Dobsonian or Mak or SCT?

Dragonophile · Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 12

I am really agonizing over my first telescope purchase. I keep hearing that a Dobsonian is ideal for a beginner - best bang for buck & easy to use. However, I like the Meade 125ETX for its compactness and GoTo. But I have a chance to get an older LX10 SCT for a good price. Here are my criteria:
1) Portability - I want something I could move about easily (limits me to a 6" Dob probably)
2) Ease of use - I don't want to play with the equipment but JUST USE IT
3) Lot of planetary viewing with possibility of stellar. I just want to get that "Wow!" factor when viewing. A GoTo would be nice if not complicated but a manual for simplicity would be great. I am less concerned about finding a particular nebulae or binary than just exploring the sky randomly and finding some great views. I live in a suburban area with light pollution and it would be a backyard setup usually. I probably would use it a dozen times per year as I live in the Pacific Northwest with lots of clouds.

Given my criteria, and a sub-$1000 budget, am I better off with a 6" Dobsonian, a Mak like the Meade, or a relatively compact SCT? Again, good quality important but portability and ease of use high priorities.
Thanks in advance for your answer.

Jne_K · Site Admin Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 5401

Hi

1) You can easily move up to a 10" Dob - usually takes two trips (tube and saddle) - but if a gal like me can do it, any guy should be able to.

2) That depends on how you are defining "Just Use It". If you mean you don't want to mess with electronics and a computer, a manual scope, such as a Dob is the ticket. If it means you don't want to have to learn celestial navigation and just see objects, right away, you need a computerized telescope.

3) No need for a big scope if your primary interest is planets, especially if you are in the suburbs. Also, you will never reach the full potential of a big scope under light polluted skies.

All in all, I would rate the ETX-125 as the best compromise. It is wonderfully portable, will do anything you ever need to do on planets and is still large enough to some deep-sky work. If you don't like the computer, you can always turn it off and use the scope, manually.
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Carl · Guest

Jne_K -- that LX10 would be ideal if everything worked and the optics were in good condition. "good price" is a relative term. Such a scope is worth maybe $650 at tops. And I'd be wary unless I knew the person who owned it.

I, too, think the 125ETX is a "nice" little scope. But I was surprised you felt is was a better way to go than an 8" or 10" Dob. While the 125ETX will give fine views of a planet, so will a 10" Dob, as the larger objective will provide greater detail, even if the optics are a tad sloppy. I guess we differ on this point. But then, I'm thinking of "seeing" deep space stuff, not just hinting that such stuff is there.

A 10" inch scope has plenty of "Wow!" factor. It will bring in star clusters (for example) with FOUR times as much "Wow!" as that little 125ETX. Of course, a less-than-$1000 Dob won't have a GoTo computer.

The Dob will fetch a whole lot more sky stuff. But the GoTo will make it easier to find that stuff, and you will learn to use AutoStar, which is kinda cool in itself. Even so, I think a Dob with a sky chart is a great way to get around the sky. You actually KNOW where you are looking, and you get a much greater feeling of doing astronomy, as opposed to doing the technology thing.

One last point -- the Dob will be half the price of the 125ETX, which is really important for a person with just enough mola to buy one telescope.

Jne_K · Site Admin Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Posts: 5401

Hi

Actually, no, I don't think we disagree at all. You may have misunderstood the response. I do think a 5" Mak is an ideal platform for planets, but, no, I would never rate it in the same class as an 8" of any design for deep-sky objects. I suggested the 5" because the customer specifically listed portability as an issue. I'm with you on the Wow! factor all the way.
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