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Hi all. What a great site!


Lurcher

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Hi everyone,

I very rudely joined a few weeks ago as I was desperate to find out one piece of information, (which I've now sorted thankfully), but in my rush to get my telescope sorted I never actually said hello.

So . . . . Hello.

I recently found a really nice post by Mark81 on sketching, and that then lead me on to find that there was a whole section on here related to sketching. So it's been great to just start to scratch the surface on how much information there is here.

I've owned a Skywatcher 200mm Flextube Dobsonian GoTo scope for a year now and absolutely love it. (My first GoTo scope!). - I've been so impressed with the ease of set-up and the views. So much so that I couldn't resist then buying the 300mm version when a second-hand one came up at a good price on E-bay. 

I thought it would be an easy decision to then sale the 200mm scope; but the 300mm is flipping heavy and I feel like I've been a traitor to the 200mm scope which I had enjoyed using so much. So I now have the dilemma of whether I stick with the ease of the 200mm or go with the 300mm and hope it can show things so much better than the 200mm would have been able to. I really need to go out and compare them side-by-side I suppose, but we seem to be in for a long spell of cloudy weather! Ahh well. Decisions, decisions.

Well that's me anyway.

Thanks to everyone for all their posts. Speak soon.

 

 

 

 

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Hello and welcome Lurcher.

SGL is indeed a mine of information and full of friendly and helpful folk.
Any questions, ask away and you will get answers and perhaps some banter too.

The old which scope should I sell routine huh, good luck with that.
That's how I now have 5!

Again welcome, perhaps add you location (rough area) in your profile so we know where you are lurking?

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Welcome to SGL.

The question you need to ask yourself is whether the 300mm Dob is so heavy you might not want the hassle to set it up for a quick grab and go session. In those situations you might regret selling the 200mm Dob. I would run with both scopes for a few months and see how it goes.

Although I have a 12" Dob I quite often use my 6" Newt or even for very quick sessions a 130P Heritage.

 

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Hello and welcome to possibly the best forum on the internet!

Oh and if you come up with the answer to the telescope question, please share. I have just found my first 50mm refractor, ( in the loft, ) which I got bought me about forty years ago and I am contemplating buying another new one! ?

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2 hours ago, Alan White said:

Again welcome, perhaps add you location (rough area) in your profile so we know where you are lurking?

Yes sorry Alan, now added that on to my profile. (Kent, UK).

Thanks to everyone for their hello's, and for making me think it's ok for me to keep both scopes! - I can't do that sadly. - But thanks all the same!!

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Welcome to SLG

Your story sounds familiar as I got a 200p (none goto) earlier this year and a few months later a used 300p goto came up for sale which I bought

I don't use the 200p much now, getting the 300p out of the garage and setup only takes 5 mins and a few more to do the alignment especially now I've for a wi-fi adapter and use the SynScan Skywatcher app to align and control the scope which has made things so much easier and convenient than the hand controller 

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1 hour ago, PaulM said:

Your story sounds familiar as I got a 200p (none goto) earlier this year and a few months later a used 300p goto came up for sale which I bought

Wow that's pretty  much identical!

Unfortunately for me my garden is no good for astronomy sadly so I always have to load the scope into my car and drive to a nearby field. The things we do!

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39 minutes ago, Lurcher said:

Wow that's pretty  much identical!

Unfortunately for me my garden is no good for astronomy sadly so I always have to load the scope into my car and drive to a nearby field. The things we do!

Yeah snap !

That's a shame but can appreciate why the 200p is still being used

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14 minutes ago, westmarch said:

mmm now would a bigger car help?

A bigger garden would!

Or bigger arms.

I see you've got a dobsonian too! I'm so pleased to see they seem to be more popular than I thought they might be. I have to say I think your 250mm aperture might have been the optimum size for me too! I like the look of the Lightbridge, it's a cool looking scope. 

 

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Funny to see others in the same boat. I had a 200p as my only scope for several years, but then a dose of aperture fever hit and I bought a 14”. I now share the 200 with my son, but even if I didn't it would still see use because the 14” does need assembling and collimating, whereas the 200p is just picked up and plonked down where I want it.

In theory it's possible to have a quick ten minute session, but I never have the willpower to stop!

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2 hours ago, Lurcher said:

I see you've got a dobsonian too! I'm so pleased to see they seem to be more popular than I thought they might be. I have to say I think your 250mm aperture might have been the optimum size for me too! I like the look of the Lightbridge, it's a cool looking scope. 

 

It’s the most I can lift and the truss setup means I can get it all into the car.

Together with the weather, the hobby can be mostly error and trials! ? but when it’s good......

John

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Welcome!

I thought long and hard about selling my 254mm Starfinder Dob to help finance my astrophoto kit. In the end, I couldn't part with the scope that had stood by me through thick and thin weather for 20 years. No regrets.

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Hi, Lurcher, and welcome to SGL.

I haven't read every reply above, so apologies if I am repeating what has already been said. Rule of thumb: any scope that gathers photons is more use than one that gathers only dust. If you find you can't face the hassle of setting up the 300mm, then that is the one to get rid of.

Enjoy the journey.

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Hi all and thanks for your welcomes.

2 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

If you find you can't face the hassle of setting up the 300mm, then that is the one to get rid of

I'm so torn! I noticed there was suddenly a beautiful clear sky last night after all the rain, so I quickly got the 300mm scope set up in my back garden and the Orion Nebula looked fantastic! (I was really pleased with that). I moved on to check out what I could see of M1 The Crab Nebula, but that was really small and disappointing. I have heard or read that it can be difficult, but I'm sure I also read somewhere that a 300mm scope should be able to pick out it's central star? Not a chance of anything like that for me!

Unfortunately it then started to rain again! So I had to quickly pack everything up again so I still didn't get that all important opportunity to compare both scopes side-by-side. I think the forecast is for the chance of clear(ish) skies tonight! So although I've got to go out again, maybe I'll get chance once I get back to compare properly - and finally make a decision!

(I used to be really indecisive. . . . . . . but, I'm not so sure now).

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Is there any hurry?

You took the 300 out last night, so clearly it is gathering photons rather than dust and you could face the "hassle" (extra weight) of it.

When doing your comparison, I advise you to do your initial observation of each object using the 200 and then use the 300. That way you avoid persuading yourself that you are seeing (in the 200) details that you saw in the 300, but can't actually see in the 200. [A syndrome referred to as "averted imagination".]

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