Meade Lightbridge vs SkyWatcher Skyliner vs Orion Skyquest

[Deacon]

Hi all

Just a couple of questions regarding the above scopes. Any help would be much appreciated..

1. Is there any optical difference between an American vs Chinese made scope in terms of quality?

2. Which scope has the best build quality.

3. What type of eye pieces would be good to use with a dobsonian?

I am primarily looking for a 10" scope but there is so much choice and I just want to make the right decision before I say goodbye to the money

Many Thanks

Stuart

[Andrew*]

1. The Meade and Skywatcher are both Chinese optics (GSO and Synta), and I think Orion also use Synta optics. The quality will likely be equal whichever you go for, but they will vary from item to item.

2. Again, build is about equal between these three, and of a fairly good standard. I think your choice would be better influenced by other factors such as truss-tube or solid tube.

3. Big question, but generally speaking you get what you pay for. If you want a well corrected and large apparent FOV, you will need to pay more. If you are fine with a small FOV, good plossls or orthoscopics can be picked up for £40-£70 each new.

HTH

Andrew

[russ]

The Orion and Skywatcher are essentially the same scope, certainly the same optics, focuser, mirror cell etc. Obviously the Skywatcher is a truss and the Orion a solid tube (like the Skywatcher Skyliner). Both are made by Synta.

The Meade uses a different setup for its truss tube compared to the Skywatcher, a bit more fiddly. The scope is made by GSO and of equal quality to the Synta made scopes.

I've really never got the whole idea of a truss tube dob on anything less than a 12" scope but that's just me.

It may or may not be of interest, but Orion USA offer a full Synscan GOTO version of their dob that operates like any other GOTO mount. But the motors can also be disengaged, so it can be also be used as a normal dob.

[pvaz]

Orion haves the push-to and goto versions. If you don't wan't to pay the extra for this systems then Skywatcher will probably have the best price.

[Astorix]

I agree with Paulo, Without breaking the bank the skywatcher is a good choice!

[Deacon]

Is there any noticible difference between an 8" and 10" scope.

Ta

[Astorix]

Well there will be difference yes, at the end of the day,

Appature is king!

There will probably be about %33 more light gathering in a 10" than 8"

I would go for what you can afford but bare in mind you would see more with "10

[Donny]

I love my 10" Skyliner I'd happily recommend it.