GSO 6 or 8 inch??? any advice - Page 2

norm · #21 07-03-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Go straight to a 300mm refractor.

Holy Toledo !!!!! A refractor too !!!!

matt · #22 07-03-2006, 09:13 PM

a 300mm refractor

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

mickoking · #23 07-03-2006, 09:19 PM

G,day Dan and welcome to the forum,

I would recommend either a 150mm or 200mm GSO Dob

but a 200mm will show more and is not much larger than the smaller Dob. I currently own 2 GSO Dobs and neither show a speck of rust, and their optics are very good.

danielsun · #24 07-03-2006, 10:52 PM

Welcome Dan! Cool name!!
Well i think that if your going to go with a dob i'd personaly get a saxon or sky watcher for a few of reasons.1. I have compared mine with the GS dob and i can say from what i've seen that the paint job is definately better.It seems the gs dobs or at least the one i've seen doesnt have any undercoat which is not too good. 2.The saxons have It a tensioner handle which alows you simply tension at at any tension to hold light or heavy eye peices without the need for counter weight magnets which can scratch your paintwork. 3. with the tensioner handles you can simply pick up the scope and base as one unit and carry it around. (I have the ten inch and still find this easy!) .4. I prefer the polyurathane roller for the altidude bearing set up even though its great as it is , you can still modify it if you like and put proper cased bearings as i have for even more super smooth travel. having said this the saxons and sky watchers are a bit more expensive but i think worth it. The GS dobs are a good budget scope and the GS deluxe has the advantage of a crayford focuser which are excellent.although you could fit one to a saxon or sky watcher later if needed.
Which ever way you go get minimum 8" or if you can afford it go the 10" Hope this helps .

janoskiss (Steve H) · #25 07-03-2006, 11:03 PM

After having seen and used Daniel's scope I have to say I agree that the altitude motion of the SW Dobs is superior to that of the GS, as is the continuously adjustable tensioning handle to the springs used on the GS. The only thing that remains to be seen is how the optics compare (but based on what I saw through the Saxon it looked good as does my GS).

Dan31415 · #26 08-03-2006, 10:17 AM

Once again, thanks for the reply..

I had not considered the skywatcher before it was mentioned here and is now looking like a great alternative - even from the pictures it seems a much better finish. I would like to make my purchase and have the scope delivered before the 20th of March as I am driving from Darwin to Kununurra and back again over a week and would expect the sky to be particularly dark in that part of the world - in the middle of 'no-where'. I will keep you posted of my final decision and perhaps even a first light report

Dan

Starkler (Geoff) · #27 08-03-2006, 10:32 AM

Just one more thing....

On the GS scopes the collimation screws can be adjusted with fingers, whilst the 8" Saxon dob i owned a few years required a philips head screwdriver for the collimation screws and an allen key for the lock screws.

Its worth checking on if you want to keep your scope well collimated. If its hard to do , you may not do it as often

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #28 08-03-2006, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starkler

Just one more thing....

On the GS scopes the collimation screws can be adjusted with fingers, whilst the 8" Saxon dob i owned a few years required a philips head screwdriver for the collimation screws and an allen key for the lock screws.

Its worth checking on if you want to keep your scope well collimated. If its hard to do , you may not do it as often

Someone really should do a feature comparo between the main dobs. My F4 is a GS, my F6 is a SW. No idea if these are standard, but from this limited sample I would say that the GS has superior focuser (came with compression ring), secondary holder, and collimation screws. It's tube is well blackened. My Skywatcher has a better tube, I cannot imagine it rusting (can't say the same for the GS), but the interior is perhaps less black. The recessed allen key collimation screws on the SW are a pain, so I changed them for phillips head screws, which are much better (cost <$3).

Both are good scopes BTW, excellent value, and when all's said and done, you are unlikely to be disappointed with either. But try and check them out in the flesh yourself if you have the chance.

