Orion Optics UK offer, opinions please?

[FairviewSteve]

Fairview steve thanks for the length reply, I shall pay close attention to your threads buddy! What eyepieces are you finding work well?

Adam, I generally use 25mm down to 9mm, anything smaller I find I can't focus properly, but that's more a problem with me than the scope, and because it's a dob when using a 4mm eyepiece the object is out of the FOV before I can look at it.

I don't have any 2" eyepieces yet but I have the focus mount for them (soon to be upgraded to crayford) I'm in the Market for new eyepieces as mine aren't particularly high quality, except for a 40mm which is excellent.

Hope you enjoy scope shopping! Steve.

[johninderby]

When I mentioned earlier that a 2" focuser could be fitted I wasn't suggesting it so that 2" eyepieces could be used, but rather that to fit a better focuser you would probably have to go to a 2" focuser as no one seems to bother making good 1/25" ones nowadays. So just leave the 1.25" adaptor in place in the 2" focuser and use it as a 1.25" focuser.

It all of course depends on how good the 1.25" focuser already installed is.

John

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Excellent summary Moonshane. In fact, the scope is almost a larger edition of the 6" F/8 (with 1.25" focuser, also 1/10th wave optics) I had, but with much better mechanical properties. It was very sharp and had high contrast, and work on all DSOs except just a handful:

- the Hyades

- the Pleiades

- M31

- M33

- the double cluster

- the beehive

Living on the southern hemisphere that would include

- the LMC

- the SMC

Of these, only the Pleiades and the double cluster fit into the 1.4 deg FOV I get with my current 2" focuser. The Hyades and LMC won't even fit in the FOV of my 15x70s, so the advantage of a 2" focuser is not that big. Al sorts of well-known groups, like the Leo triplet, and M81/M82 will fit nicely into a 1 deg FOV, if my experience with my 22mm Nagler are anything to go by.

[John]

My comments were based on the attractiveness of securing a scope of premium optical quality for a very non-premium price.

It's not as much an all-round scope as an 8" F/6 would be but, assuming the optics are what they are claimed to be, it will do what it's designed to do supremely well.

Plenty of valid points have been made on both the potential pros's and con's of the scope so the OP has good information to base the decision on now hopefully

[Adz]

Thanks for ALL the advice guys. It really let me know what to do in my moment of contemplation.

For the record, the scope wasn't exactly for me (which was my doubts before) and I have decided to invest in a 200p skyliner. It gives me more money to spend on eyepieces and lets me enjoy some of my most favourite objects that in the OO I wouldn't have even be able to!

Thanks again, this forum is a great resource.

[Andrew*]

Adz, I think you have made an excellent choice. The Skywatcher scopes are more than capable, and the Skyliner offers an excellent balance of affordability, portability and aperture. And it'll do fine on planets, being f/6, which of course makes it easier to collimate too.

Whoever is the lucky person who's going to receive it, will not be disappointed!

Andrew