If you HAD to keep only one scope?

[DaveS]

It would have to be my ODK 12 which is my most used 'scope. It's probably also the highest quality.

[Second Time Around]

My 10 inch Dob is easily my most used scope.  However, it wouldn't be the one I'd choose as a sole scope.

That would be my 72mm f/6 ED for the following reasons:

1) It's grab'n go, not needing any cool down time.

2) It's lightweight so easy to carry outside.

3) It's easy to move round the garden to different positions to avoid trees.

4) It's sharp on the moon and planets, although I'm mainly interested in DSOs.

5) It's great on DSOs with my night vision eyepiece, and equivalent to a much larger scope without night vision - especially on globulars and nebulae.

6) It's great for wide field views.

7) It's just about the longest focal length to get whole disc views of the sun including prominences with my Quark.

😎It's great for terrestrial use.

9) It's compact enough to go as cabin baggage in an aircraft.

10) It would be easy and relatively inexpensive to replace if it got lost or damaged.

Having said all that, I'd not like to be restricted to just 1 scope.  However, I'd happily be restricted to 2, and would add my 10 inch f/4.8 OOUK Dob.  This is the biggest I can take in and out the house.

Edited March 15 by Second Time Around

[Gfamily]

10 minutes ago, Second Time Around said:

My 10 inch Dob is easily my most used scope.  However, it wouldn't be the one I'd choose as a sole scope.

That would be my 72 f/6 ED for the following reasons:

1-99

Plus 1 - for all the same reasons (well, I don't have a Quark, but y-know!)

To think I didn't have a 'frac until I borrowed one a couple of years ago, and now it's the one I always start with. 

[Nicola Fletcher]

I don’t know what I’d do if someone told me I had to choose between my FC76DCU and my FC100DZ refractors. Both are fabulous, top quality scopes. I love to travel and I bring the FC76 almost everywhere, but the 4” is just a great all-round, grab and go scope with that extra bit of aperture that makes it great to use at home.

If I had to choose one of the two now, I think I’d keep the FC76, but I think when I stop travelling so much, the DZ will come out on top. I hate to even say that!

Edited March 15 by Nicola Fletcher

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, Flame Nebula said:

I think this scope is winning the keepers competition, so far. 

Not necessarily, users of other makes and apertures of scope just don't feel the need to go on about them all the time. 

Personally, I'd prefer to have something with more aperture that was more useful for deep sky as well as planets and double stars 😊.

 

 

 

 

[Nicola Fletcher]

14 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Not necessarily, users of other makes and apertures of scope just don't feel the need to go on about them all the time. 

Personally, I'd prefer to have something with more aperture that was more useful for deep sky as well as planets and double stars 😊.

 

 

 

 

I know what you mean, but at the end of the day no dob is getting on a plane to go to dark skies in other parts of the world. I hope to go to the southern hemisphere some day and have my trusty little 3” with me. Not as good as the 12” dob for sure, but it gets a lot more use. It’s also great for those nights when you’ve to get up for work the next day and you just want a quick session with practically zero setup and cool-down time. My dob has literally blown me away with incredible views of deep space objects but the little one can give it a run for its money under truly dark skies.

[paulastro]

I agree with you Nicola.  But if I was lucky enough to be able to go to the S hemisphere I'd take  something smaller than I use at home  perhaps my four inch triplet or 130PDS.

[Flame Nebula]

1 hour ago, Second Time Around said:

My 10 inch Dob is easily my most used scope.  However, it wouldn't be the one I'd choose as a sole scope.

That would be my 72mm f/6 ED for the following reasons:

1) It's grab'n go, not needing any cool down time.

2) It's lightweight so easy to carry outside.

3) It's easy to move round the garden to different positions to avoid trees.

4) It's sharp on the moon and planets, although I'm mainly interested in DSOs.

5) It's great on DSOs with my night vision eyepiece, and equivalent to a much larger scope without night vision - especially on globulars and nebulae.

6) It's great for wide field views.

7) It's just about the longest focal length to get whole disc views of the sun including prominences with my Quark.

😎It's great for terrestrial use.

9) It's compact enough to go as cabin baggage in an aircraft.

10) It would be easy and relatively inexpensive to replace if it got lost or damaged.