BC · #29 08-03-2006, 01:54 PM

Hi there,

If grab'n'go is the thought, I wouldn't be going the "aperture rules" path quite so quickly. Achieving thermal equilibrium is near impossible in winter near Canberra. Even with the fan going for hours the little amoebas never leave the off-focus view. I have the 10" and the views are good but it never gets to that non-shimmery view of the moon (for example). I don't know how much thermal balance you need to achieve up there (warming rather than cooling), but maybe the refractor is worth a closer look, or the 6" reflector for a quicker clear view. I harp on it a bit because it's one of the things I wished I was warned about before going the path of "aperture is all that matters". Besides, you'll get plenty of non grab'n'go with the 16" later.

Cheers

janoskiss (Steve H) · #30 08-03-2006, 02:35 PM

BC, A well baffled 4+ watt fan should get the 10" to thermal equilibrium in no time.

The "amoebas" are in your eyeball not in the scope, if they are what I think they are.

The shimmering Moon is caused by the constant motion of the atmosphere and not your scope. Thermal currents within the tube tend to give intermittent blurring and "swimming" ghost images. It is a very different look from the shimmer caused by the atmosphere.

Sure, in a small refractor you will not see it so easily, but that is because that scope cannot handle the high magnifications needed to see it. The atmosphere is never still. If you push the magnification high enough you will always see a shimmering Moon.

Dan31415 · #31 08-03-2006, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miaplacidus

Someone really should do a feature comparo between the main dobs. My F4 is a GS, my F6 is a SW. No idea if these are standard, but from this limited sample I would say that the GS has superior focuser (came with compression ring), secondary holder, and collimation screws. It's tube is well blackened. My Skywatcher has a better tube, I cannot imagine it rusting (can't say the same for the GS), but the interior is perhaps less black. The recessed allen key collimation screws on the SW are a pain, so I changed them for phillips head screws, which are much better (cost <$3).

Thanks Miaplacidus,

I think I have made up my mind, it is just getting down to shipping rates now. myastroshop is only charging $45 to Darwin which is very reasonable

haven't called Andrews yet.

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #32 08-03-2006, 04:11 PM

Oh, another thing. While the compression handles on the Skywatcher are good, and really do work to stop altitude sag, I can't imagine how I'm going to attach encoders to it for a digital telescope computer. (Anyone else out there done this?)

Cheers,

Brian.

janoskiss (Steve H) · #33 08-03-2006, 04:24 PM

Daniel has done it. He's got an ArgoNavis on his Dob.

Dan31415 · #34 09-03-2006, 04:30 PM

Once again thanks all for the great advice...

I have ordered a Skywatcher 8 inch from myastroshop in Sydney which should be delivered early next week.

Steve was a consummate professional to deal with, answering a number of email questions I had within a couple of hours and was extremely helpful and forthcoming with information and an absolute a pleasure to deal with. At $465 delivered it was also a FANTASTIC price.

On the down side we have a monsoonal trough which has just arrived in Darwin, now all it has to do is turn into a cyclone to be the most extreme example of the new scope curse ever.

Thanks again for all your advice

Daniel

janoskiss (Steve H) · #35 09-03-2006, 05:04 PM

Good stuff, Dan! You'll love the little beast.

cjmarsh81 · #36 09-03-2006, 05:42 PM

Congrats on the new scope. It will be awesome. I have ordered a couple things from Steve at Myastroshop and they have both turned up the next day. Could be a day or two more to Darwin though.

Before you flock the scope and change the spider I suggest you use it for a while. I am very happy with my Skywatcher the way it came. Other than re-greasing the focuser and putting extra sliders in the base to make it smoother there is not much you need to do to it. If you are in a dark area, there is probably not much need to flock it anyway(I could be wrong).

Have Fun!

Miaplacidus (Brian) · #37 09-03-2006, 05:55 PM

Congratulations, Daniel. That sounds like a sweet deal. (When I bought my dob they were much dearer than that.) 8 inches are much better than 6.

What eyepieces come with it?

dhumpie · #38 09-03-2006, 06:13 PM

Good stuff. Hope you get clear skies

Darren

danielsun · #39 10-03-2006, 12:09 AM

Well done Daniel!! You will no doubt be happy with it, and very easy to carry around!

I've also still got my 8" incher!!

Adrian-H · #40 10-03-2006, 05:50 AM

gso's are own i got a 12", sure they are big, but i say it is worth the investment if you are willing to use it!

who said they wanted to buy me a 300mm refractor?