My struggle with grab and go.

[Sunshine]

My Celestron 8” dob is not overly heavy but it is not really considered a grab and go, my FS128 is by no means a grab and go. A grab and go would be a telescope one can lift in one piece, mount and all and easily walk out with it. This is an appealing idea but! I struggle with the thought of using a small scope when I have larger ones available, I find accepting less aperture a mental struggle. Of I were to buy a small 80mm refractor I can just see myself asking why am I using this when I have larger scopes inside, how could I be happy? has anyone ever thought this way about their smaller grab and go’s?  does anyone ever say “ill use my less capable set of golf clubs today” or “today I will use my slowest car at the racetrack” no.

[Gfamily]

The best telescope is the one that's used.

If it's clear out, but you only have 15-20 minutes so you don't take your Dob or your 128 out, then they're not being a telescope. 

But an 80mm on an Az-GTi, that can get you observing in 5 minutes.  

[RobertI]

I understand your challenge! May I offer two thoughts on this? Firstly you do not have to restrict yourself to 80mm to be grab and go - I have a lightweight 130P reflector on a lightweight mount which can be lifted with one hand - that’s a reasonable amount of aperture for a grab and go and surprising what a 130P can do (also you can observe standing which saves time setting up a chair). The second thought is perhaps you can reframe your thinking (I’m not a licensed psychologist by the way!) - so rather than thinking of what a g&g scope is missing, think about what it is enabling. Presumably you are using a grab and go because you are tired or short of time or both? So you can think of the g&g scope as enabling your “astro-fix”, which may be limited, but is far better than no observing at all. Suddenly it’s changed from being a lame duck to a powerful enabler. But I suspect if you have an FS128 it’s probably taken over your mind, rendering a change in thinking impossible. 😉

I have to say, I’m so tired with family and work at the moment, that I am grateful for even five minutes with a pair of binoculars! 🙂

Edited August 29 by RobertI

[Ratlet]

I agree it's about thinking what you are doing with it.

The smaller scope might not have as much light grasp but it might provide a wider FOV which will give better views for some objects or (like in my case) if I setup at the far end of the garden among the weeds I can get a better view of the south.

The main one for me is there are times when I want to get out and observe but I don't want to go for a big setup.  Like nipping out at 3am for a quick session before work.

I won't try and claim that having less resolution or less photons is better but I do enjoy a lower power wider field of view some times.  m35 cluster and friends are a good example.  With the 10" dob they just look like a lot of stars but with low power they start to have a texture.

[bosun21]

I don't look at my G & G setup as better or worse. I use mine when the weather conditions provides only intermittent clear spells. Obviously if the sky was azure I would set up my larger scopes. When the conditions only provides say 20 minutes observing time it just doesn't justify setting up my larger scopes often with an EQ mount. Better to grab 20 minutes over nothing at all. By the way mine is an ED80.

[Sunshine]

3 hours ago, RobertI said:

But I suspect if you have an FS128 it’s probably taken over your mind, rendering a change in thinking impossible. 

A great insight into what g&g really means, thanks!. As for the 128, oh yes I do love it, but I’m not brainwashed, there are always other options, the 130 you mention sounds great.

[Bivanus]

5 hours ago, Sunshine said:

I find accepting less aperture a mental struggle.

😅 Well, just wait till that day - probably in the wee hour of the morning - when, after heroically putting away your not so grab and go gear you'll find yourself grabbing the table as to not fall down due to the excruciating pain shooting down your back and onto a leg.  You'll be surprised how accepting you'll be not only of an 80mm but also of a wheelchair, heavy pain medication and/or spells from the local witch 😉 

[Roy Challen]

5 hours ago, Sunshine said:

 or “today I will use my slowest car at the racetrack” no.

Horses for courses, you wouldn't use your Lamborghini to do the weekly shop😄 (actually, you might but that's missing the point 😄).

My grab and go FS60 does well enough for planetary when I can't be bothered to put it on the heavy mount. Having said that, the heavy eq mount is almost grab and go, just not with one hand.

80mm aperture? What a luxury 😀!

Edited August 30 by Roy Challen

[IB20]

I tend to use my lightest set-up when conditions are iffy with some cloud or wind knocking about or if I cba with setting up the larger scopes. I don’t look at what I’m missing out on with my bigger scopes, but more challenge myself to what I can see with smaller aperture. 76mm, in my case, still shows plenty. 

