Dobsonian vs SCT/AVX mount

[Jeffr86]

Not really, I just wanted your attention

Its a little long I admit. the premise is what input/option would you consider given identical circumstances. I have cross posted this in a few different forums that I follow as everyone isn't on every site. There are some options I've considered and researched, but really feel more content and comfortable in the specified realms.  So I am less concerned about whether a 8" or a 6", and more concerned with the options. However I am very comfortable with an 8" scope as far as weight, price goes.

You get free brownies***** for reading and sharing your thoughts!

When I began looking for a telescope, I began looking at different guides in different blogs, reddit, magazine.

I read alot of input, asked some questions, etc. At the time my philosophy of use WAS (Important)

• 40/60 video/naked eye. At the time I had a little experience as a kid with a telescope, never with video cameras and cameras really. It was all point and shoot. Basically, I had planned on frustration with the video aspect given lack of experience, first time, etc. I even contemplated the "Screw this I quit factor" into the video side. While my results thus far with my set up have been disappointing, I have had some success. Enough success that I spend probably 80% of the time fooling with video and related stuff, and 20% doing some naked eye before i pack it in. When Im not "doing it" I spend most of my telescope related thoughts on getting my own pictures and making my own memories. If I simply wanted to see it, we have the Hubble and a whole group related to astrophotography.

• I wanted the best bang for my buck. I defined bang then mostly as aperture and the GoTo function. Initially I was saving up for the 10" GoTo Dobsonian. I opted for the 8". From the standpoint of my little ford focus, that was a good decision. my OTA takes up the entire back seat. the base takes up the passenger seat, and nothing fits in the trunk. For me, that portability wasnt much of an issue (we will develop portability later). The aperture was the bigger draw in the purchase. If i had one more inch in OTA length, I probably couldnt fit the OTA in my car.

• Portability, yes it does fit in my focus. However, the portability question then to me looked like this. I can easily pick up the dobsonian with OTA and walk it outside, to my driveway, out in suburbia. Easy peasy. No heavier than balancing truck turbos in one hand, while trying to start the nuts, or moving a clutch assembly around for an Eaton fuller transmission. It is important for me that I get out once a week, but the thought of going to a true dark-site, star party didn't really register with me. Or it did not register in terms of "bringing my own scope." There and back again, living room to driveway, a telescopes tale.

NOW

• SO now it has become 80/20 video/naked eye. Im going to assume that all telescopes I would ever buy --barring striking oil and building my own observatory on a mountain top-- will except an eye piece if i so decide, so the 20% solves itself.

• Portability is YUUGEE now. Ive decided to go back to school full time, get a STEM degree, and go full on science wacko (likely physics or computer science related). Which translates into this. Im moving. Im likely going to be moving to an apartment complex. The weight of my present scope is < problem than the whole bulky thing its got going on. A telescope contraption that comes in three nice pieces, OTA+ Drive + tripod is looking A LOT more attractive. Did I mention portability question = YUUGEE? Now I will likely be forced to pack up every Friday evening and travel some. silly humans and their lights and buildings!

So I think I have a decision to come to, and I have a few possible choices to choose from.

Option A:

• Attempt to sell my dobsonian,

• use money from that by 8" SCT, Advanced VX

• and go nuts.

Option B:

• Take my OTA, remove the dob mounting, plug the holes, buy a advanced VX and go nuts. *OTA weighs 19lbs by itself, not sure how much the dob mounting attatched to OTA weighs, OTA + all extras = 23lbs /cue advice about not exceeding 50% of max payload capacity

• attempt to sell base? not likely??? Would someone really buy just a goto base? no? that is what I thought

• buy advanced VX, rings, bracket

• buy a beer or three and go nuts.

Option C:

• Keep Dobsonian and OTA

• Buy 8" SCT, Advanced VX telescope also

• Become king of the telescopes, have no money for beer and no subjects to tax.

