8" or 10" ? + Hi 2 u all

[Howzat]

Hello to all
After lurking on the forums for a while I thought it was about time I said hello the everyone.

To preempt Mike I found out about Iceinspace from your posts on Gamearena and my wife holds you personally responsible for getting me started on yet another hobby (although I've always said I would get a telescope "one day") :p

I finally took the plunge and bought a little 4.5" eq reflector just after christmas.
After struggling with the eq mount to get it set up my first sight though the telescope was saturn :eyepop: then M42, pleiades, jewel box, Jupiter and it's moons :eyepop: again and a globular cluster.

Anyway to cut a long story short after going to the BAS open night at Mount Coot-tha on Saturday night and looking though a couple of 10" dobs I've managed to convince the mrs that I need an upgrade.
The latest S & S has a GSO 8" dob for $399 and a GSO 10" dob for $799. What I need to know is it worth the extra for $$$ for the 10" or should I just go for the 8" remembering that I'm a bit of a newbie :ashamed:

Thanks in advance

[Jonathan]

:welcome: to the forum Phil.

I can't offer you any advice on dobs but there are plenty of people here that can and I'm sure they will. Double the money for an extra 2 inches sounds strange.

Enjoy! :astron:

[rmcpb]

Personally I would pick the 8" so you would then have some money left over for the little extras that one needs for those viewing nights like a Telrad, a viewing chair, etc. I take it that you have binocs, a planisphere and red torch already??

Later a couple of wider angle eyepieces will be needed to ease the frequency of nudging your dob along to track objects.

The list just keeps going so, if the difference is that much, the 8" is the go but you may do well to shop around.

Cheers
Rob.

[iceman]

Hi Phil! :welcome: to the forum and thanks for already answering my first question :)

And tell the wife I said sorry :D

I gave up online gaming for astronomy, it's a much healthier hobby :)

Sounds like you've done some great researching going to the clubs meeting and looking through some scopes.

But to answer your questions, you need to answer some first :)

How did you find your 4.5" EQ?
Did you like the EQ mount or find it a hassle?
Did it track or was it all manual adjustments?
What brand was it?
What accessories and eyepieces (and what brands) do you already own?
Do you want to look at DSO's, planets/moon or both?
Do you want to do any astrophotography or just visual (with perhaps the odd shot through the eyepiece)?
How portable do you need it to be?
Will an 8" and 10" fit in your car?
Are you happy with the pull/push/tilt method of aligning a dob?

The 10" does have significantly more light-gathering than the 8" (something like 50%), so you will see fainter stuff in dark skies. It just depends whether it's worth the extra money to you.

An 8" is a great size for someone new in the hobby and does leave you some money for the budget widefield eyepieces and any other bits and pieces you haven't got yet.

Dobs are great and you can do loads of mods to them, you'll find the ones i've done on my projects (http://www.iceinspace.com/projects) page, and there's still heaps more to do :)

Good luck hope to see you back here posting regularly!

[Howzat]

Thanks for the replies
Rob
Sorry I should of mentioned in my first post I have 10 x 50 binos, planisphere and a red led torch and you make a good point about wide angle lens I hadn't thought of that.

Mike
I got my Tasco from a National Geographic Shop after a lot of pleading from my daughter. (please dad pleeeeeeeeease I'll go you halves) I don't regret getting it even though looking around since I could of gotten better, I probably would of put off getting a scope again.
The mount is only an EQ1 so it wobbles and shakes all over the place but after reading the instructions it was fairly easy to set up and use.
I've already tried astrophotography. I glued a 20mm connector for pvc pipe on the front of an old quickcam express I had lying around and took a couple of pics of the moon. It only has a cmos so the were of low quality but it was fun :P
I've got 6mm 9mm 15mm and 32mm plossls and a 2x barlow with a moon filter and some colour filters as well.
Portability is not a problem as we have a 4 wheel drive.

Damn aperture fever is a bugger isn't it? My heart says 10" but my head says 8" :confused:

[ving]

I have a 8" and it does let me see lots and I also could aford some extra EPs to go with it. the 10" will let you see more but for obviously alot more $$$. I guess in the end its up to you and what you want it for. you will want tracking for pics tho.

welcome to my forum btw :P

sit down, relax and enjoy the ride!

[RAJAH235]

Hi Phil and welcome. I'll say only one thing, *APERTURE WINS*!
:thumbsup:

[Starkler]

You could buy the 8 and always be wondering if you should have bought the 10.
If you get the 10 you will know you have the most aperture you can fit into an average car.(without going to much pricier options).

I guess it comes down to what you want to spend on this new hobby. For a newcommer who isnt sure that they want to splash great amounts of cash the 8 gets almost universal recommendation as it is such great value. If cost isnt a problem go the 10.

[wavelandscott]

8 versus 10 is a good question...

You will get more light gathering ability with the 10...but, it is more expensive and a bit bigger to lug around...and maybe it will need to be collimated more often...

My advice is for you to get the one that you will use the most.

