Upgrading to a better Telescope

[Littleguy80]

I shall preface this by saying that I'm just getting to grips with my first telescope and am very happy with it (SkyWatcher 130). I'm certainly not looking to upgrade anytime soon. However, it's hard not to look at all the scopes on people's signatures and wonder how much better the views are with all the various options out there. What do people go for when upgrading from a relatively small Newtonian, like mine, and how much difference does it make?

[iPeace]

Get ready for "it depends"...

[Charic]

I went from the Celestron 127EQ and the difference for me was big, both with the visual result and the ease of use and setup.

I have also considered a larger scope, but looks like I'm staying with the 8" Skyliner.
There are several reasons against me owning the larger scope (size, weight, expense, focal ratio, storage and transportation) but reason for was for the larger image provided, and if luck strikes, I still may upgrade, but for now, the 8" remains.

 

[John]

"it depends"

It's said that you need at least a 4" aperture jump before you get a really noticable performance increase so I guess you might need to consider a 10" as your next step ?

The "depends" is there because there are so many variables affecting how a scope actually performs, eg: your 130 under a really dark sky might rival a 10" under moderately light polluted skies.

[SW130p]

I have a 130p and still do and use it. I upgraded to the Skywatcher 200pds on a Heq5 mounted on a concrete pier. The sturdiness and virtually rock solid at the eyepiece is a big improvement, as for the views the 8" 200pds is obviously a bit larger and most importantly a lot brighter than what you would see with the 130.

[Charic]

11 minutes ago, John said:

your 130 under a really dark sky might rival a 10" under moderately light polluted skies.

I would imagine that unless one lives under pristine dark skies, then most folk will not truly appreciate the performance of their telescope, at their given site.
For me the difference between my observatory and a dark site was absolutely stunning, as if I had somehow ended up with another, larger scope, bettering the performance of what I know is good already! and all this magic makes place with just a short drive ( when I have the time and make the effort) .

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

1 hour ago, Littleguy80 said:

I shall preface this by saying that I'm just getting to grips with my first telescope and am very happy with it (SkyWatcher 130). I'm certainly not looking to upgrade anytime soon. However, it's hard not to look at all the scopes on people's signatures and wonder how much better the views are with all the various options out there. What do people go for when upgrading from a relatively small Newtonian, like mine, and how much difference does it make?

A few yrs ago i made the jump from a 130mm (Skywatcher Heritage) to a 200mm SCT. How much better are the views?.

I went from looking at the Moon, to a feeling of orbiting the Moon a couple of hundred miles above the surface.

IMHO, when it comes time for you to upgrade.........200mm (8") is the way to go.

[Littleguy80]

I'd definitely love to try my scope at a dark site to see how well it works in optimal conditions. Atmospheric conditions permitting!

What about type of scope? I see a lot of people have dobs 

[LukeSkywatcher]

6 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

I'd definitely love to try my scope at a dark site to see how well it works in optimal conditions. Atmospheric conditions permitting!

What about type of scope? I see a lot of people have dobs 

The reason why many people go for Dobs is because you can get a lot of aperture (light gathering ability) for very good price. Just compare the price of an 8" Dob to an 8" SCT.

[estwing]

the reason why you see a lot of dobs is because they are so simple to set up and you could be observing in 10mins tops. The views an 8" dob gives are  truly jaw dropping for the price...plenty second hand about also. Plus the ease of transport they really are hard to beat.

[LukeSkywatcher]

The only reason why i decided on an 8" SCT over an 8" Dob is due to my limited mobility. I could never dream of being able to manage an 8" Dob. If i could........i most certainly would have.

[Alien 13]

Upgrading doesn't always mean bigger, you can upgrade from a 10 inch Dob to a 120 mm APO or 100 mm Tak and it will show things the 10 inch cant and vice versa.

Alan

[laudropb]

This is a more complicated question than it might seem at first glance. Much depends on the type of observing you like to do. I started out with an 8 inch Dob and have been very happy with it. Looked at a bit of everything. DSOs, planets , double stars and the Moon. I found myself really enjoying sketching the Moon and planets so decided to get a 127 Mak on a tracking mount.  Then retired from work and decided I wanted to do some solar observing to fill my days. I got a ST102 frac and a Herschel wedge and had a great time last summer observing the Sun. I often left the frac up if the skies looked promising and found that the widefield views of star fields were very enjoyable. I also found that views of the Moon were sharper than with the Dob or Mak, but there was a problem with CA. So my last purchase was a 120 ED. I have had little time to use it because of the permacloud, but the views achievable are quite stunning.

To cut a long story short I have ended up with 4 scopes and intend to keep them all. The point I am trying to make is that as you become more experienced you will be in a much better position to decide on any future upgrades. Having waffled on a bit I would just say that if you want to do a bit of everything and only want to have one scope, then in my humble opinion a 8 or 10 inch Dob is the way to go. Unless you get the photography bug of course.

