Which one?

Hi Steve
Again welcome ,re dobs my experience is as follows .... at the moment I have 4 scopes in my possesion collimating one a114 mm VIXEN reflector and a beautifull EQ mount repairing another 70mm goto and my own 8" dob and my 90mm Meade GOTO refractor ask me which scope I use most and get the best overall performance for a novice and for speed of setup and portability the DOB wins hands downas I also have two smalll kids and am self employed I know about time constraints ,also for a beginner the dob makes you learn the sky and as I have advised others before you get a 2"focusser and a 30mm w/angle eyepiece .It takes 2 mins to set up a dob,no EQ setup (,OK it's an advantage on planetary tracking) but not obligatory and there is no "initialising" as with goto scopes ,where you pay for the electronics ,not the optics ,Always as the lads said spend your money on the optics,BTW my 8" home made Dob is permanently in our dining room and my wife doesn't mind it there OK I did tell her it would be bad for it in the shed as it's easier for me to use it from the house ( anyone sends this to my wife ,youre DEAD !!!)
Eugene
PS
Unless you spend serious money on an EQ mount you wont match the steadiness of a dob ,and that's from experience
E

I'm sensing a tendancy towards dobs here ... I haven't really looked at them at all so what should I be looking for in one? And what make is the best for one?

Seanie: Astro 2 is a club in NUIM? How do I get in touch? I'm a registered student there (doing a BA through Oscail and NUIM was my uni of choice).

I've looked at Andromeda's website and it's not great. No contact details apart from email and half their scopes aren't priced on the site. I'd rather ring someone or go into their shop rather than rely on mail.

Steve

Seanie: Astro 2 is a club in NUIM? How do I get in touch?

Scratch some of that - just saw the link in the profile . So it's a soc and I'm a student (kind of). That means I can join right? Next talk is on Tuesday night so I'll try and get along to it if that's allowed.

Steve

Hi Dave and a happy Easter to all here
My Dob was built by Philip Lardner (STAR SYSTEMS) in Bray phillip_lardner at connect dot ie
about 4 or 5 years ago and its specification is roughly as follows
20" 1.25" low expansion glass pyrex mirror f4 focal length
96mm Secondary, mirror 19% obstruction
JMI NGF DX2 focuser
18 point spring loaded self adjusting primary mirror cell
One low step needed at zenith, picked up a very stable wide one at Dairy Gold for abt 25€
He builds smaller ones, a chap near Kinsale has a 12" version
Cost me 2500 stg back then but worth it when Galaxy hunting in Leo, cant remember but think 17 were identified one night in 2 hrs and many others not ............in excellent viewing conditions, we dont get many nights like that.
My Lidl ETX-70 gets used more often (shame) but now that I got 3 series 4000 plossls and a focus adjuster for the ETX from Scopetronix for the grand sum of $212 "in the door" and Leo is good for viewing, Eugene, Austin and Valerie might help me re-discover the deep sky
Dave....what are u up these nights (Astronomy related of course) :lol:
Charles

regarding Dobsons - can someone tell me the difference between these two:

Skyliner 200 (2" VERSION) 200mm (8") f/1200 Dobsonian Telescope
Skyliner (200mm (8") F/1000) Dobsonian Telescope

both on www.andromedaoptics.com/reflec.html

There's €75 in the difference but the look like the same scopes to me

Steve

regarding Dobsons - can someone tell me the difference between these two:

Skyliner 200 (2" VERSION) 200mm (8") f/1200 Dobsonian Telescope
Skyliner (200mm (8") F/1000) Dobsonian Telescope

both on www.andromedaoptics.com/reflec.html

There's €75 in the difference but the look like the same scopes to me

Steve

steve,
the one marked 2" version uses the larger size eyepieces which are 2 inches in diameter as opposed to the 1 1/4 inches of the other scope. 2" eyepieces are more expensive generally but give a wider field of view (i.e. see larger objects with the same size scope).
stephen.