Small DOB Mak

[Ignoro]

Hi, my friend would like to buy a small scope. She had stumbled upon an Orion starmax 90/1250 dob on the internet, actually the same scope I first wanted to buy and then people on CN forum told me not to, so I bought SW heritage 130 and I'm happy with it... 

I told her to buy the same scope as I have but she wants it to be even smaller and I suppose she can always look through mine..

My question is if any of you have used the small Dob mak, I suppose it's nice on the moon and planets? But how hard is it to use with everything being so close, and with narrow FOV? 

Does anyone have a good experience with that kind of a micro dob?

The only mak I ever looked through was 20inch and that one was good 🤔, so I don't have good advice really...

Thanks

Edited June 15, 2019 by Ignoro

[Ricochet]

A focal length of 1250mm is almost the same as a 6-10" dob (1200) and I am sure there are many people that are happily using those solely with 1.25" eyepieces. There are a few targets that will be very tight in terms of the field of view but most things will fit in. Finding things is going to be the hardest part, a 9x50 RACI finder will help, but this is quite large compared to the telescope. The focal length is also roughly double that of your telescope so you can simulate the maximum field of view by using your longest focal length eyepiece and a 2x barlow. Perhaps try leaving the barlow in for an entire session and see how you both get on with it, just remember that the 90mm Mak will gather less light so stars will be dimmer in it (and some dim ones you see in the 130 won't appear in the 90).

[Geoff Lister]

I have the Skywatcher Virtuoso 90mm Mak. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso.html

It has a Dobsonian mount and the built-in tracking does not consume much power from the batteries. It can be used without power, or for full GoTo, with the handset borrowed from my Skymax 127 Mak. The tracking is very useful, as it keeps the object in view, particularly at the higher magnifications.

For the widest views, I use a 32mm Plossl eyepiece.

Geoff

[Ignoro]

9 hours ago, Ricochet said:

 The focal length is also roughly double that of your telescope so you can simulate the maximum field of view by using your longest focal length eyepiece and a 2x barlow. 

That's a very good idea... I haven't thought about it thanks

1 hour ago, Geoff Lister said:

I have the Skywatcher Virtuoso 90mm Mak. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-90-virtuoso.html

It has a Dobsonian mount and the built-in tracking does not consume much power from the batteries. It can be used without power, or for full GoTo, with the handset borrowed from my Skymax 127 Mak. The tracking is very useful, as it keeps the object in view, particularly at the higher magnifications.

For the widest views, I use a 32mm Plossl eyepiece.

Geoff

I'll tell her about this one, it does seem easier to find stuff with buttons, as it's all so small...

Thanks