[Alfian]

For me "upgrade" has meant not necessarily going bigger but over time getting to grips with what works for me and getting a feeling for what my preferences are, and going with that.  I've recently acquired an ED 100 and I love it, it feels like a good fit for me. For me the views are very satisfying which is all that really matters. For the money spent I could have bought a big dob and many would have advised that, but I didn't! Who knows at some point in the future things might change. I 've faffed (!) around with various scopes over the last few years for better or worse, perhaps part of the learning curve, but wouldn't it be nice to know what will float our particular boat, without going through the process of finding out!

[kev100]

Hiya, I went from a 130P to a 10 inch dob and haven't looked back. The difference was chalk and cheese. The 250PX as a great all rounder, and I've seen things I never could have with the 130. Wouldn't have any hesitation recommending it as an upgrade*.

Kev

*mileage may vary, other scopes are available ...

[Size9Hex]

3 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

Upgrading doesn't always mean bigger, you can upgrade from a 10 inch Dob to a 120 mm APO or 100 mm Tak and it will show things the 10 inch cant and vice versa.

Alan

Nice one. I started with a 10" but my second scope was a 4" frac - shows me some great stuff that the 10" dob just looks straight through (i.e. big objects) and it's a better option for solar. It's arguably a downgrade (taking only the size into account) but complements the abilities of the 10" pretty well.

I've previously compared my 10x50mm binos against the naked eye (with the binos collecting 100 times more light than the naked eye assuming a 5mm pupil) and then binos vs. 250mm dob (dob "only" collecting 25 times more light than the binos). To keep getting comparably big gains, I guess my next scope would need to utterly enormous! 

[Littleguy80]

Thank you all for thoughts. Super interesting. I'm visiting a local astronomy club on Friday as they have an open public night. I may well end up joining which will hopefully give me an opportunity to try some of the different options over time. I'm determined to see as much as possible with the 130 first though. I still have so much to learn!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Different scopes perform differently. If there is one scope for everything, i'd like to meet it.

My 70mm Travelscope: is a wide field scope. Its great for clusters and asterisms,constellations and nice views of the Moon. Rubbish for observing planets. I now solely use it for solar observing (with Hershel wedge and safety filters).

My 90mm refractor: Absolutely the best views of the planets i have ever gotten. I dont use this scope because it is on an EQ mount and EQ and i just dont get along with each other.

My 130mm Skywatcher Heritage: is a great all rounder. I really cant find much to complain about. Its a joy to use and relax with.

My 200mm SCT: I personally cant fault it apart from the focuser. Apparently SCT scopes have a narrow(er) FOV. I just dont notice it myself.

At the end of the day, it comes down to what you can afford and if you enjoy the views and the scope then that is ALL that matters. 

I prefer my 10x50 bins over my 20x90 bins.

[Starlight 1]

7 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Thank you all for thoughts. Super interesting. I'm visiting a local astronomy club on Friday as they have an open public night. I may well end up joining which will hopefully give me an opportunity to try some of the different options over time. I'm determined to see as much as possible with the 130 first though. I still have so much to learn!

Its not a bad club  and nice dark sky ,I have been over about 10 times in 3 years ,  I give up now but still have my kit .

[estwing]

2 hours ago, Size9Hex said:

the 10" dob just looks straight through (i.e. big objects)

you need a low power eyepiece then...

[iPeace]

2 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

I'm determined to see as much as possible with the 130 first though. I still have so much to learn!

You're well on the path.

[swamp thing]

39 minutes ago, estwing said:

you need a low power eyepiece then...

Hahahahaha 

Agreed. Not sure my 10" looks 'straight through' much, TBH the FOV is pretty big. Maybe the milky way???  

[estwing]

[Size9Hex]

31 minutes ago, estwing said:

you need a low power eyepiece then...

I'll let my wife know the internet has told me to buy another one! 

Admitedly there aren't too many objects that the big scope looks through, but I've felt the nebula around the Pleiades has proved easier in the smaller scope (which cost less than my lowest power EP ), and also in slightly light polluted conditions it has been easier to latch onto the North America Nebula and M33 in the smaller scope for example.

To the OP, sorry to take it off topic. The 10" dob is brilliant and if I could one, it'd be the 10" without hesitation.

[swamp thing]

12 hours ago, Size9Hex said:

I'll let my wife know the internet has told me to buy another one! 

Admitedly there aren't too many objects that the big scope looks through, but I've felt the nebula around the Pleiades has proved easier in the smaller scope (which cost less than my lowest power EP ), and also in slightly light polluted conditions it has been easier to latch onto the North America Nebula and M33 in the smaller scope for example.

To the OP, sorry to take it off topic. The 10" dob is brilliant and if I could one, it'd be the 10" without hesitation.

Aah I see from your sig your eyepieces only go down to 24mm. That'll be it then I have a 31mm 82˚ 'big wide' for those occasions. Tell your wife you neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!!! one