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Jb32828
sage
Reged: 08/01/10
Loc: Orlando, FL USA
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Re: Advice for a beginner first purchase
[Re: panhard]
#5550456 - 12/02/12 02:31 PM
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I have to chime in on the Orion Goto dobs as well. You can try to pry mine from my cold dead hands. Love it, love it, love it. The 10" is the perfect balance of portability and aperture - any larger really requires being a truss dob to be portable IMO. The gotos are decently accurate enough. They are fantastic scopes. The best part about them is that you can use them in tracking only mode as well - align the scope, then push to your targets and the thing tracks pretty well.
And above all, if the electronics ever fail in the field, its still useable the old fashioned way. There is something to be said for that.
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eddie21
newbie
Reged: 11/28/12
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Re: Advice for a beginner first purchase
[Re: bandhunter]
#5553074 - 12/03/12 11:13 PM
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Quote:
My point, is that if you are just considering a goto scope because you want help in finding objects, due to time constraints or light pollution you would be better off with a "push to" dob. Just my .02.
Daniel
Actually I was concern about the difficulty in finding objects, I saw several videos and seems simple, cheaper, lighter, doesn't need a power tank and does the job!
Just one final question: when a 12 inch dob is pointing the zenith, how tall is it? More than 170cm?
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kfiscus
professor emeritus
Reged: 07/09/12
Loc: Albert Lea, MN, USA
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Re: Advice for a beginner first purchase
[Re: eddie21]
#5553112 - 12/03/12 11:39 PM
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Depends on the dob. I customized my Z12 (f/4.93) to get rid of the extra height (2"?) built into it to accomodate different balance points. I have a telrad, standard 8x50 finder, and some heavier EPs. These all mean that my scope needs the bearings adjusted to put the mirror closer to the ground (always a plus for stability). My dob rides on a dedicated EQ platform that raised it about 4". All this being said, my EPs are right at my eye when pointed vertically and I'm only 5'8". My eye is at about 63.5" (161cm) above the ground.
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csrlice12
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Advice for a beginner first purchase
[Re: kfiscus]
#5553534 - 12/04/12 08:30 AM
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I'm 5'7" and my 10XTi perfectly puts the eyepiece to my eye juts standing there (with the scope pointed up). I use a stool to sit on when pointed lower.
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cadfour
member
Reged: 07/26/12
Loc: Melbourne, Florida
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Re: Advice for a beginner first purchase
[Re: panhard]
#5554332 - 12/04/12 05:40 PM
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Fly in the ointment time! All this for a beginner....really?! Here is my advice, and I am only trying to save you from spending 2000 dollars on all this equipment only to possibly have it sit in the closet. If you really want to step up from naked eye and binocular observations, just get a decent beginner scope. Why not start with, at most, a good quality 6" reflector? Use it for a year and make sure you still have the same excitement for this hobby as you do now. If you find that it is what you want to do after a year, sell the one year old 6" reflector and put that money back in with whatever you have left over from the 2000 and buy the scope you are talking about in this post. Seems like a reasonable plan to me. I say stick a foot in the water before doing the belly flop.
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jturie
member
Reged: 11/19/12
Loc: Valley Forge, PA
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Re: Advice for a beginner first purchase
[Re: cadfour]
#5555416 - 12/05/12 10:21 AM
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I have to agree with cadfour. I am just starting out and settled on a Nexstar 6SE because I want to be able to pick it up and drop it in the backyard and not fight my light-polluted skies looking for objects. Don't know your observing location, but if it's severely light polluted, anything above 10 inches is going to be hobbled and require you to buy a LPR filter.
Start small--there's plenty to see in your first year given the fact that life and clouds will often prevent you from going out. You can always buy a bigger, faster light bucket that will happily use your (quality) eyepieces. Believe me, you'll be spending plenty on accessories! Good luck.
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