Option D:

• Do Orion/celestron take trade ins?

Things I really dont want to contemplate?

• Id rather stick with 8" They make a 6" too, and there are Ioptron mounts, Sirius, Astrophysics, etc but

• I dont expect to be worrying about upgrading mount or telescope for a LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG time.

• Ive seen my share of reviews on YouTube, forums, websites and so forth suggesting very clearly that the proposed new telescope (SCT + VX) will work just fine for ^ for many a year until im loaded. Remember, Im new. Willing to start with a little better stuff, but  Ill worry about 1500.00+ mounts later, once ive established my abilities.

• I watch Ebay, Astromart, etc but pretty much, my max budget is 1500.00. As I really wouldn't want to have two telescopes anyways, money from selling goes to knock that 1500 down, not increase buying power... Present idea mentioned above, the whole set up (SCT +VX = 1440.00, or VX = 700)

• suppose I simply spent 1500 on a Sirius mount. Id rather not do that. Plus with portability, Transporting the OTA doesn't scare me from a "going down the stairs" point of view but again, present OTA means no room for friends, or that special lady who thinks shell distract me from the stars

Thoughts?

cross posted in different websites.

*****free brownies, offer only good 7-8pm cst on odd numbered Wednesdays, except in months beginning with letters J,M,A not valid in Australia, Britain, Alaska, or the south pole, no cash value, offer refers to brownie points which have no real meaning other than a gimmick to get you to read, can not be combined with other offers unless by a complete whim sillybob decides to.

[knobby]

Hi Jeff ...

V long first post  I've had a 10" Dob and a C8 on AVX mount for a couple of years now, I've just sold the Dob due to lack of use , I kept picking the  C8 ...

Not sure if that really helps but welcome to the forum .

[Jeffr86]

58 minutes ago, knobby said:

Hi Jeff ...

V long first post  I've had a 10" Dob and a C8 on AVX mount for a couple of years now, I've just sold the Dob due to lack of use , I kept picking the  C8 ...

Not sure if that really helps but welcome to the forum .

Howdy, and thanks! It does indeed help. It suggests that Im not the only one who perhaps had similar thoughts about Dob vs AVX/c8 .  I mean maybe we are all wrong, but its nice to know im not completely crazy....just mostly crazy...

 

[knobby]

6 hours ago, Jeffr86 said:

Howdy, and thanks! It does indeed help. It suggests that Im not the only one who perhaps had similar thoughts about Dob vs AVX/c8 .  I mean maybe we are all wrong, but its nice to know im not completely crazy....just mostly crazy...

 

And not alone ... said in best Fox Mulder voice !

[Linda]

12 hours ago, knobby said:

I've had a 10" Dob and a C8 on AVX mount for a couple of years now, I've just sold the Dob due to lack of use , I kept picking the  C8 ...

I am in the same doubt. I already have my first scope, a 5" Maksutov on EQ3. Bought because of good portability, image quality and no need for collimation. ow I want a scope to see more details in objects, especially when being on a dark site. What a difficult choice...

So far I have landed on the Skywatcher 8" Dobson. Good enough image quality and really cheap compared to all alternatives. But what I really want is a 152mm achro refractor or a 140mm ED refractor. Those cost 150% more than the Dob and also require a solid mount. I like the suggestion if the AVX mount with tracking. And the other thing is that it will be heavy to lift the whole setup outside. My current setup can be carried outside fully fitted. The Dobson must be carried outside in 2 parts. The Dob is hopelessly big to transport, so it should mostly stand in one place (at home or in our cabin). The other alternative is a C8 or C9,25, which are a lot more portable than the Dob. But that also require a new, quite solid mount. My current mount will not do.

And if not a refractor, I would like to have the Skywatcher Maksutov Newton 190mm. Sounds like a really good scope that doesn't need collimation. But ways a ton of will be heavy to lift on the mount when setting up. Requires a solid and expensive mount. And I find it just too expensive.

