Meade Lightbridge choice between 8 or 10"

[jason dufton]

hi

i need help with choosing a decent truss dobsonian, i have been looking at the 8" meade lightbridge but i am in 2 minds whether to go for the 10" any ideas and user reviews are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Jason Dufton

[Doc]

IMO 8 to 10" you should go for a solid tube dob. 12" and above go for a truss type dob.

But if you really want a LB and they are good scopes go for the 10".

[brantuk]

Newts benefit from aperture - Lightbridges are smashing scopes - go large I say

[NGC 1502]

If you have the money I'd say go for the 10".

In a way I would agree that a solid tube is the way to go,

it's what I have. But when broken down, a 10" LB will fit into

a smaller space than a solid tube, so may be a consideration

for you, for storage / transport in a car.

Regards, Ed.

[gustavo_sanchez]

I just ordered my 12" Lightbridge, and my reasoning was that I will not be buying any new telescopes soon, so I needed to push the aperture size as far I could go.

[Arushin]

I agree with all the above.

When I bought my 12" Lightbridge is was simply because it had the biggest aperture that I could afford at the time (or still).

To be honest, I was not that impressed with it until a friend showed me how how to collimate it and I managed to get it to a dark location. The views were gob-smacking (first view of a globular cluster literally left me speechless). I would definately go for the 10" version if you can't stretch to the 12". If it had been a soilid tube I would never have been able to transport it to a dark sky location in a Vauxhall Astra but the downside to a truss Dob is that everytime you strip it down you will alter the alignment of the mirrors, so you will need to check collimation before viewing. A good tip with these kiddies is to number each truss and mark the primary and secondary mirror housings to correspond. That way you will always put it back together exactly as it was before you dismantled it, this should minimise any problems.

Go for it and enjoy!

Regards Tony

[lancerde]

Go for the biggest aperture you can afford and transport. The more light you gather the better the image. Good luck.

[crashtestdummy]

I personally would say try and save for the 12" or go for the 8".for me 10" is an intermediate size so I would rather go 8" then 12" for an upvrafe year or two later as 10" to 12" isn't as worthwhile

[brantuk]

I love this forum - great advice still rolling in 3yrs later. lol

[crashtestdummy]

Damn I never even noticed the date of the original post wonder what the op chose