Advice for beginner telescope

[Jakerm1995]

I have made a few topics about buying a beginner telescope, I am a complete beginner with no experience. I have been recommended both the 'Skywatcher Skyliner 8" Dobsonian" and the "Bresser 8" Dobsonian" for the kind of use I would like. However I have also seen online where people are saying that 10" scopes are a substantial improvement and provide much better views of galaxies etc. The Bresser 8" is £389 and the Bresser 10" is £510. for the extra £120, is it worth that much more? I am looking to see deep sky objects, however I don't live in a perfect dark sky area, but according to comments from previous topics, the area I am in is not that bad and I should be able to see plenty. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this! I did not want to go above £400 really but now I am thinking it might be worth the investment.

Feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions on alternative scopes or any advice you may have that relates to this topic. 

[miguel87]

Another 2 inches will always give you better views so you have to set a budget and stick with it. Also, a 10 inch Dob is a fairly chunky piece of kit so depends where you planning on taking it and storing it. 

I would love 10, 12, 16, 20 inches! But after moving from 2 inches, to 5, now 8. I know that anything bigger would start to cross the line for impractical. That's only based my personal situation tho with storage, ease of use, transportability etc. I think if I went bigger I would use it less. Which defeats the point. 

Also if you are new to telescopes, the longer the scope, the more magnification you will have for any particular eyepiece. So nudging a dob will get increasingly difficult to start with. Depends if you like very wide field views too; my longest eyepiece is 32mm and I can only just fit the seven sisters in frame with a 70° AFOV. If my scope was longer I would be looking at much more expensive eyepieces to frame the whole thing.

I'm not saying stick to 8, just think about practicality. 

[Second Time Around]

I have both 8 inch and 10 inch Dobsonians, and there are pros and cons to both.

I ought to start by saying that I have somewhat of a disability.  As a result, my strategy was to buy the best scope of the biggest aperture I could easily transport.  Both weight and physical size are considerations here.  I went upmarket and bought secondhand Orion Optics UK (OOUK) dobs, but had to wait a long time for the 10 inch I really wanted to come up.  In the meantime I bought a secondhand 8 inch.  However if I were buying new I'd certainly consider a Bresser Messier, partly because it's also easy to transport, and partly because it's better engineered with a higher spec than many competitors.

The focal lengths and tube lengths of the 8 inch and 10 inch are within about 2 ins of each other, and both should fit on the back seat of a car for trips away.  When comparing scopes in various shops, with the OOUK and Bresser Messiers I found it much easier than competitors to lift the tube assembly as you can use the altitude rings.  I can carry both my OOUK 8 inch and 10 inch tube assemblies in one hand like this.  Granted the 10 inch is heavier, but even with my disability I can manage it.  On the other hand, I struggled with makes other than OOUK and Bresser as it wasn't so easy to grasp them.  The OOUK is particularly light as the tube is made from aluminium rather than the usual steel, and I seem to remember that the Bresser is as well.

The OOUK mount is also made from aluminium, and I can carry the 8 inch in one hand and the tube assembly in the other.  For the 10 inch OOUK mount I need 2 hands but it's not overly heavy.  As I said, it's not just the weight to consider though, but also the physical size.  The OOUK mount is smaller than the usual wooden ones, including the Bresser, and so can be held close to one's body, making it less of an effort to carry.

So as far as weight and size are concerned, and bearing in mind that I can manage a 10 inch OOUK or Bresser even with my disability, there's no reason not to go for the 10 inch Bresser.  With other makes I'd be limited to an 8 inch.

As for what each size scope will show, there's not a huge difference on say, the moon.  However comparing side by side, my 10 inch is a big step up from my 8 inch for many deep sky objects, and hugely so for globular clusters.  This would be even more so if you're in city or suburban skies.  So, once again, I'd choose a 10 inch here.

Turning to the price, you're likely in time to spend a lot more on accessories than on the scope itself.  So the extra £120 for the 10 inch compared with the 8 inch will soon be forgotten.  However you need to factor it that the 10 inch is an f/5 so you may or may not have to spend a little more on eyepieces.  I haven't as my choice of eyepieces are the same with both anyway.  Additionally, at f/5 you're on the borderline of needing a coma corrector.

All this begs the question why stop at 10 inches, why not buy a 12 inch?  The jump in size and weight is such that a 12 inch is much more difficult to transport.  For this reason many 12 inch scopes have a collapsible truss tube that has pros and cons, and is also quite a bit more expensive.

For me, a 10 inch is the best compromise, and I suspect it would be for a lot of others.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Second Time Around