I have also really considered the 8" newton on an EQ mount instead of the Dob. Almost the same scope as the Dob, but with a slightly shorter focus length and therefore a bit more sensitive to collimation errors and eye piece quality. And again a pricy mount.

So for the moment, I still opt for the Dob. The Orion Optics Dob though with a top mirror was tempting, but costs 200% more than the skywatcher and that is again a lot of many. Hard to defend at home. And maybe in some years (or already next year), I might already want a 14" travel Dob. Who knows... Anyway, top quality mirrors are costly, I have noticed.

To make it all a bit more difficult, my husband says he needed to use a telescope to take a succesfull picture of Jupiter. His photo telelens does not make a picture with enough pixels to get a good result. With my Maksutov there was something else wrong in photographing, without remembering what. But this would really be a good argument for the newton or the Maksutov Newton on a good mount with tracking. Difficult, difficult...

And as a last challenge, we were talking at home about building an observatory in the garden. The walls need to be pretty high to block out neighbouring lights. It is probably smart to look at your scope from the back end, instead of from the front/side like a Dob.

[scarp15]

I used to have a Celestron C8, a vintage 1996 Celestar, USA built on fork mount and wedge with simple RA tracking. It was an excellent scope and overall good design / build. I liked the simplicity and its ease of portability, quick set up and comfortable viewing position. Regrettably I sold it a couple of years ago. Here it was at the time complete with its plastic dew shield attached. A C8 can be a great all rounder. 

 

 

[Putaendo Patrick]

Just a thought....  The college where you do your STEM degree may have telescopes, either in the faculty or a student society.

If I was in your position I think I would keep the Dob, and buy a much smaller (and cheaper) go-to telescope for portability and storage when you're a student again! There's an awful lot of great astronomy you can do with something like a 120-130 Mak which with go-to should cost about US$500 or cheaper second-hand.

[Jeffr86]

On 4/12/2016 at 01:43, knobby said:

And not alone ... said in best Fox Mulder voice !

I was pretty impressed with the reboot season.  I watched all the original seasons last year.

[Jeffr86]

On 4/12/2016 at 08:02, Putaendo Patrick said:

Just a thought....  The college where you do your STEM degree may have telescopes, either in the faculty or a student society.

If I was in your position I think I would keep the Dob, and buy a much smaller (and cheaper) go-to telescope for portability and storage when you're a student again! There's an awful lot of great astronomy you can do with something like a 120-130 Mak which with go-to should cost about US$500 or cheaper second-hand.

To my present knowledge there isn't a astronomy club in that area yet. If there is its more like a low key group of friends type thing. I aim to solve that problem, or try to solve it once I establish myself down there. no web pages suggest a club, the few students ive asked dont know of any.  The only thing I havent done is written any instructors down there asking about clubs. I figured I would save that for when I meet them in person.

Ive seen some good 8" SCT OTA deals on ebay every so often, So I may buy a new mount, and a used OTA which would save me some money.  

[Louis D]

A complete with giant tripod 20 year old 10" Meade LX-200 languished on Craigslist here for weeks for $400.  Nobody wanted to deal with its size, weight, and aged electronics.

Keep the 8" dob.  They only fetch $200 at best used.  It could be quite useful for outreach in the future.

I have a similar sized dob that I have kept all these years.  Years ago, I bought a 15" truss dob that I quit using a few years later due to back problems.  I probably should sell it, but I don't need the money right now.

I recently bought an AT72ED and love it.  I mounted it on a DSV-1 on a Manfrotto 058B tripod.  All were bought second hand for a total investment of about $450.  Assembled, it's a little heavy, but I can still lift it out the door with one hand around the DSV's column.  Stored, it takes up very little space in the closet.  The AT72ED case is sized like a thick eyepiece case and the tripod/mount sits in a corner out of the way.  I haven't tried putting it in a car since I only observe from my backyard.