dobsonian 200p

[Jed.]

Hey everyone, I bought my second telescope the skywatcher dob 200p recently and noticed it had the same eye pieces as my previous (small) telescope 25mm, 10mm I also have a barlow too.

I was wondering what eye pieces I could purchase to improve the telescope even more as im new to this and would really appreciate your recommendations!

[John]

Hi - welcome to SGL.

I used to have one of those. I found the 25mm eyepiece OK but the 10mm and the barlow were not good quality. A 32mm, and better quality 10mm and 2x barlow would give you a good range - that barlow used with the 32 mm gives a 16mm and the 10mm becomes a 5mm.

If you are on a tight budget I'd suggest something like the Skywatcher Plossl eyepieces for the 32mm and 10mm and a 2x barlow by TAL is a good one. That lot would cost around £85 from First Light optics.

Thats just one suggestion - others will follow soon I'm sure.

If you have a larger budget then there are lots of other options of course !.

[E621Keith]

If you have two sets of identical eyepiece, what about getting a binoviewer.

[russ]

Scopes'n'skies do a nice ready made set for £91. It includes a metal case, 4 x GSO Plossls, GSO barlow, an ND moon filter and camera adapter.

I think it's the best judged eyepiece set i've seen on the market. Basically they have taken all the rubbish out of the Revelation and Celestron kits and left you with a kit that only has the useful bits. And then priced it very well indeed.

The eyepieces are identical to the Revelation Plossls, and are the nicely rated GSO Plossl. And will be a match for the Skywatcher Plossl.

ScopeTeknix 7 part Photo-Visual eyepiece and accessory kit by GSO

Alternatively you could go for the Skywatcher Ultra 66. They work really well in the f6 200P and give a much larger field of view, a real bonus when you own a dob. I find them really sharp and bright on axis with only a small drop off towards the edge. They are £29 each.

Another good recommendation is the BST Explorer from Ebay for £36. Owned a couple and they were really nice. Nicely finished and nice performer. But they are not back on sale until April.

[Rob]

I 100% agree with Russ here. That set is amazing value and a very good step up from the bundled EP's. I worth while investment.

Rob

[Lazzy]

Is that a can of worms being opened???

Some good advice above but ultimately the range is massive and what you will need will depend on what you want to observe. I spent a bit of time observing the planets initially and bought a 5mm eyepiece to zoom in a little more, but recently started looking at some dso's and am now thinking to buy a 32mm SWA.

All the above is even before you start looking at brands!!! Ultimately most people work on a certain budget, but there are some great bargains to be had in the for sale section here!

[Jed.]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!!

Yeah at the moment im looking at planets but no doubt i'll be looking for some dso's very shortly.

Yeah that kit for £91 looks good thank's for that one Russ!

Lazzy i completely understand where your coming from I should do some more research before I purchase new lenses as im new to all this, where is the for sale section on here? again thank's everyone!

[callisto]

You have to have 50 posts for the sale section to "pop" up on screen

[Jed.]

ohh really lol i best had start posting more then , thanks for that!

[Adrian]

You also have to be a member for 1 month, so there's no rush

[Jed.]

ok cheers lads. I just took the dob 200p out to look at jupiter, I cant really get any planet detail, and when it actually does start to focus the planet is really small small, I guess the eyepieces that come with the scope really aren't too good right?

[John]

ok cheers lads. I just took the dob 200p out to look at jupiter, I cant really get any planet detail, and when it actually does start to focus the planet is really small small, I guess the eyepieces that come with the scope really aren't too good right?

Before you jump to any conclusions:

1. Have you let the scope cool ? - in needs 30 mins at least to get down to outside temp.

2. Are you sure it was Jupiter ? - you should see a clear, slightly flattened disk and up to 4 moons close to it - you can see those even with binoculars.

3. How long did you spend observing Jupiter ? - your eye will take time to adjust - usually you just see a cloud belt or two - it's only after some time and study that you can see more detail.

4. What are your observing conditions like ?. If the planet is low the seeing will be poor. If you are observing over roofs the heat rising will cause details to be blurred, etc, etc.

It's not a hobby of quick wins I'm afraid !

[Jed.]

The sky is pretty clear over here and I think I let it cool for like 40 minutes so it should be good to use.

Oh yes it's jupiter and I can see the for moons, they look great. I was just dissapointed with the planet detail itself. I guess I need patience lol.

[twotter]

Much as I like my GSO plossls (the 32mm especially), I have been really impressed by my recently acquired 13mm Hyperion. I can definitely see myself buying more...the only question is which size first

[John]

The sky is pretty clear over here and I think I let it cool for like 40 minutes so it should be good to use.

Oh yes it's jupiter and I can see the for moons, they look great. I was just dissapointed with the planet detail itself. I guess I need patience lol.

I guess we have explained that it won't look anything like the photos you see ........ ?

[Jed.]

with the correct eyepieces and correct weather and planet height, has the dob 200p got the potential to see saturn in good detail? and just a wonder, are the 2" eyepieces more for dso's?

[brantuk]

2" ep's give you a wider view so very useful on large dso's like open clusters and nebulas. I get nice views of jupiter/saturn using 8mm and 5mm radians in a 300P.