up time seems to be a lot less.

Thanks again

Sam

[Naemeth]

Thanks for the quick replies......

The Dob 200p is very tempting(such great price), I am very much into photography already, I have a couple nice cameras, is there a setup out there which is a good all rounder. It is just that I know I will be hooked, so I want to cover as many avenues as possible.

I am currently studying for a science degree, and my next module is basically "SPACE".

I have two young children, work full time and studying......so time is limited......the cpc800 is just an 8" scope, but set up time seems to be a lot less.

Thanks again

Sam

I'm afraid an all-rounder doesn't exist. In astrophotography you need a very accurate mount, a short focal length for easier guiding (which usually means a smaller aperture). In visual astronomy, you need lots of aperture (which usually means longer focal length) to be able to get high resolution for planets and DSOs. Many of the SGL members have more than one scope because one can't do it all. I suggest getting the 8" Dob (set-up time is literally take it outside, let it cool down, and view, the CPC800 needs longer to cool and needs aligning).

HTH

[Andymac79]

Thanks for the quick replies......

The Dob 200p is very tempting(such great price), I am very much into photography already, I have a couple nice cameras, is there a setup out there which is a good all rounder. It is just that I know I will be hooked, so I want to cover as many avenues as possible.

I am currently studying for a science degree, and my next module is basically "SPACE".

I have two young children, work full time and studying......so time is limited......the cpc800 is just an 8" scope, but set up time seems to be a lot less.

Thanks again

Sam

Not really. A good starter imaging rig wll come nowhere near to a 200p through the eye piece. I wouldnt recommend any more than a 80mm frac or 130 newt for starting imaging and then you need a big old frame to put them on.

Dig deep, get a good EQ mount to hold a 200p and mount your camera alone on the mount for imaging. For that route an EQ5 pro would do nicely.

[sammycool]

Think I will buy the Dob, learn the skies first. Buy a few decent eye pieces and go from there. I know it will make the wife happy.

Thanks again, I have been trying to decide for about 3 weeks now. ( think I am addicted to gadgets - thats my problem).

Luckily First light optics is just a mile away. Order one tomorrow me thinks

Cheers Sam

[Andymac79]

Or get the big dob and do what I have done, spend a tenner on a wrecked EQ3 2 and spend all night trying to get a half decent image or two....

[sammycool]

Is it best to buy a eye piece set, or just buy 1 or 2 good ones?

`Sam

[swamp thing]

Again this is a personal choice thing. Many like the sets, others the one or two option.

Personally I would use the oculars that come with the scope a little while before making any decision.

[Astrosurf]

Apparently, with a lot of fiddling, you can image with a dob for planetary and bright DSOs, but I've never tried so can't comment! See here:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-201-0-0-1-0.html

Alexxx

[fondofchips]

If you buy the Dob it will hold it's money well & be easy to sell, & I appreciate why SGL members are so keen on them.

I bypassed this stage though, as I could see a benefit in learning how to use an equatorial mount, I could only afford the EQ5 not the GOTO or other versions. But when I set it up each time the setup becomes easier, and soon it will be second nature.

I'm only an observer so I'm not going to comment on the scope, but I'm pleased that I chose the Equatorial mount.

[stevetynant]

Sam - push to on a Dob is really easy aswel - setting circle, wixey total cost less than £40. Can be a really invaluable aid as you learn your way around the skies - easy set up. I know I'm biased with this but it kinda ticks all the boxes apart from astro photography and for that you are taliking a lot more money - but you can always sell the Dob on in the future - or even keep it as a second purely visual scope.

Good luck with your choices.

[Stargazer_00]

think I am addicted to gadgets - thats my problem

I am too, this hobby is great for satisfying that addiction.

[gravityguy]

Thanks for the quick replies......

The Dob 200p is very tempting(such great price), I am very much into photography already, I have a couple nice cameras, is there a setup out there which is a good all rounder. It is just that I know I will be hooked, so I want to cover as many avenues as possible.

I am currently studying for a science degree, and my next module is basically "SPACE".

I have two young children, work full time and studying......so time is limited......the cpc800 is just an 8" scope, but set up time seems to be a lot less.

Thanks again

Sam

I was out properly for the first time last night with my 250px dob which took me no more than 10 minutes to setup, including putting in the 25mm eyepiece in and pointing at Jupiter. The other guy I was with had a celestron nexstar 8se and he was still trying to get his scope setup an hour later. As we were only there for about 2 hours, I had double the amount of viewing with a bigger aperture scope for less than half the cost. I would definitely disagree about the setup being less for a goto based on what I have seen.

[skir]

I was out properly for the first time last night with my 250px dob which took me no more than 10 minutes to setup, including putting in the 25mm eyepiece in and pointing at Jupiter. The other guy I was with had a celestron nexstar 8se and he was still trying to get his scope setup an hour later. As we were only there for about 2 hours, I had double the amount of viewing with a bigger aperture scope for less than half the cost. I would definitely disagree about the setup being less for a goto based on what I have seen.

I think once that guy has worked out his GOTO setup he will be setup a lot quicker. There is a step learning curve initially. I now get mine setup in less than 10 minutes on average.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[gravityguy]

I think once that guy has worked out his GOTO setup he will be setup a lot quicker. There is a step learning curve initially. I now get mine setup in less than 10 minutes on average.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

If that's the case, I may save and get the synscan dobsonian upgrade once I've learnt the skies a bit more!

[skir]

If that's the case, I may save and get the synscan dobsonian upgrade once I've learnt the skies a bit more!

Yep, ironically with GOTO you do need to know the sky a bit to be able to pick stars or objects to align on. It is by no means a point and shoot affair as the marketers would like us to believe. However once it is up and running it is very useful. But I still think being able to star hop is useful too even with the GOTO.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[baggywrinkle]

I have a 6SE amd I would now like something with a larger apeture, that is always going to be the way..more light..more light.

That said the 'scope only takes me 5 -10 minutes to set up. It tracks well enough for some reasonable astrophotography and I am improving on my leveling methods as that is key to good tracking.

[Rich MedRev]

Two things worth bearing in mind here, Goto might be quicker if the set-up is stationary and the scope is cooled (ambient), otherwise it wont be quicker than a Dob, which given its open tube should acclimatise way quicker than an SCT of any size.

Similary push to is a great way to speed up the star-hopping process and is reletively easy to mod a Dob with, even I did it. What I did initially was to push to all the way to the object, but once this seemed a lot like cheating I followed the arrows until nearish then used a star altas to star hop the rest. You need a decent finder and a wide EP to begin with to ensure success.

Certainly the 200 Dob is the way to start, at F6 (almost) you wont need the most expensive EP's to enjoy good clean FOV's and once collimated it should stay that way unless you're clumsy!

HTH