Difference between these scopes?

[Oupy (Elliott)]

Hey all

I am in the market for my first Telescope and after much browsing and reasearch i have decided that a 8" or 10" collapsible dobsonian would best fit the bill.

I am hoping to stretch to the 10" but have seen much disparity in pricing. I am looking at the skywatcher brand and have seen that andrews has the 10" Callapsible Skywatcher Dob for $599. This is $300-400 cheaper than the other 10" Callapsible Skywatcher dobs i have seen on the net and in my local store.

Andrews: http://www.andrewscom.com.au/site-co....htm#dobsonian

OZScopes: http://www.ozscopes.com.au/dobsonian...e-10-inch.html

Is it the same model? Is there something i am missing? are there any pitfalls i should be wary of?

Thankyou

[TJD (Trevor)]

any difference in specs

good scopes sky watchers got the 12'' version great optics

[dannat (Daniel)]

essentaially the same scope - slight diff in ep's given etc..quiet often andrews comm will be cheaper than the opposition

[Batfink (Peter)]

I bought the 8" collapsible from Andrews and so far love it, when collasped its very easy to get through door ways and carry.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Remember to factor in freight costs. And check if your local store will repair any warranty issues on site, or if not, who's responsibility is it to cover any freight costs to a third party for these repairs.

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Hi Elliot,

In WA, Gerry Gibbs camera house has these for $899 also, they may price match the $599 Andrews price, not sure. I know others here have bought from GGCH with no real problems.

Just thought I might mention it.

Chris

[Oupy (Elliott)]

I have also taken a look at the 10" standard non callapsible Dobsonian from Skywatcher as they are a bit cheaper.

One thing i noticed though was the Resolving Power was different between the 10" Collapsible and the 10" Standard.

The Standard 10" resolving power is: 0.56
The Collapsible 10" resolving power is: 0.45

Why is this? And what does it mean?

Thankyou

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

Resolving power ~ resolution for instance you have binary stars (rigel kenturas or the outer most pointer star for the southern cross) you can split the star that is see both of the stars of the binary system.

take a torch hold it 30 cm apart and keep walking back untill they become one single torch beam (or so it appears) thats the resolving power of our eyes, there is a formula and it consists of aperature,distance, and a few other bits. i cant remember unless i go back though my astro 101 corse notes :S

The SW 10" is a great little scope the difference mainly between the GSO and it is Build quiality and mirror specs

I have seen the GSO scopes and just a few things they lack aka where the finder scope sits its just bolted down (thin sheet metal fails when a bit of a bump is applied) where as the SW has a reinforcement pad to help sure up the finder scope.

The mirror on the SW is Pyrex where GSO is a normal glass substrate eg pyrex has a low coefficient of thermal expansion and normal glass is high what does this mean, the Pyrex mirror will suffer significantly less from heat as the glass holds its shape better when changing temperature.

Is the SW worth the extra $$ ? In my opinion yes but then again i do not own a GSO. Are the extra trinkets worth the purchase. No. why do i say this because out of all the eye pieces that i got with the SW i use none of them! why because they suck! (good for a starter but worthless once you figure out how to look though a scope) get youself a 150 - 200 dollar ep down the track as a minimum (in a 10" the 20-26mm is your workhorse with a quality barlow/power mate you cant go wrong). the other thing is a 10:1 focuser this is GOLD when trying to focus at high magnification the sw craford is alright but its not easy let me assure you of that.

Pm me if you would like some help or look though a 10" SW if this blasted duck weather ever lets up

Brendan