Astronomy / Space 8 or 10 inch Dob? Discuss.

[Don Alvarez]

I'm looking to take a bump up in aperture from my Orion 130 ST. I was thinking on either getting a 8 or 10 inch Dob. Can't make up my mind.

 

[Jenner]

I've owned two 8 inch Dobs and an 8 inch SCT and they've been fantastic. 8 inches is quite sufficient for most casual observing. It's enough of a light bucket to get nice detail on even some faint fuzzies. Mounts and focusers are equally important as aperture, so save some $$$ and get an 8 inch with a good mount and a fine-stepped focus.

 

[Don Alvarez]

I'm looking at the 8 and 10 inch Skylines at telescope.com, which as I understand are probably rebranded GSO's and appear almost identical to similar offerings from Zhumell. They both come with dual speed Crayfords, which is nice, as the focuser on my ST is fast and tough to land just right. The mounts seem a step up from Orion's "classic" Dobs with their spring loaded tensioners. Since I'm tall, was thinking the 10 might be a little more comfortable, being longer/taller

 

[Don Alvarez]

I went with the 10. It arrived earlier this week. Assembled, and out in the freezing cold 20mph gusting winds last night for a first look. VERY impressive. However, it made me realize my current array of eyepieces, which worked well in my old 130ST, are probably not as suitable in the new Dob. A lot of distortion around the edges which was not present before. I've read this likely due to a combination of larger aperture + fast focus (F5) and the smaller 1.25 EP? At any rate, I guess I need to invest in a few decent 2" EP's because the 2" 30mm Erfle that came with the scope works beautifully.

 

[bootsam]

I have my fathers old 10" dob that he was putting together before he passed away. Its nearly complete but unfinished and uncollimated. Contains mirrors from orion optics, vixen gpe mount, motors and controls, pedestals/pier, mounting rings and adapters, crawford focuser, and orion optics mirror cells etc etc. The main body was a cardboard concrete former tube. I have kept them for a while and theyre all gathering dust and need to go to a good home. He was fiddling with the spider prior to his passing so thats not quite complete. Pretty sure he couldve bought one cheaper but he didnt care.

I have a meade ETX myself and this lot just takes room. Ive kept his TeleVues though.

I shall be putting all this up on ebay uk shortly.