Buying a 8" dob on thursday have 3 to choose from

[ManOnTheMoon]

Im getting myself a new 8" dob in afew days and have found 3 I like for a good price. Which is best quality? thanks:)

SkyWatcher Dobsonian 8" - SW680 - $459.00
http://www.yorkoptical.com.au/ProductMenus/Telescopes/tabid/42/CategoryID/289/List/1/Level/a/ProductID/71/Default.aspx?SortField=Free3%2cUnit Cost

Bintel BT202-B 8" Dobsonian - $549.00
https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=8147

SAXON 8" Dobsonian - $616.43 with free postage
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-SAXON-8-Dobsonian-Telescope-Great-for-Astronomy_W0QQitemZ310208706110QQcm dZViewItemQQptZAU_Cameras_Telescope s_Binoculars?hash=item4839e1363e

[dannat]

telescope & astronomy in SA have them for 490 & collapsible for 549.

[mental4astro]

Maninthemoon, you are paying for the postage with the higher price- it's not really free, just fooling you. You always pay.

I'd first check what accessories come with each scope. Skywatcher and Bintel brand (rebadged GSO) are usually well endowed to get you going. I don't know the pedigree of the Saxon, it could just be a rebadged Skywatcher. This happens alot, the rebadging. Very sneeky and missleading.

Have a look at Andrews Communications- www.andrewscom.com.au (http://www.andrewscom.com.au) . They sell the GSO scope too, and a little cheaper than Bintel. See what they can do for you with freight to have you buy from them. The also sell the GSO accessories cheaper too.

[mbaddah]

Go the skywatcher, and with the money you save by a telrad! Will be the best $$$ you spend, trust me :D

[mldee]

PM sent

[ManOnTheMoon]

PM sent!!!

[astro_nutt]

The Bintel 8" may not be the cheapest it does have the knurled collimation knobs for the Primary (very handy!) and a 10 to 1 crayford focuser which is something to consider!
Cheers!

[astro_nutt]

Oh! I forgot to mention. I brought a Saxon 8" dob in 01for $675. Chinese built, solid construction, great performance and very easy to use.

[ManOnTheMoon]

I ended up buying a second hand 8" Skywatcher Dob in very good condition from Mike off these forums. Picked it up today. With the hundred of dollars I saved instead of buying a new dob I can get some new quality eyepiece's and a moon filter. What do you guys recommend for a 8" dob? I want one for getting good close up's of the planets and moon and one thats great for nebula's. Not interested in looking at the sun..cheers

[Liz]

Congratulations Matt :thumbsup: Woohoo!!

[ManOnTheMoon]

Just been outside trying out my skywatcher. With the 12.5mm eyepeice the moon looks so good and so close but it hurts me eye's abit. Found Saturn, can see the rings but there side on can also see titan and 2 other moons closer to saturn. The finder is abit hard to use as I must put my head right against the tube to see through it. Can you buy an attachment for the finder that turns the image 45 degree's so you can look through it while sitting at the side of the telescope?

[Stu Ward]

You can buy a 90' finder scope for $99
well worth it imo


Stu

[mental4astro]

Good onya mate with the 8"er, :thumbsup:!

There are two solutions for your finder, one is a right angle finder which has the eyepiece at 90 degrees (I'm not a fan of them, but others swear by them- personal preference) and the other is attaching a red spot finder atop of your existing finder. I did just this for my big dob, attaching a red spot finder to a big finder (see pic). Look here for some good inexpensive gear, in particular Guan Sheng (GSO).:

http://andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm

Their little red spot finder is the one I used, $29 -see pictures.

There are two eyepieces I'd suggest for you that will be a good match for your 8", both from the Guan Sheng (GSO) range;

*30mm Superview $69

*15mm Superview $49

I have both and have used them on an 8" dob too. They are the two eyepieces I most use with my 17.5" dob.

For high power, unless you want to spend more than $120 on one eypeice you won't get to use to much, I'd suggest to just get a 2X barlow, $29. Cheap high power eyepieces are really difficult to use. With your 12.5mm eyepiece you will get 200X magnification, which is normally the highest power you can regularly use, and the 12.5 eyepiece is relatively easy on the eye to use.

I think you will be really well served by these items for a very long time.

[ManOnTheMoon]

Thanks for all the advice fella's.:) I want to look at jupiter tonight but im not sure what time and where to look exactly. Does it rise in the east around the same time as Saturn?

[madwayne]

Matt

Congratulations on your purchase it sounds like you are having a blast with it. I must also commend Alexander for his thoughtful and helpful posts in this forum - he never ceases to amaze me at how efficiently he gets in there and gives a helping hand to the newbies and always very friendly.

Jupiter is very much rising and setting with the Sun at the moment so you will not see it till a bit later in the year. I just stumbled over something in Stellarium, completely by mistake. Jupiter and Uranus will be within 1 degree of each other in the night sky on 26 September this year. Sorry to digress I was looking for when Jupiter returns to night time viewing for you :). Around the middle to end of August you will see Jupiter return to our night sky, of course in mid June you may see it early am. For Sydney on 28 June Jupiter will be at 22 degrees elevation at 02:30am.

If you go to www.stellarium.org (http://www.stellarium.org) you can download this remarkable free software. Punch in your observing location/s lattitude and longtitude and away you go. Arm yourself with a good star atlas, I use Steve Quirk's Atlas of the Southern Night Sky, so you can see what is in each constellation and before you know it you will be up and running.

Enjoy!

Regards
Wayne

[ManOnTheMoon]

Im going to buy these for my dob from Andrews. I just need to know first can I use the GSO 90° correct image diagonal with the barlow x2 lense?

Guan Sheng (GSO) range; - 30mm Superview - $69
- 15mm Superview - $49

GSO 90° 1.25" correct image diagonal - $39.00


Guan Sheng Barlows 2x mag 1.25" (FMC), 2 element achromatic - $29.00

Guan Sheng 1.25" Moon filter (mid green) (AD068) - $12
Guan Sheng 1.25" #82A Light blue filter 1.25" (AD054) - $12

[ManOnTheMoon]

Couldnt get hold of anybody at Andrews Communication so I was browsing ebay and came across this all for only $249.95 from NSW. Andrews have this for $350! so I grabbed this instead. There are 2 left on ebay if anyone is keen!

Celestron Eyepiece and Filter Kit 1.25"
- Five Superior Grade Plössl Eyepieces - 1.25” — 4-element design with a 52° AFOV (32mm has 44° )

- Barlow Lens - 2x 1.25”

- Six Colored Eyepiece(Lunar and Planetary) Filters - 1.25” Kodak Wratten #12, #21, #25, #56, #58A, and #80A

- Moon Filter - 1.25”

[Scorp56]

Congrats on your new scope.

I have a GSO 8" Dob and was very happy with service from Andrews.
Enjoy and Clear skies :)
Peter