Advice on new telescope

[zydeco (Andrew)]

Another new member looking for advice on a telescope. I’m after a good first telescope for that can be used at home in Perth for viewing planets and taken in the car for evening / weekend trips out of the city for better viewing of DSO. My budget is <$3k with the plan being to keep the unit for a good deal of time. The core requirements are as follows.

• Must be simple to set-up / disassemble as my partner in crime is my 5 year old son who is excited but has yet to develop a reservoir of patience
• Must be simple to quickly find objects (for the above reason)
• Must be portable in the sense that it can be packed in the back of the car (Subaru Forrester) while still leaving space for one child plus stuff
• Must be sourced from a local supplier (so that it's simple to solve if there are issues)

There is no requirement for photographs. So far I’ve identified the Skywatcher 10” Dobsonian Goto and Celestron Nexstar 8SE (or, possibly the CPC series) – with the former obviously providing better visualisation. These two units both seem to meet requirement 2 via the Go-To feature and can be purchased locally. I don’t really have a view, though as to the simplicity of set-up / disassemble for the two telescopes nor of the degree of portability. At first glance I thought that 8SE might be the answer but, knowing that the Skywater is bigger, it does look like it’d be simple to pack and set-up. It’d be great to get thoughts on my interpretation of requirements as well as potential options.

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

[dannat (Daniel)]

for a kid id be inclined to get a 6" manual Dob -that way you don't have to worry about him breaking anything like hand controllers ..with some short practice & a phone app its easy to find the moon & planets to look thru

[zydeco (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by dannat

for a kid id be inclined to get a 6" manual Dob -that way you don't have to worry about him breaking anything like hand controllers ..with some short practice & a phone app its easy to find the moon & planets to look thru

Thanks. I'll be the main user so am looking for something for myself that he can use (in a supervised manner) - hence the idea of a larger unit.

[Atmos (Colin)]

I'd probably go down the dob path myself. That extra 2" equates to ~50% extra light gathering power, it has a smaller central obstruction which gives for better views and I am going to imagine that a GoTo dob is cheaper than the other. Newtonian reflectors are just cheaper to manufacture. With the money that I am guessing you'll save from that I would recommend going out and buying a few decent eye pieces

[SkyWatch (Dean)]

I don't think you can go wrong with the 10" dob. I had a play with one (not the go-to) a while back, and they are easy to set up, easy to move around and with good optics. Plenty of change from your $3G too! Good for down the track when you want some extras.

Have fun!

- Dean

[zydeco (Andrew)]

Thanks for the responses.

[Solanum]

A 10" dob is transportable, but very impractical in the car. I changed mine for an 8" SCT for exactly that reason. You can do it, but with young kids you won't. You could get a second hand 8" SCT for half your budget and it is a lot easier to transport (I get mine in the boot of an 86!).

[zydeco (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Solanum

A 10" dob is transportable, but very impractical in the car. I changed mine for an 8" SCT for exactly that reason. You can do it, but with young kids you won't. You could get a second hand 8" SCT for half your budget and it is a lot easier to transport (I get mine in the boot of an 86!).

Interesting feedback. Is your experience with the collapsible or fixed 10" dob? I've been hoping that the former would be simple to pack into the Forrester if I pack other stuff around the telescope rather than dismantle. That said, it's fair to say that even with one child we do seem the list of things that need to be taken seems quite long.

[Solanum]

Originally Posted by zydeco

Interesting feedback. Is your experience with the collapsible or fixed 10" dob? I've been hoping that the former would be simple to pack into the Forrester if I pack other stuff around the telescope rather than dismantle. That said, it's fair to say that even with one child we do seem the list of things that need to be taken seems quite long.

Fixed, but the collapsible just takes a third off the length (and requires slightly more setup), doesn't alter the weight and it is still bulky, don't underestimate the size of the base...

Don't get me wrong, a 10" dob is great, I would not have swapped to an 8" SCT if I hadn't moved to a place where I had to take the scope elsewhere to view the sky (I miss my old setup!). But, as they always say, the best scope is the one you use, and if you have young kids, limited time etc. like me, you won't transport the 10" very often.

If you can do lots of viewing from home and only want to transport it occasionally, then get the dob though.

[knightrider]

I have the 10" collapsible GOTO Dob. Fit's in my Forester just fine. In fact it fits really easily. Just collapse the tube, separate it from the base and sit it upright in the backseat and belt it in like a person. The base will sit as it is upright in the boot. Transports in 2 pieces.

We've loaded up the forester for camping for two and still fit the scope in the car. It just takes up one seat and one side of the boot.

Edit: BTW I have a MY03 Forester, so they're not as large as the newer ones and it still fit's fine.

[zydeco (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by knightrider

I have the 10" collapsible GOTO Dob. Fit's in my Forester just fine. In fact it fits really easily. Just collapse the tube, separate it from the base and sit it upright in the backseat and belt it in like a person. The base will sit as it is upright in the boot. Transports in 2 pieces.

We've loaded up the forester for camping for two and still fit the scope in the car. It just takes up one seat and one side of the boot.

Edit: BTW I have a MY03 Forester, so they're not as large as the newer ones and it still fit's fine.

Knightrider - Thanks. That's great feedback. I'm confident that the 10" would fit into the Forester. Really just a matter of all the other things that we need to pack but I'm sure that that is manageable.

[zydeco (Andrew)]

I’m still pondering on options for visual observation that will be primarily used from home and, on occasion, set-up when we're on holiday North / South of Perth. The current list has been narrowed down to the Skywatcher Dobsonian 10” Goto on the basis of the aperture / cost and Celestron Evolution 8 / 9.25 on basis of portability / WiFi functions. The local e-retailer (we know longer have bricks-and-mortar store in Perth) has put forward that the Dobsonian is well suited to home usage in that it has a smaller footprint when set-up at home, can be simply moved in / out on a sack trolley (which we've got) and is simply set-up given all the flat surfaces. I guess, though, it’d be good to get others take. The other point of hesitation is that the WiFi / SkyPortal functions of the Evolution look quite exciting and a good path to engage with the family. Any and all advice in unpicking this conundrum would be much appreciated.

[raymo]

The 10" collapsible fits easily into my Corolla hatch.
If you are prepared to pay out for an SCT, then I think that the
10" collapsible Go To Dob would be the bees' knees. Go To and tracking,
50% more light gathering [as already stated], and about half the price
of the SCT.
raymo