Kildar13x
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Reged: 07/06/11
Loc: Maine
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Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
#5547228 - 11/30/12 01:29 PM
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I am looking into getting a dobsonian and I was looking at the Apertura AD12. I have heard good things about this scope and its cheaper than the Orion dobsonians I was looking at. My only concern is that it is not motorized, will this present problems while observing? I've only had motorized telescopes before.
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jfaust75
sage
Reged: 10/04/11
Loc: Central Florida
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: Kildar13x]
#5547243 - 11/30/12 01:35 PM
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you do have a few options here. a normal dob is not motorized at all as you said but there is Orions Intelliscope which is Push-To(as in you push it but the controller tells you where to push it) Orion also has a Go-To model which is motorized but costs significantly more than your average dob.
a comprimise to all of this is to get any dob you pick(no motorized) and print setting circles for the base(cheap) and buy a digital inclimeter for azimuth. then just use any handheld device that you can that has a program to tell you coordinates to push to(laptop will also work).
me i went with the Intelliscope and i love it!
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jfaust75
sage
Reged: 10/04/11
Loc: Central Florida
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: jfaust75]
#5547246 - 11/30/12 01:37 PM
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also All of those options except Go-To you have to nudge the scope to manually track(only a full Go-To can track for you)
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Kildar13x
member
Reged: 07/06/11
Loc: Maine
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: jfaust75]
#5547253 - 11/30/12 01:43 PM
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Does the target you are looking at move through the EP? That is my major concern.
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jfaust75
sage
Reged: 10/04/11
Loc: Central Florida
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: Kildar13x]
#5547260 - 11/30/12 01:49 PM
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yes that is what i meant by tracking....only a full Go-To will be able to follow an object on its own.....
manual tracking on a dob is pretty simple though, you just nudge the scope little bits at a time .you catch on after a short while(i think it took me 2 tries to get the hang of it at low power.) high power is faster and you will need to nudge it more often and even that isnt too hard once you get used to low power
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Kildar13x
member
Reged: 07/06/11
Loc: Maine
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: jfaust75]
#5547269 - 11/30/12 01:51 PM
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Ok I see. But its nothing that keeps you from enjoying the views though? I just thought it might get annoying having the object move.
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jfaust75
sage
Reged: 10/04/11
Loc: Central Florida
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: Kildar13x]
#5547280 - 11/30/12 01:56 PM
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no i absolutely love mine and the views i get from it.
get a/some wide angle EPs for it and at low power the object will stay in FOV for about a minute(one edge to opisite) then at whatever point you want to recenter just do so.
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jfaust75
sage
Reged: 10/04/11
Loc: Central Florida
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: jfaust75]
#5547283 - 11/30/12 01:58 PM
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higher powers it will move through faster
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Kildar13x
member
Reged: 07/06/11
Loc: Maine
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: jfaust75]
#5547293 - 11/30/12 02:04 PM
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OK that's not too bad. A dobsonian is really the only way I could afford that size of an aperture.
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CosmoSat
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/24/09
Loc: India
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: Kildar13x]
#5547298 - 11/30/12 02:08 PM
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My only concern is that it is not motorized, will this present problems while observing? I've only had motorized telescopes before.
Why not try using the scopes u hve manually and u will get some idea...
As u hve some experience using telescope before..I think you will get along well with the 12" dob u r looking at..
Clear Skies!
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jfaust75
sage
Reged: 10/04/11
Loc: Central Florida
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: CosmoSat]
#5547307 - 11/30/12 02:16 PM
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Quote:
Quote:
My only concern is that it is not motorized, will this present problems while observing? I've only had motorized telescopes before.
Why not try using the scopes u hve manually and u will get some idea...
As u hve some experience using telescope before..I think you will get along well with the 12" dob u r looking at..
Clear Skies!
 +1
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GpB311
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Reged: 05/29/12
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: jfaust75]
#5547349 - 11/30/12 02:49 PM
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If nudging the scope to keep things in view ends up not being your thing, another alternative is an eq platform. While not true tracking, its an affordable option to keep things in the field of view.
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howard929
Member
Reged: 01/02/11
Loc: Low End of High Ground
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: GpB311]
#5547413 - 11/30/12 03:38 PM
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And wide field EP's in the 82 degree AFOV range really improve the length of view with a push-to telescope.