Having said all that, I'd not like to be restricted to just 1 scope.  However, I'd happily be restricted to 2, and would add my 10 inch f/4.8 OOUK Dob.  This is the biggest I can take in and out the house.

Thanks. Point3 is very useful. But I'm intrigued on point 5. Please tell me more about your night vision eyepiece? 🤔

[Nicola Fletcher]

18 minutes ago, paulastro said:

I agree with you Nicola.  But if I was lucky enough to be able to go to the S hemisphere I'd take  something smaller than I use at home  perhaps my four inch triplet or 130PDS.

That would be amazing.  I would probably choose another top scope if I was able to travel with something bigger. Problem is, there’s a risk with a bigger scope that you might have to check it in. I don’t know if I could cope with the stress of that. If my 4” was airline portable that would be ideal - but I just don’t think it is.  There is zero hassle associated with the 3” that splits in two and goes in my camera bag with my camera and can be mounted on a photo tripod. It also weighs practically nothing. My ears always prick up though when I hear of people bringing bigger scopes on trips away!

[Highburymark]

23 minutes ago, Flame Nebula said:

Thanks. Point3 is very useful. But I'm intrigued on point 5. Please tell me more about your night vision eyepiece? 🤔

It’s a military image intensifier - used with a telescope the resulting image has been likened to a doubling or tripling your aperture. If you Google night vision astronomy, you can find lots of information. The catch? It’s not cheap, unfortunately. And combined with a ridiculously large finder and Starsense system (not shown in pic), it certainly attracts the attention of passers-by. 

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

Personally, I'd prefer to have something with more aperture that was more useful for deep sky as well as planets and double stars 😊.

Ah, you mean a TSA 120 or TOA 130, Paul.

🤔

[paulastro]

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

Ah, you mean a TSA 120 or TOA 130, Paul.

🤔

I've had a TSA120 Jeremy.  It wasn't too bad. 😊

[Deadlake]

I would go with a LZOS 105 mm, even if it weighs twice as much as a Takahashi and much more than TV85 mm.

The unique selling point is the speed for use with an NVD, at F5 using a compressor it makes for a bright image and without the NVD the large exit pupil helps with using a filter with a glass EP.



Under a dark sky the boast in contrast is amazing. AP compressor below, fits inside the FT3545. 

The scope compressors to no more in length then the TV 85 mm and I can use on a AZ75, thats the only part that makes the scope not flyable with.



@DirkSteele surely if you need weight reduction a Stowaway 92 mm would fit the bill 😀 in stock here however it’s nearly the same price as a 130 mm LZOS.

 

If I was not needing portable the 130 mm version would be my first choice, but there is something just right in size etc with a 105 mm scope.
  

Edited March 15 by Deadlake

[Peter Drew]

I'm fortunate that each of my main contenders has its own housing at a decent site so no need to worry about cool down, set up time or weight and no real plans to take them elsewhere.  The choice is between a 30" Dob, 20" Dob, 50x300 binoscope, 8.5" refractor and a 6" Ha solar telescope.  The winner, hands down is the 6" Ha solar telescope.  I'm no longer medically suited to cold, late outdoor pursuits and solar observation is potentially available everyday, the Sun is the most dynamic object you can easily observe and is different every day, hour or even minute.  The telescope can easily be reconfigured to night time use if really necessary.      🙂

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

That would be amazing.  I would probably choose another top scope if I was able to travel with something bigger. Problem is, there’s a risk with a bigger scope that you might have to check it in. I don’t know if I could cope with the stress of that. If my 4” was airline portable that would be ideal - but I just don’t think it is.  There is zero hassle associated with the 3” that splits in two and goes in my camera bag with my camera and can be mounted on a photo tripod. It also weighs practically nothing. My ears always prick up though when I hear of people bringing bigger scopes on trips away!

Yes  I'm lucky Nicola in that the Askar triplet has a removeable four inch section  of tube which brings it down to 21.5 inches long, and if that's not enough the focusser unscrews which brings it down to 15 inches. Just a shame I'm not going anywhere at the moment. 😊

[Flame Nebula]

9 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Yes  I'm lucky Nicola in that the Askar triplet has a removeable four inch section  of tube which brings it down to 21.5 inches long, and if that's not enough the focusser unscrews which brings it down to 15 inches. Just a shame I'm not going anywhere at the moment. 😊

Hi Paul, 

How do you rate the Askar refractors to other brands, like SW, Tak? 