When I do get the larger scopes out, I often get the g’n’g cos it’s no hassle and I love a comparison. 
 

[dweller25]

8 hours ago, Sunshine said:

A grab and go would be a telescope one can lift in one piece, mount and all and easily walk out with it. This is an appealing idea but! I struggle with the thought of using a small scope when I have larger ones available, I find accepting less aperture a mental struggle. Of I were to buy a small 80mm refractor I can just see myself asking why am I using this when I have larger scopes inside, how could I be happy? has anyone ever thought this way about their smaller grab and go’s?  does anyone ever say “ill use my less capable set of golf clubs today” or “today I will use my slowest car at the racetrack” no.

I 100% agree BUT my 76mm refractor is so easy to setup and cool down - it’s fun to use for lighthearted easy going Astronomy, and I always have the bigger scopes for more serious viewing 👍

Edited August 30 by dweller25

[Dave scutt]

I miss apture sooo much, I'm sure if I had a big dob again I would be using it more than the grab and go.

But for short quick viewing opportunities it's perfect, I'm away painting and it was perfect to bring it along.

[Nicola Fletcher]

Last weekend I thought it was going to be cloudy so went to bed early. I woke up around 11pm and it was completely clear and magical - the moon was starting to rise but wasn’t yet intrusive. I set up what I now consider as my ‘big’ grab and go, my FC100DZ on a Giro Ercole mini with a Gitzo tripod. (My proper grab and go is an FC76 on the same mount but I increasingly use that for travel and the DZ is used more at home).

I started with M13 which was a treat through the DZ, then the dumbell and ring, then Albireo, and finally the double double. I then cruised the Milky Way with a 24mm Panoptic for a while, then back to M13 for a last look. It was a lovely couple of hours and the DZ has advantages over bigger scopes, not least that it is fun to use and, in a way, the best observing with no expectations and minimal setup and takedown time. I feel the same about the FC76, all of the scopes have their merits and I’ve had some of my best observing nights through that little scope.

There’s no doubt that if I didn’t have a grab and go setup, I would have missed that observing session as I would never have set up a bigger scope and waited for it to cool down etc.

Edit: This is the FC76 grab and go setup. It’s amazing!

Edited August 30 by Nicola Fletcher

[nitram100]

Picked up a little 150p heritage dob a few weeks ago and I've observed more in the last few weeks than I have in the previous 6 months as my 10" NEQ6 Pro is so heavy.

[Elp]

I enjoy using my Z61 more than any other scope of larger aperture.

[josefk]

...you've lit the blue touch paper with this topic @Sunshine 🤣

As others have described more eloquently GnG can be a hobby saver by enabling low effort sessions at little notice.

I would add two other perspectives; i enjoy using a small scope even more now i have bigger ones - what i mean is when i only had a small scope through my inexperience then i had nagging FOMO that undermined the pleasure. When there is a big scope at home there are no FOMO clouds when sat behind the smaller one i am using at that moment by choice. Second it is immensely satisfying using a small tool well and that easily wielded tool nearly always exceeding expectation. When it takes me 30-mins to get out with a bigger scope and 15-mins to set that up i expect to be wowed as a return on my effort. When i just GnG yet can see something like Saturn occulted by the moon (last week), or the whole Veil (a side benefit of small aperture/short focal length) or be getting a hint of storms on Jupiter just 10-mins after leaving the house then i'm amazed.

I would have to think long and hard in which order i would give my scopes up (hypothetically) but there is a very strong chance the smallest would be the last to go!

 

[josefk]

9 hours ago, Sunshine said:

“ill use my less capable set of golf clubs today” or “today I will use my slowest car at the racetrack”

...on a side note BTW i have an older PRO tour level carbon fibre everything TT bike that cost me thousands and yet i ride nearly all my km on a simple converted track bike with a single fixed gear and electrical tape holding the tatty bar tape down! Sometimes the pleasure of something is hard to put into words 🙂 

[Elp]

Taking in m45 full view is also one highlight, as are other clusters.