Sounds like "wimpy advice"...but, the extra aperature will not do you any good if you do not use it...

While some will mention how "portable" the 10 inch is...I own an 8 inch and sometimes after a long day at the office I am not too keen to move it (yes, I do have a hand trolly see Ice's modifications and projects)...

For me, the 8 inch is a good place to move to from where you are...it is much biger than your current 4.5 so it will open new things to see...it is "portable" (in a relaxed sense of the meaning) and you have a few $ to put toward some other gear...

Good Luck with your choice...

[Striker]

Also...where are you viewing....unless you get out in the sticks to a very dark sky on a regular basis your not going to see the benifit of the 10".......we had a viewing night at Normon park mid January and you couldn't physicly see the difference between the 8 and 10"dobs...aperture really stands out in dark skies...with city viewing its not going to make a difference.

Just something to note.

God I hate when I sound serious.....

[Chrissyo]

Hi, I'm new.

I'm just wondering, how did you get the prices for those dobs so cheaply? I read this thread, as I have plans to buy an 8 inch dob in May, for $799. (I live fairly close to your location too).

The one I was planning on getting is a Celestron Star Hopper, found here (http://www.astronomyonline.com.au/cache/item-1774public.html?cache=no).

So, my question is this: which price is the normal one? I've done a little shopping around, and found most 8 inch dobs to be around $700-$800 that I've seen. I wanted to get a Celestron as I wanted to make sure I got one from a good brand.

[Starkler]

Chrissyo , the optical tube is identical to the Celestron one.
It is a Guan Sheng made OTA with a Celestron name on the side of it , hence the price difference.

The big names Celestron, Meade, Orion etc make very little themselves, with most of their line purchased from China, Taiwan and Japan.

The Guan Sheng dob is just a well made no-name dob available to us cutting out a middleman, and the savings are ours to enjoy :)

[jackenau]

Try Bintel on www.bintelshop.com.au or andrews communication on www.andrews.com.au, they appear to be two of the cheaper and reliable alternatives when purchasing a dob scope. If I have the web addresses wrong, I am sure a search for either will take you to their website.

[ballaratdragons]

You got bintels right. Andrews is www.andrewscom.com.au

Chrissyo, you mentioned the price of $700-$800. Andrews has a 10" for that price. A Guan Sheng (very good). Don't know bintels price.

If you ring for a quote at Andrews, tell him you are a member here at Ice In Space and he tends to give better prices. Especially on accessories.

I think Bintel is a bit dearer but they go over the scope for you before they send it out (collimation etc.)

Wherever you get one from, GS (Guan Sheng) is a very good quality scope.

Oh yeah, Welcome.

[Howzat]

Hi Chrissyo

I got the prices from an Andrews ad in the latest Sky & Space magazine. (the website has the 8" for $449 though)

At this stage I'm leaning more to the 10" as I can always buy the EP's etc later but I'll have a hard time squeezing a 10" mirror into an 8" tube :P

Thanks for all your replies

[MintSauce]

lee does not keep the website as uptodate as the adverts. Mention us lot and see what he recommends for you :)

I would say get the 8" and a few accessories (I spent $750 in total getting the 4 eye pieces with the scope, 2" barlow, 2" 80degree andrews lens (wow) and a 20mm superview)

G.

[Howzat]

Thanks for the input guys.:2thumbs:

I was talking it over with the wife and she said "If your going to get the 10 inch you may as well go all the way and buy the 12 inch" :eyepop: (you've gotta love her at times)

So the 12" and a 30mm SV it is :party:

Thanks again for your help :)

[janoskiss]

Nice to have choice but I'd still recommend to get the 8" with accessories, and more accessories later as you find out what you want and what pisses you off (things like dew for ex.), and later still get the 12". The cost of the 8" is only a fraction of the cost of the 12" + accessories, but the 8" is much more versatile than the 12 (easily fits through a doorway for starters). Unless you have your own observatory / dedicated scope shed, you will not use the 12" as much as you would the 8". Naturally, if this is a purchase with the sole purpose of treating a severe case of APERTURE fever, then normal rules of conduct no longer apply and you've gotta go with the biggest monster you can afford.

[rmcpb]

Another great thing about the 8" is that as you haven't invested as much in it you are more likely to try some of the upgrades like flocking, etc. Doing these greatly increases your understanding of how it all works and, therefore, it increases your enjoyment. Does that truely make me a Compulsive Tinkerer?

Also, have a look at a 12" cannon before buying. They are huge and are you as likely to use it often?

Cheers

[iceman]

It'll be about as big as a full size hot water heater, probably bigger :)

[ving]

and .... er... do you do weights? ;)

you could always get a trolley to wheel around a 12", but carrying it everywhere will see you with back problems me thinks!

[MiG]

Measure your car first if you're going to take the scope anywhere. The 12" is 145 cm long whereas the 10" is 131 cm from memory. I'm glad I thought to measure before choosing because the 12" doesn't fit in my Verada, unless I put it in a dangerous position.