The Dobsonian question, ES or Meade

[garethmob]

Hello guys

im thinking of upgrading my dob to either the new ES (12") or the 250px or lightbrige (it says awaiting stock on the TS site but with its new ownership i dunno if there be any more)

the real questions i need to ask,  what eyepeices do i need realisticly to see.  at present i have near enough the standard set with 2 vixen NPLs as well (30mm and 10mm)  will they be ok to use?

and which one would you get!   

many thanks

gaz

[emadmoussa]

I'm in the process of upgrading to 14" or 16". I had the Skywatcher 12" Flextube and it was brilliant.

I was advised against the Meade and don't know a great deal about the ES 12". One thing put me off the new ES is the high maintenance nature, and it seems to require a lot of engineering to get them up and running properly. This is just my impression.

[John]

I'd go for a Skywatcher and a 12" for preference (especially as you already have an 8" dob).

I use the NPL 30mm quite a lot with my 12" F/5.3 dob and it works pretty well so I guess the 10mm should be fine too.

[estwing]

Yes those eps will be ok in your new dob

[swamp thing]

If I was in the market for a 12" Dob. I would look at it as a scope for life and buy an obsession. For me quality is THE most important factor in choosing a scope.

IMO Dobs don't come better than this.

http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/telescopes/12.5/index.php

[AlexB67]

Your other option would be to keep an eye out second hand. As John said given you got an 8 inch perhaps going to 10 inch is not the best idea if you looking for enough of an aperture upgrade.

As an example, the other day,  there was a lovely Orion optics vx10 on AB&S with a 1/8PV mirror for 470 pounds IIRC. If it wasn't for my car and transport needs and I was looking for a solid tube scope right now I would be seriously looking at grabbing it, it went in a couple of days, you got to act quickly when they do turn up.

[russ.will]

How portable does it need to be?

I had the Skywatcher 300p FlexTube and the it collapses from an extremely large scope down into the space of a merely very large one. The base is even more enormous and very heavy too. If it's going to live in your back garden, then that's okay, but check the size of your doors. mine held collimation very well and the only thing that was wrong with it was the GOTO which was embarrassing. Take that away and it's a very solid, if not very small scope with a solid performance.

If you want portability, then the ES is far, far more worthy of the name and optically, based on my limited time so far, it's the equal of the other scopes you mention. Be warned that my example suffered a fair bit in transit via the courier though (others haven't suffered) so there remains elements of doubt over the way it is packaged for sale. That said, now it's sorted, it seems at least as stable and well damped as the SW was and has a much better standard focuser.

EPs are a bit of a personal choice, but there are some excellent value jobs out there. Use the EP guide on this forum to choose a good spread of four and realize that if you are prepared to fore-go ultra wide FOV, then your money goes a lot further in quality and the view will suffer less at the edges in a big Dob. 

Russell