Looking at 12" Dobsonians

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Hi Everyone,

Been researching for awhile now for a scope and a dobsonian will definately suit my needs and my budget being around $1000.
One question is :

Bintel 12" - $899
http://www.bintel.com.au/Telescopes/...oductview.aspx
Saxon 12" - $1299
http://www.opticscentral.com.au/saxo...telescope.html

Whats the difference between the 2 ?
Is it quality of parts used or the brand name ?

Appreciate your time
Chris

[Satchmo]

Chris - the Bintel is made by GSO and the Saxon is by Skywatcher.

For $100 more than the Saxon you can get the Skywatcher Flex -tube 12" ( from Andrews ) which has a collapsible tube so should be more portable . From memory the 12" Skywatcher solid tube is particularly heavy to lift . Other than that for that kind of outlay they are all very good bang for buck.

I would thoroughly recommend seeing one in the flesh and have a go at moving it around. A 10" F5 may be more useful if you are tempted to use it a lot more having greater portability .

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Hi Chris,

Essentially these are the same scope. The Saxon is just a rebranded Skywatcher (Skywatcher is owned by a Chinese company called Synta, who also owns Tasco, Celestron, Saxon, Jason, Konus, and a host of others, plus puts the 'house name' on other brands. The Bintel dob is made by GSO, a Taiwanese company, just branded as Bintel.

Both of these scopes will perform very well. The only real difference between them is two: the friction control mechanism, and the focuser. Neither one of these two dobs are really well balanced instruments, so they rely on friction controls to deal with heavy eyepieces. The problem with these is the action changes as you increase and decrease the braking pressure. The focuser on the Saxon I don't think is as good as the Bintel's. That's where the cost trade-off with these scopes, they cut corners somewhere or other to make the scope cheap.

BUT, the good news is that the optics on either one of these scope is very good! Mass produced mirrors have come a long way, which is a blessing. The quality of these mirrors I think is good enough to last you a very, very long time (eventually the coatings on the mirror will need to be replaced, but not for many, many years).

If the choice was mine as to which scope, I would go the Bintel. The money you save over the Saxon you can use to get a couple of Superview eyepieces, a collimating eyepiece, and maybe an OIII filter. You'll be kitted out to years to come!

Mental.

[glend (Glen)]

What they didn't mention is that there are only two GSO retailers in Australia, Bintel is one and Andrews Commnications is the other. Bintel puts a Bintel sticker on them while Andrews sells them as GSOs. I would suggest you call Andrews as when I was buying my 12" dob a few months back they were significantly cheaper than Bintel. They also offered some differences in their stock like larger altitude knobs, and black bases.

Here is their website: http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-section-10.htm


Note: This post has been edited since originally posted to provide the link.

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Great Advice guys
Thanks very much

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

One small point in comparing Andrews with Bintel (and I have used both and bought my 12" GSO from Andrews, so have no bias one way or other!) and that is as you are in Melbourne and Bintel have a shop in Melbourne, they are easier for support issues etc. Andrews are in Sydney and they supply the scope unassembled and usually without assembly instructions. So if you are not familiar with how they assemble that may be an issue (it wasn't for me, but I am used to putting stuff together)

Malcolm

[glend (Glen)]

There is a pdf file of the instructions that Andrews supplied to me with mine, it seems not all have the printed instructions packed in the boxes from the factory. Shipping the base in knocked down form saves money and anyone who has assembled anything from Ikea should be able to put the base together. If you want to pick it up from them they will assemble the base for you, just make sure you can get it in your vehicle.

As you are in Melbourne Bintel may prove cheaper after factoring in shipping but get both prices. I would suggest accepting it in the shipping boxes as opposed to assembled as you will want to keep the tube box for transporting it later if needed.

Disclaimer: I am not bias in anyway toward either supplier, just trying to help our a newbie with all the info.

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Yes some more great advice thanks Glend and barx
Yes probably would make sense to but from Bintel in Melb
But will check shipping costs from Andrews and weigh things up

[bigjoe (JOSEPH)]

Hi buddy.Id go for a 10" GSO/Bintel myself.Plenty of apperture and far easier to lug around / put in car etc.Youll have plenty left over for some good widefield eps.Say a 6.7 es and 30 es or similar.But all the advice here is equally valid Cheers. Hope this helps.

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Well after much research and discussion and questions I took the plunge and spent the whole tax return
A big thank you to all from this site who aided my decision
Brought home a Orion SkyQuest XT12g GoTo Dobsonian last Saturday
Gave it a big run last night as had nice clear skies NE of Melb
Easy 2 star alignment and I was away
Nice to have the luxury of tracking
Moon, Saturn and Venus all lovely
Very impressed , easy to operate , sorted a nice trolley to move in/out of house as she is a large beast.
No regrets and looking forward to many pleasant nights under the stars
Thanks to the boys at Bintel for the accurate measurements of the scope boxed up, I was able to fit all 3 boxes into my Hyundai Elantra hatchback
Mind you I had pulled out all the seats bar the drivers seat
The things you do to get these suckers home

[Redpaso (James)]

Congratulations on the purchase, I must say I am envious & you have inspired me to get my tax sorted. Please provide updates as you get familiar with your new toy

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

congrats with the purchase Chris, enjoy the views!!

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Congratulations Chris on a nice purchase. And well done with Bintel helping you out.

Is it solid tube? I assume so from your description.

Malcolm

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Thanks Guys, very very pleased
And yes Malcolm , solid tube
Otherwise I wouldn't have had to remove all the seats from my car to fit all 3 boxes in , but I was keen for the challenge

[Allan_L (Allan)]

great choice Chris.
That is a quality piece of equipment you have selected.
Enjoy

[mr bruess]

A good way to spend your tax return.
I would have gone for the struss tube design,So much easier to put in a car,especially a small hatchback

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Allan_L

great choice Chris.
That is a quality piece of equipment you have selected.
Enjoy

Thanks Allan
I am totally enjoying the whole experience
And thanks to the great support from the members on this website, who make life in astronomy much easier

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Originally Posted by mr bruess

A good way to spend your tax return.
I would have gone for the struss tube design,So much easier to put in a car,especially a small hatchback

Hey mr bruess,

Haha
Yea I was tempted to go the Lightbridge type design but also wanted the goto/tracking functionality and the tax return didn't stretch to the goto Lightbridge............I gotta claim more next year
At least I know it can fit in the car one way or another
The boys at bintel go to me , 'no way your gunna fit it in a Hyundai elantra'.......oh you removed all the seats !
But I will be a backyard man for awhile yet , lots to learn

[shenanigans000 (Greg)]

Well done on your choice.

I own a collpasible goto dobby, and I agree that if you have to choose between the two, having the goto is better than having the collapsabillityness. (I just made up a new word!!!)

Enjoy!

[Skuppy (Chris)]

Originally Posted by shenanigans000

Well done on your choice.

I own a collpasible goto dobby, and I agree that if you have to choose between the two, having the goto is better than having the collapsabillityness. (I just made up a new word!!!)

Enjoy!

Yea cheers Greg
While it is important to learn about the skies manual mode, tracking and goto is the icing on the cake