Bino's Here

[Alderney (Dave)]

Hi Guy's
Glad to say my AOE 20x80T's arrived today and they are big They arrived packed very well. First view was a bit off putting as collimation was out a bit, but a quarter turn on the right hand collimation screw soon put that right. I will write more after night viewing, if clouds stay away
to AOE service.

[Grafted]

I am tossing up between a telscope or Binos for my first attempt at star gazing, so I look forward to your thoughts on the binos..
I was going for the exact pair you have if I was to steered towards Binos first.

I Still have a bit of research to do yet.

I find the more I read, the more confused I get as to which way to go.. Binos or a telscope?

Have around $400.00 and would like to check out as much detail on planets first, than look towards other sites.

I am a dead set newbie at this so its all a steep learning curve for me.

[jase (Jason)]

Great purchase their Dave. I'm sure the Bino will provide much viewing pleasure.

Oh, and welcome to IIS Grafted...

[Gama]

Just dont use them at the beach..

Unless your behind a bush, a couple of k's away !.

[johnno]

From what I have read,
A great choice Dave,Hope,they do what you want.

GRAFTED,

If you are looking for detail,on PLANETS,I'm afraid Binoculars will not do the Job.

You Really need a telescope for this,

Please bear in mind,There are,NOT Many Planets to look at.

Binoculars, are more usefull on wider field objects,like the Pleiades,Southern Cross,Omega Centauri,Etc,Etc,Etc,

Each Instrument has its Place,in the Scheme of things.

Regards.
John

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Welcome Grafted, what Johnno said re planets. You really need a scope with some aperture and high powers for planets. 8" Dobsonians do a great job for surprisingly little money (<$500). If you want two-eyed view planets, you can grab a relatively inexpensive binoviewer like the WO which works quite well with the 8" Dob. But do also get a more modest sized pair of binos for hand-held use if you haven't got one yet. (7-10x, 40-50mm)

[Grafted]

Hi Thanks,for the feedback guys.

I seen these two scopes on special at Andrews whats your thoughts on it, if you wouldn't mined..
Being a newbie I wouldn't know which of these two would be best for all round use and value for money.

I am still in the process of reading and researching, so I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thankyou in advance

Reflecting telescope

Guan Sheng GS-500
150 x 750 SV1

Super special!
$399.00 AUD

or

Dobsonian telescopes

Guan Sheng GS-680
200 x 1200

Limited version
$449.00 AUD
Deluxe version
$499.00 AUD

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Get one of the 8" Dobs ("GS-680") if you can afford it. The extra aperture makes a lot of difference to the number of objects and the amount of detail you will be able to see. The only diff between the "Limited" and the "Deluxe" is the Crayford style focuser and it's well worth the upgrade. If you want ongoing support, help with using and maintaining the scope, you might like to consider Bintel. They are a bit dearer but it's worth it in the long run. They are also probably better at putting together a custom package for you (e.g., I'd get that Crayford upgraded to the newer 10:1 model with the fine focuser, real nice at high powers).

[johnno]

Hi Grafted,

Welcome to the forum,I forgot my manners in my first reply to you.

STEVE is absolutely correct,
You would be FAR, better off with the GS-680 8" dob,than the smaller 6",GS 500.

A couple of reasons.

1 According to your spec's, the 6" has a Focal Ratio of F5,
You had better have some Reasonably high quality/Expensive eyepieces for it,to avoid seagulls in the outer Field of View,(FOV)

2 It wont deliver the same level of brightness,and detail on a given object,as the 8" will.

3 the 8" Scope,has a focal Ratio,according to your specs,of F6,a little more forgiving,on the less expensive eyepieces(I dont mean really cheap ones).

Enjoy the hobby,and dont forget the Binoculars,when finances permit,
They can show some Stunning Views,especially of the Milky Way,etc.

Regards.
John

[Alderney (Dave)]

Well having used the binoculars for a couple of nights in my light polluted back yard, they are great. The views of open clusters, Milky Way and globular clusters are magic. As some guys have said, there is a bit of colour around the moon, but the view is still well worth the money. Next thing for me is getting out to a dark sky site for a better view, with my scope as well as it hasn't been out of the city yet.

Hi Grafted. Welcome to IIS.
I am fairly new to having a good scope and pretty good ep's and very new with bino's. Having said that, these bino's are heavy and without a mount of some sort would be just about impossible to use at their best,so later on I am going to build myself a bino chair with parallelogram mount to carry them. As for the views between bino's and scopes, John and Steve above have covered that far better than I could. Another thing to do is try and get into an astro club and have a look through other members gear before you spend your hard earned.

[Grafted]

Thanks once again for the feeback I will certainly take it onboard.
I will probably purchase the 8 inch Dob and from the suggested supplier within a week.
I will take your advice and join a club .
Many thanks for your support and quick response to my questions.