skywatcher 200p goto vs skywatcher goto 200 dob

[icebergahed]

After a year of scratching my head and going round in circles its come down to these two scopes. photography aside which is the best overall. any firsthand users of these scopes on deep sky would be great.

[ronin]

If not exactly then almost the same scope, one may be F/5 the other f/6, but the same diameter so same light collection and at the same magnification things should be so similar that you could not tell.

Really is a case of equitorial mount or Alt/Az.

[Imd]

I have a 200P on an EQ mount and treasure it for its versatility, ie reasonable observing, fast for photos, sufficiently transportable. Its reasonably priced and looks good too. Its also a very common setup and so I can get answers to all my questions from soo many helpful people on this forum.

I think the EQ gives more opportunity to continue developing the interest into astrophotography but placing that aside I can't imagine too much difference. What you can see will depend on how dark your skies are but I expect you will see some of the brighter DSOs event with some light pollution eg ring and dumbbell nebula. I recommend you try to look through one first to set your expectations. You could try a star party or your local astronomy society.

It may be a bit faster an simpler to get the dob out and 'GOTO' the objects but for observing I find that polar alignment does not need to be so accurate as long you start by pointing roughly North and the elevation is correct, I often do it by eye, so I suppose that the eq can't take too much longer to get going. Besides simple can get boring too, I think part of the fun of this hobby is that there is so much to enjoy learning. Besides a scope needs to cool down before you can get the best use of it and so I don't think it matters too much if it takes another 10 mins to setup an eq mount.

In summary, I'm sure either will be an excellent choice but between the two I would choose to have an EQ mount. Also, if you are interested in DSOs I recommend that you don't put aside photography, after waiting for a 20 second exposure the DSOs will be much more revealing.

Ian

[Scott]

Dob or EQ, this should be easy .

Seriously though, you'll never get a definitive answer to this question, some love their dobs and others their eq's. the ota's are very similar although the dob will be marginally easier on the e.p.s. If you haven't already, I'd suggest the only way to truelly decide is to have a look (and if possible have a go) on both of them. I'm sure you'll be happy with either so good luck with whatever you choose.

[bingevader]

Other than the focal lengths being slightly different and so the magnifications for a given EP slightly different, as Auspom has said, it's down to mount really and storage and portability.

Can you try them, or at least have a play in the shop?

Cheers