Is it an upgrade?

[spacegalaxy]

Ok, straight to the topic, I have a budget of 150$, which could buy me a Zhumell Z114 table top dobsonian, but I don't know if it has international shipping charges, I asked it on a discord server, and they said that it most likely has shipping charges, so now I am looking at the Zhumell Z100 table top dobsonian, which costs around 99$, and hopefully the shipping chrges are/below of 50$, but here are my main concerns:

1. If it somehow gets out of collimation, there is no way of adjusting it (Because it has a fixed primary)

2. I don't know if it is a upgrade to my 70mm f/10 refractor (But it will give wider field of view, which is good, because I am buying it for DSO's)

3. Some people say that it is a barlowed Newtonian which is not good

And here are the obvious reasons to buy it: 

1. It has eyepieces which give wide-field views.

2. It has a parabolic mirror, which is good

So, what should I do? I am also open to other suggestions which are under 150$. Also allow me to kindly decline the offer to buy a bigger scope/save more money and buy a bigger scope.

Edited January 30, 2022 by spacegalaxy

[happy-kat]

You could also research if your country has import and duty taxation rates, or other import charges on an item you are thinking of buying overseas

Edited January 30, 2022 by happy-kat

[spacegalaxy]

5 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

You could also research if your country has import and duty taxation rates on an item you are thinking of buying overseas

Thanks, I will look into it!

[spacegalaxy]

5 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

You could also research if your country has import and duty taxation rates on an item you are thinking of buying overseas

What do you think of Zhumell z100, with it's pros and cons?

[happy-kat]

I think I would read up on how to make the most of observing under light polluted skies to see if you can get more out of what you already have and get a better understanding on what changes would make the biggest difference.

[spacegalaxy]

2 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I think I would read up on how to make the most of observing under light polluted skies to see if you can get more out of what you already have and get a better understanding on what changes would make the biggest difference.

I have already done what I could except buying better eyepieces!

[spacegalaxy]

3 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I think I would read up on how to make the most of observing under light polluted skies to see if you can get more out of what you already have and get a better understanding on what changes would make the biggest difference.

Also, I didn't try going to a dark site, because I can't go another 30 minutes to a Bortle 4 skies, and even if I do, which I did, there is a large factory which emits smoke, so it is worse than my Bottle 5 backyard

[happy-kat]

covering the head with towel can help dark adaption, not using a phone can help, sitting quietly and waiting for good seeing moments, not using too much magnification and using averted vision can all help

[spacegalaxy]

6 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

covering the head with towel can help dark adaption, not using a phone can help, sitting quietly and waiting for good seeing moments, not using too much magnification and using averted vision can all help

Ok, checklist time

Covering the head with towel can help dark adaption(and help keep mosquitoes at bay)✅

Not using a phone(Or using a app in red mode)✅

Sitting quietly(No, I don't) and waiting for good seeing moments (This one - ✅)

Not using too much magnification✅

Using averted vision ❌ (I tried but I can't get it to work, can you tell me how?)

Edited January 30, 2022 by spacegalaxy

[happy-kat]

Averted vision is something to practice on as it is what we use to see faint objects in our telescopes or binoculars. Looking directly at an object in the night sky is less easy to see then when using averted vision. By nature of how our eye is made up the vision just off centre is way more light sensitive, so this is what we can learn to use when observing with our telescopes looking at deep space objects. Practice using averted vision on the Orion nebula, a nice big target to learn with.