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JohnMurphyRN
sage
Reged: 09/09/12
Loc: Near St Louis
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: Kildar13x]
#5547426 - 11/30/12 03:45 PM
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You and I are exact opposites. I've never had a tracking scope before; I've always chased everything down by hand. Now I have a nexstar6 on the way so I'll get to sample what auto tracking and GOTO are like.
I speculate that I'll be able to look through the finder (or GLP) on the nexstar and use what I see there to help me find objects in my no-DSC-having totally manual dob (cheating).
I don't think you'll have any problem with a manual scope. Think in terms of dragging the sky around by hand.
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panhard
It's All Good
Reged: 01/20/08
Loc: Markham Ontario Canada
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: howard929]
#5547428 - 11/30/12 03:46 PM
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Does the target you are looking at move through the EP? That is my major concern.
With the Orion go to scopes. After an alignment the scope will find your target and keep it in the eyepiece. Trust me I own one. 
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MawkHawk
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Reged: 08/23/09
Loc: SE Michigan, USA
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: panhard]
#5547438 - 11/30/12 03:54 PM
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I used manual tracking scopes since about 1970 and got my first go-to scope about 3 years ago. Frankly, I can't believe that I waited so long. Not having to continually think about tracking and being able to quickly move to targets is gosh darn wonderful, IMO. But you have to consider tradeoffs like anything else.
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Mike4242
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/02/11
Loc: Memphis, TN
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: MawkHawk]
#5547802 - 11/30/12 08:15 PM
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Last weekend I was viewing Jupiter with my XT10i at 265x with a 4.5mm Meade HD-60 eyepiece which has a 60 degree apparent field of view. I timed how long it took Jupiter to move from one edge of the EP to the other at around 35 seconds. Tracking can get a little annoying at times, but it's not that bad. However, with that said, if I had it do over, I would get the XT10g over the XT10i for the tracking. I tend to use my smaller EQ mounted refractors more that the XT10i because they have tracking.
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GOLGO13
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/05/05
Loc: St. Louis area
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: Mike4242]
#5547818 - 11/30/12 08:28 PM
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I say if you can afford it go with the tracking. That will allow you to pump up the magnification when the sky allows it. It also helps when showing other people objects in the scope.
I don't know about you guys, but almost every person who isn't a telescope person is afraid to touch the scope (except my 4 year old who does it for balance).
I personally think pushing the scope manually is fine up to 240x-300x. Sure, the earth does appear to move faster...but it's not too bad to reposition as long as your eyepiece FOV is pretty good (even with a cheap dob). But as you get up there it's a pain. Even if you have wide field eyepieces, 500x gets a bit crazy to follow something. Not impossible, but not fun either.
I may get one of those Orion G scopes instead of getting a tracking platform. How do you like yours Panhard?
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Mike4242
professor emeritus
Reged: 11/02/11
Loc: Memphis, TN
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: GOLGO13]
#5547824 - 11/30/12 08:35 PM
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It also helps when showing other people objects in the scope.
I stopped taking my XT10i to club observing sessions for this very reason. When you have a group of people at your scope you have to talk to them about the object as well as re-center it every few seconds which hinders the interaction.
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jerwin
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/17/12
Loc: Romeoville IL
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Re: Motorized Dobsonian or Not?
[Re: Mike4242]
#5547843 - 11/30/12 08:46 PM
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I own an xt10i that I bought used for $500 and CPC1100 that i bought used for $1900. If I could only keep one hands down I'd keep the CPC simply because it can track.
I'm glad I don't need to pick because I do like my dob too. Setup time on my dob is typically about 30 seconds, if I travel with it, it's maybe 2 minutes as it's disassembled.
Setup time on my CPC is at least 20 minutes, some because of assembly, but some because of the alignment process.
If I'm slewing from the north to the south my dob can do it in 2 seconds, where my cpc does it in 20-30 seconds. But if you're ever sharing the EP with someone else your observing with, tracking really becomes more important. By the time my mother could get it focused for her eyes the object would typically be out of the FOV. I'd leave it focused for her, find the object again and try to put it right on the edge so by the time she looked, it was in the center of the fov, so it just took a lot away from the viewing experience. With my cpc, I'd get it on an object and we could have a conversation about it, I could point to it with a laser pointer, this that and the other and then you look in the EP again and boom, still there.
My 2 cents.
Jim
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