[Stu]

3 hours ago, paulastro said:

Not necessarily, users of other makes and apertures of scope just don't feel the need to go on about them all the time. 

Personally, I'd prefer to have something with more aperture that was more useful for deep sky as well as planets and double stars 😊.

 

 

 

 

Please stop this Paul. A question was asked and genuine answers were given. Owners of Starfield, Vixen, AP, Skywatcher, StellaMira, Celestron, Askar, TAL, APM, LZOS etc etc refractor scopes and of course any other type of scope are welcome to post. I’ve asked repeatedly not to perpetuate this brand antagonism so please let it go.

[Elp]

2 hours ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

 I would probably choose another top scope if I was able to travel with something bigger

A lot of astro farms have their own equipment you can rent so if you're likely to visit one of these places this isn't necessary, just enjoy the trip.

[Stu]

I’ll answer genuinely and without being accused of going on about my scope…. I would keep my FC100DC for many of the reasons given already; airline portability, grab and go at home, great Solar, Lunar, Planetary and doubles performance, quick cooling and good widefield deep sky results too. It’s the one scope which has kept me going through periods of poor weather and busy personal/work life when there have been only brief opportunities to observe.

[Piero]

5 hours ago, Flame Nebula said:

Hi Piero, 

You have piqued my interest on redesigning a Dob. What did you do, and what advantages did this give you? 

Hi Flame Nebula,

To give you some context, I bought a 12" f6 dob which revealed to have several issues. It took a steep leaning curve to understand and fix them. Following that I kind of lost interest in that telescope as I wanted other things built differently.

Therefore I decided to design and built my 16" f4 exactly how I wanted. This was the first telescope I built - so another steep learning curve.

Following this, the 12" f6 was redesigned. The story about this 12" f6 dobson is described here: 

The redesign is at the end of that thread, but if you find it interesting, you might want to go through all. I tried to be as analytical as possible in order to help other members.

 

By the way, you reminded me that I forgot to post some photos of the new focuser I fitted last year. Will do on that thread later.

[Franklin]

This is something I've actually had to do recently and the winner is....... the Vixen SD81S, small but perfectly formed.

I also think that, due to the terrible British weather, UK stargazers have far too much time on their hands and this is what allows threads like this one to be so popular.

Not being able to get out and use our scopes, regardless of how many we may have, can be frustrating at times.

[Captain Scarlet]

I’m lucky enough to have moved to a lovely dark-sky place, and although I have some enviable scopes, whatever I take out there is always a tinge of regret that if I had my 12” out, it would be better. So my “one scope” would be that, my 300mm Newt.

Magnus

[Nyctimene]

Without doubt, the 8" f/4 Hofheim Instruments traveldob. Weighs just 8kg in toto, and can be taken out, fully assembled, in one go. Allowing mags from 27x (field 2.9°) up to 400x.  Sadly, no longer in production.

Stephan

Edited March 15 by Nyctimene

[Flame Nebula]

33 minutes ago, Piero said:

Hi Flame Nebula,

To give you some context, I bought a 12" f6 dob which revealed to have several issues. It took a steep leaning curve to understand and fix them. Following that I kind of lost interest in that telescope as I wanted other things built differently.

Therefore I decided to design and built my 16" f4 exactly how I wanted. This was the first telescope I built - so another steep learning curve.

Following this, the 12" f6 was redesigned. The story about this 12" f6 dobson is described here: 

The redesign is at the end of that thread, but if you find it interesting, you might want to go through all. I tried to be as analytical as possible in order to help other members.

 

By the way, you reminded me that I forgot to post some photos of the new focuser I fitted last year. Will do on that thread later.

Thanks Piero, 

This looks very interesting. I'll have to read through it. 

[Flame Nebula]

11 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

I’m lucky enough to have moved to a lovely dark-sky place, and although I have some enviable scopes, whatever I take out there is always a tinge of regret that if I had my 12” out, it would be better. So my “one scope” would be that, my 300mm Newt.

Magnus

Hi Magnus, 

If memory serves me (and it's touch and go😬), you mount your 12" on an AZEQ6? I imagine you could get some terrific planet images with that combo.