I am seeking advice about a second telescope as a backup to my 6 inch Celestron SCT, or when the seeing condition may not be good enough to make it worthwhile to setup the SCT. I have also occasionally failed to ensure that the battery pack is fully charged only to find this out just when I have found something interesting to look at! My plan was to use the second scope for general observing and maybe to check out objects for viewing in the SCT.
Originally I was thinking about portability and ease of use but at a reasonably low price point - say around $600 or less. There are many small refractors available at this price and below but I have no experience of the quality of the telescopes at this price level, what features to look for, and whether I would be wasting my time unless I was willing to spend more. Given that my primary scope is only a 6" I have also seen several of the posts suggesting a 10 inch dob as a beginner scope, which could be in my case a second telescope. Up to now I hadn't seriously considered this thinking that a dob would not be that portable, but now I am not so sure.
An 8" Dob could be just what you're after. It's a bit smaller than a 10" so more portable and you should have lots of change from $600 esp. if you get one 2nd hand. I've recently sold my 8" for $250 and found it not to difficult to lift with the base attached and I'm 5'2".
I now have a 12" that I picked up 2nd hand for under $600 and it's on castors - this makes it easier to move than the 8" I had. The same might be true for you if you have no stairs.
Hi Mike, you have a number of options here as I see it, depends on what you want to do primarily.
A 10" dob is transportable ... if you have a suitable vehicle of course. I have a wagon and the scope is light and breaks down. The advantage of 10" of course is aperture which means you see more. The disadvantage is setup time and transportability..
My 'Grab & Go' scope is an f5 80mm Achro Refractor on just a simple tripod. Easy to take anywhere and quick to setup but obviously lacks the aperture to see DSOs the 10" has.
Long term I'd like to upgrade that to an 80mm or 100mm APO.
A 6" SCT in my case would be a handy 'Grab & Go'. Packs down small, quite quick to setup and I'd get a power pack or ensure my batteries were fully charged. A 10" would therefore be my next buy to give better seeing, anything smaller is not going to make much difference over what you have.
Grab and Go is also well suited to some good binoculars, 10 x 50 minimum.
As an alternative Mike, consider a used ED 80. It's light and portable, great for visuals (esp colour correction) and is a great starter scope for astrophotos.
Bo
Thank you very much for the replies. The advice is appreciated and has certainly helped. In looking at the ED 80 option (whether new or second hand) is there a particular manufacturer or model I should be looking for or are most of the ED 80 scopes very similar in terms of quality and performance (I appreciate that the top notch ones like TV, etc, are in a different class and unfortunately out of my price range).
Orion and Sky Watcher ED80s are identical except the badge. They are cheap and provide good value for money.
North Group (Chinese brand) is also worth considering, but I am not sure if there is a Aust distributor. A few members here imported their ED 127 and they all seem very happy with the optics.
Like everything in life, you get what you pay for.
Bo
The advice is appreciated and has certainly helped. In looking at the ED 80 option (whether new or second hand) is there a particular manufacturer or model I should be looking for or are most of the ED 80 scopes very similar in terms of quality and performance (I appreciate that the top notch ones like TV, etc, are in a different class and unfortunately out of my price range).
