Sky watcher dob 150 or 200?

[Antoinfletcher]

I'm looking to buy a scope and I find the idea of a dobsonion attractive (nice aperture to price ratio). I have narrowed it down to the Sky Watcher Heritage 150 flextube with virtuoso GTI or the Skyliner 200P.

I am attracted by the 150's goto system, because I'm not experienced navigating the night sky.  However, the 200 offers a lot more light for the cost. The scopes cost about the same.

 

Any advice would be welcomed. 

[Carbon Brush]

When you buy a scope as a package, the money is shared between the scope, the mount, and the electronics.
Compromises have to be made.

A dob base is low cost compared to other mounts. It is chipboard, screws and a few strips of teflon for bearings.
This being common to both on your short list.
So with the 150, you are compromising the scope to buy the electronics.
No amount of electronics will gather more light.

Low cost goto is better thought of as 'go somewhere in the region of' and you need to go through an alignment process after power up.
With the manual scope, the process is place on floor, point, look.
It is extremely easy to find a lot of interesting objects and as your skills improve, you will find the more difficult targets.

Unless you have problems carrying or storing the bigger scope, my choice is the 200.
I have owned, or still own 200,250 & 300 scopes, flextube and rigid.

With a reflector, a right angle finder is always my first upgrade, though not everyone agrees. Finders are a personal choice.
Try the scope and see how you get on.
The supplied 10mm eyepieces are not so good, but decent upgrades for £50 or so can be done.
But don't spend on any of these until you have spent some time with the scope.

So there you have my thoughts. Free advice may not be worth more than you pay for it😁

I'm sure others will be along with their two pennorth. Keep asking the questions.
There have been similar discussions recently. Have search through the beginners help and advice for the past month or two.

David.

 

[Ags]

I can attest to many nights of confusion with a goto pointed nowhere in particular, and me not having a clue if the light pollution was masking the target, or the scope was being pointed in the wrong place. These days I only use my goto for tracking for photography. If you learn a bit of the sky each time you go out, at least you will KNOW where you are pointing and will be able to definitely answer whether the object could be seen or not that night.

[Girders]

For me there are two factors you need to consider before weighing up the merits for the scopes.  What has been said previously is absolutely true - any money spent on the mount or electronics is money not spent on the optics, but these two considerations are every bit as important.

1. Where are you observing from? What is the light pollution?

If you're observing from an urban area, then an increase in aperture isn't going to make any difference to being able to see galaxies etc.  Anything you can see will be a faint grey smudge and even using a goto won't help.  If you're in a rural area then the 200p will let you see more and "star hopping" to locate targets will at least be an option. 

2. Will it only be you observing?

If you're sharing the hobby with someone else having tracking makes a HUGE difference.  Accurate goto can be expensive and hit/miss depending on how well you set it up, but even a half decent attempt at setting it up will allow it to keep targets in the eyepiece long enough for you to locate and focus it and then step aside for someone to have a look.  Without tracking, things can move out of view very quickly - and while you'll get the hang of nudging the scope to keep up, that's an acquired skill.

So, essentially, if you are in an urban area it won't make any difference between the two, but if rural then it might tip things towards the 200P. But Q2 is a deal breaker for me.  Wherever you are, if you plan on doing this as an activity along with partner/kids/friend then tracking is a must for me.

Good luck whichever you choose.

[banjaxed]

IMHO the 200 Dob would be the better choice, as not only was it my first scope it is still the one I use the most, mainly due to the platform trolley I built which makes it only a matter of 1-2 minutes to get set up.

[bomberbaz]

An inclinometer can be bought very cheaply for the altitude aspect of your finding and there is a thread here about making your own az setting circle for a plain dob base.

Degree Circles - Equipment - Cloudy Nights

[Ricochet]

I would go for the 200p as it is a full size dob and not a tabletop dob. With the 150p I suspect one of the first things you will want to change will be to swap the tabletop mount to something tripod based. 

23 minutes ago, Girders said:

if you are in an urban area it won't make any difference between the two

Not true. The larger aperture will perform better than the smaller scope under all sky conditions. The only time the smaller scope wins is when it is small enough to be transported to a darker site and the larger scope isn't. 

[Louis D]

20 hours ago, Girders said:

If you're observing from an urban area, then an increase in aperture isn't going to make any difference to being able to see galaxies etc.  Anything you can see will be a faint grey smudge and even using a goto won't help.

I've found that having a large aperture in light polluted skies allows globular clusters to nicely resolve at powers above 200x.  Small apertures simply don't have the resolution or limiting magnitude to do this.  At higher powers on smaller targets, light pollution is much less of a problem than on large objects at lower powers.  Many planetary nebula also respond well to aperture in light polluted skies.  Planets also respond well to increased aperture if they are high enough above your local horizon and the seeing is steady.

[mr_belowski]

if you go for the 200p dob, you might need to budget for a right-angled finder (RACI or Telrad). Using the straight one is a right pain

Edited November 29, 2021 by mr_belowski
typo

[Budding Star Gazer]

On 28/11/2021 at 14:38, Antoinfletcher said:

I'm looking to buy a scope and I find the idea of a dobsonion attractive (nice aperture to price ratio). I have narrowed it down to the Sky Watcher Heritage 150 flextube with virtuoso GTI or the Skyliner 200P.

