Upgrade from 130p?

[Cjg]

hmm, that 10" dob, plus this http://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-startravel-102-synscan-az-goto.html seem like a very tempting combination.

The 1 and only review on there for the 102 refractor also says "Bought as a quick grab an go scope for when the 10" is too much"...

That was my review.

I sold the Dob as it was too big to take in the car with family, have loaned the 102 out to a teacher at a primary School and my scope now is the 5SE on a Nexstar mount.

90% of my observing is done at Seething, home to NorwichAS and dark rural skies. We get many visitors, and it's 100's of times more convenient to me to have a tracking scope, as once aligned, you can answer questions from the visitors and not have to worry about nudging the scope back onto target.

The 5 is a good compromise between power, portability and aperture.

The 102 on the AltAz go to mount is superb for wide views of things like the pleiades, Andromeda and larger open clusters. From Seething I have under winter, dark clear skies seen just a hint of M52...I had been out for an hour at the time. The focuser though has "slop" and needs to be tightened to keep the path from lens to eyepiece in line.

Chris

[Tlawrence84]

Ordered my scopes! Went with 10" manual Dob and 102 refractor on goto mount. They arrive Tuesday hopefully, so I apologise in advance for any clouds we will get.

The SCT's were always going to fulfil the travel and storage requirements, but I just couldn't bring myself to only go for a 6" at that cost. Next month, eye pieces! Will stick with what I have for now, they can come later.

[Jules Tohpipi]

I just have a question regarding the dob,

How does it perform at high mags on a fast moving object, for example trying to view the Great Red Spot on Jupiter or see the Cassini division on Saturns rings? I have been advised that objects might move out of the field of view very quickly and nudging the scope doesn't like 'tiny' movements, it jerks rather than like a slow motion movement on an EQ mount.

Never had any great problems myself with the 8" at high mags. It moves pretty smoothly on small nudges - all depends I suppose on if you have everything tensioned correctly on the assembly. It's easy to adjust if you have backlash.

For me, what has played a far greater role is how sharp the EP is to the edge. The Baader Zoom is not sharp towards the edge at high mags and so far more frequent nudging is required to keep objects in the central region. Whereas the WO 6mm is razor sharp virtually to the edge, which is a great feature to have when planets are zipping across the field. The WO is a joy to behold, clear, great ER, without breaking the bank.

[Tlawrence84]

Scopes arrived today! Was driving home from work at 6pm excited to get my hands on them, sky perfectly clear...

Took me a while to setup the 250px dob, I put the flat board on the wrong way round, and after trying for an hour to get the nylon but off the base, I realise it's impossible! So now it won't do up properly again, oops. It doesn't affect the performance or stability so it's ok.

102 startravel took me longer. To remove the bits from the box than it did to get setup, I'm so pleas with it! Need to buy a bag to put it in one, and it's PERFECT for transporting. I don't think much of the battery pack that is supplied, so a power tank or DIY power pack is looked into for next months paycheck.

Then when I'm ready to take them out, I'm greeted with clouds. Ah well, hopefully I can use them tomorrow.

[Bart]

Good for you. Hope the clouds clear and you get to look through them soon. Good luck and clear skies

Barry

[prairie_stars]

You don't need more scope, you need more dark sky. I can see more with a 4" refractor from dark sky than I can with my 10" dob from my city backyard. In fact I have the same problem as you with my 10" at home - not so many objects to look at. Get out of dodge man - pack a thermos of hot tea, dress warm, and take your 130p on the road. 

[rory]

"" Took me a while to setup the 250px dob, I put the flat board on the wrong way round, and after trying for an hour to get the nylon but off the base, I realise it's impossible! So now it won't do up properly again, oops. It doesn't affect the performance or stability so it's ok.""

Are you talking about the white nylon pads ?

Or something else ? Because they need to be at a even level to make smooth operation.

If so , check out the DIY section and check out the lazy Susan mods.

Hope were Gona see some nice piccys of the new arrivals .

[Jules Tohpipi]

Scopes arrived today! Was driving home from work at 6pm excited to get my hands on them, sky perfectly clear...

Congratulations on your new arrivals! Looks like some fun times ahead for you, and literally a lot more to see.

BTW, my wife is extremely upset with you. As the result of your thread I will be the proud owner of a SW 10" DOB with Goto in the next couple of days. So don't expect the clouds to clear anytime soon.

[Tlawrence84]

Hahaha you won't be disappointed with it. I had about 5 seconds view of Jupiter earlier, and I think it was awesome, didn't have enough time between cloud cover.

If anything, it looks good in the corner of my living room, it's like R2D2!

[Tlawrence84]

Hi Rory, nylon pads are fine, I placed a bit of board on back to front (the small square bit), tightened everything up and it was perfect. Then I realised that the board was on back to front, and I couldn't get the main nut off that holds the 2 circular boards together (got it half way) now it doesn't do up! So I don't have an eye piece rack, and it's a bit wobbly when I carry it, but when the scope is fully assembled it isn't noticeable.

[cyteen02]

I was all set to launch into an AP kit before reading this thread. Now I'm asking myself if I will have the time to set up an AP session properly? Maybe I would be better with a simple Dob I can set up and actually use? Maybe I should buy the Dob this year and defer the heq5 to next year?

Then again I really should finish painting the kitchen before I buy anything!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[AlexB67]

You'll love it no doubt, the jump from 5 to 10 inches is nice one I found. Good luck with it, a whole new chunk of universe opens up 

[rory]

You'll want to get that but replaced ii my opinion.

Once you start using it regularly , you'll find your friction preference is important and the centre nut helps regulate it.

They can be replaced easily for a few pounds though so no big issue.

Love to hear how you get on with the big dob

Good luck .

[Tlawrence84]

Only used it the once so far, I saw the Orion Nebula and definitely noticed the difference between what the 10" now shows and what my 130p used to show, and caught the supernova in M82. But with the weather as bad as it has been recently it's still sitting in the corner of the room.

I have ordered a red dot finder for my refractor and a 2" riser base for the telrad to put it on the dob. Once that is finally setup I hope to use. It as soon as the clouds go!