[Saganite]

10 hours ago, Sunshine said:

My Celestron 8” dob is not overly heavy but it is not really considered a grab and go, my FS128 is by no means a grab and go. A grab and go would be a telescope one can lift in one piece, mount and all and easily walk out with it. This is an appealing idea but! I struggle with the thought of using a small scope when I have larger ones available, I find accepting less aperture a mental struggle. Of I were to buy a small 80mm refractor I can just see myself asking why am I using this when I have larger scopes inside, how could I be happy? has anyone ever thought this way about their smaller grab and go’s?  does anyone ever say “ill use my less capable set of golf clubs today” or “today I will use my slowest car at the racetrack” no.

I concur.....

Edited August 30 by Saganite

[John]

I've been through a similar struggle with this. For a long time I felt that I didn't want to use anything less than 100mm of aperture.

I think it's a combination of getting older (more adversity to long, cold sessions outside and setting heavy kit up) and the very unpredictable weather we have had over the past 24 months that have convinced me that having light, simple and quick to deploy / bring in setups is now an important part of me being able to continue to be an active observer.

I'm currently debating whether 70mm or 85mm will be my smallest aperture scope. The 85mm refractor I acquired recently is only a little larger and heavier than my 70mm but packs a lot more "punch". Then again the tiny 70mm (just 30cm long compacted) takes up so little room when travelling, that has it's benefits as well.

Below 5 inches of aperture I'm definitely a refractor person though. The contrast and sharpness of a good refractor can enable quite small apertures to show views which often surprise me given the relatively diminutive proportions of the instrument. 

I will keep a 10 inch dob for galaxy and faint DSO sessions during the autumn / winter but I suspect I've entered a phase where smaller scopes will be the most used by some distance.

 

 

 

Edited August 30 by John

[Sunshine]

Wow! A lot to digest here, I will definitely be considering something like a tabletop reflector which seem to be great little scopes and easy to manipulate.

[heliumstar]

I went the other way and gave up on smaller grab and go. The journey was some 6-8 years long. I could never get any of the small scopes and mounts to be 'balcony stable'. Now I just take it slowly with heavy tripod, mount and scope. There's something to be said of just going slow and easy.

[Bivanus]

23 minutes ago, heliumstar said:

I could never get any of the small scopes and mounts to be 'balcony stable'

Weeeeeel...There is a lot to talk about using a balcony, and much of the talk could not and should not be uttered in public. I can only add that until I moved from a block of flats to a house that has a courtyard (albeit small and a tad crowded and between half a dosen streetlights) my sessions were between painful and abysmal 😅 Of course, if one has what in architectural talk is called ' a terrace', then things get much better as I can attest from my holiday this year where I gladly used the hotel terraces. 

EDIT: the holiday rig (80mm APO) which is my G&G set , mounted and packed next to a half liter water bottle for size.

Edited August 30 by Bivanus
added pictures

[Saganite]

9 minutes ago, Bivanus said:

Weeeeeel...There is a lot to talk about using a balcony, and much of the talk could not and should not be uttered in public. I can only add that until I moved from a block of flats to a house that has a courtyard (albeit small and a tad crowded and between half a dosen streetlights) my sessions were between painful and abysmal 😅 Of course, if one has what in architectural talk is called ' a terrace', then things get much better as I can attest from my holiday this year where I gladly used the hotel terraces. 

I lived in a flat for a while when newly married, way ,  ( 5 decades way back) and from the balcony I operated a home made 6" reflector on a tripod made by a famous jelly manufacturer I think. My first ever view of Saturn was from there so I have very fond memories of balcony observing.....

[cajen2]

To be 'grab & go', a setup doesn't need a tiny aperture scope. I classify one of my setups as g&g: a Starfield 102ED, a Sightron Japan mount and a Berlebach Report tripod. It's light enough to lift with one hand, though clearly two is better for moving it. I can spot an  observing opportunity, take it outside and open the tripod legs and I'm good to go (except for equalising temperature, of course).

I'm very happy with my Starfield and have almost abandoned my alternative mount (an AZGTIX), which is substantially heavier and annoying to set up. 

[rl]

My Grab and Go is my largest scope; a 14" Dob. Quite a lot of Grab and not too much Go..it lives in the utility room next to the outside door and can be up and running outside in 2 minutes on low magnifications where cooling isn't a problem. It's the scope I use most!