I am attracted by the 150's goto system, because I'm not experienced navigating the night sky.  However, the 200 offers a lot more light for the cost. The scopes cost about the same.

 

Any advice would be welcomed. 

When it comes to observing apature is king, as a noob myself if you can afford a larger reflector mirror then buy it, as for the go to side of things if you're not that confident in finding your way around the night sky there are plenty of point and find apps available for free on your phone that will easily replace the goto mount and get you looking in the right direction. 

You can even attach your phone to your scope so as you manually slew your scope the app on your phone will give you a live view of what's s in front of you. 

Some of the better apps even have a seach function that will guide you to your target. 

Save your money, buy the bigger mirror and use the apps to start with, i purchased they sky quest 10" from Orion based on this advice and am glad i didn't waste the money on the goto functions to start with. 

goto is not a bad thing if that is your preference, my reasons are not your reasons and always buy what you will be happy with & will get the most enjoyment from. 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

I've owned 8" dobsonian mounted reflectors and for various reasons down sized to a refractor. I won't cloud your thinking with personal choices because the truth is aperture does win. I'd always suggest to a beginner, going manual first with the 200P and learning you way around the sky.

The first few weeks may be frustrating but once you pick things up there's a great deal of satisfaction to be had. There are plenty of books and mobile apps available to help. You don't need to be expert. Identifying a few of the brighter stars and a handful of constellations is all that's required to really get going. Knowing what direction you're facing helps too. 😉

If you want to try GoTo later on go for it but best to bear in mind dealing with electronics  that don't want to play ball on a freezing cold night is one of the pitfalls! 

[bomberbaz]

43 minutes ago, Budding Star Gazer said:

When it comes to observing apature is king, as a noob myself if you can afford a larger reflector mirror then buy it, as for the go to side of things if you're not that confident in finding your way around the night sky there are plenty of point and find apps available for free on your phone that will easily replace the goto mount and get you looking in the right direction. 

You can even attach your phone to your scope so as you manually slew your scope the app on your phone will give you a live view of what's s in front of you. 

Some of the better apps even have a seach function that will guide you to your target. 

Save your money, buy the bigger mirror and use the apps to start with, i purchased they sky quest 10" from Orion based on this advice and am glad i didn't waste the money on the goto functions to start with. 

goto is not a bad thing if that is your preference, my reasons are not your reasons and always buy what you will be happy with & will get the most enjoyment from. 

This is a very good point, the apps will get you quite close, the finder scope will get you the last bit. Something like this below stuck to the OTA 

Olixar Phone Holder for Car, Windscreen or Dashboard - Car Phone Holder with Flexible Long Arm - Universal Fit for all iPhone, Samsung & More - Black : Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Sky safari plus is a good app, I really like using it for my dob.

[Kon]

I have the skyliner 200P Dob, and it's excellent! I was a total beginner like yourself last year when I got it. First few outings were frustrating when you have no clue about the night sky. I remember starting with a list on 2-3 targets and hardly managing one. But with perseverance and the help of finder (I got a RACI) and star atlashes and Stellarium I have seen the night wonders. My night easily has 5-10 targets now depending what I plan to see. Regarding eyepieces get used to the stock ones and maybe add something in the 15mm range and upgrade later. A Rigel or telraf will help with star hoping, and get Turn Left at Orion; the sketches resemble what you will see. 

For me part of the fun is the hunting of these dim smudges. A but like fishing, sometimes good some times oh well!

Edited November 29, 2021 by Kon

[Spile]

I have the 200P and would be happy to recommend it. I’ve published a number of tips (link below) you may find of use. 

[doublevodka]

May I suggest an alternative

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f6-dobsonian.html

It's has all the usual upgrades people would do to a Skywatcher, although I really really like the look of the goto 150 too

[bomberbaz]

14 hours ago, doublevodka said:

May I suggest an alternative

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f6-dobsonian.html

It's has all the usual upgrades people would do to a Skywatcher, although I really really like the look of the goto 150 too

like that dob, lots of extras make it a much better buy. 2 speed Focuser, primary cooling, RACI finder, bargain really. I prefer the finish too

 

[bosun21]

I bought the 8” Stella Lyra Dobsonian and a 127 Maksutov Go to when I rekindled my astronomical journey. The Go to takes a little reading beforehand but it’s a pretty straightforward process to use and find your way around the sky with. The Dobsonian with the simplicity and 8” of aperture gives me a lot of enjoyment star hopping around the sky. If I was only to buy one of them then I’ll go for the 8” Dobsonian. But one mans food, is another mans poison. Good luck 👍 

[doublevodka]

8 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

like that dob, lots of extras make it a much better buy. 2 speed Focuser, primary cooling, RACI finder, bargain really. I prefer the finish too

 

Yeah when you consider it is less than a hundred quid more than the skywatcher it really makes sense to upgrade, the included accessories would cost a lot more to add later