Skywatcher 8 inch dob

[cosmic dave]

I am seriously considering getting an 8 inch skywatcher dob for Christmas, I know a few of you guys have them. Any thoughts ?

[oldfruit]

Good size scope Dave, and it will enable you  to see Jupiter with lots of detail. Also good for faint fuzzies too. To be honest though, they do come up often second hand. There is nothing wrong with them, i think it is just a case of people upgrading to a 10 or 12 inch dob. Just my opinion and i am sure you will get a few.

[oldfruit]

I think what i mean is, if you did decide to buy one, second hand ones would be cheaper and probably in most cases as good as the day they were bought?

[+DaveJW]

Agree with Mark, buy second hand & get as much aperture as you can afford &/or lift. 

[catman161]

I've nothing but praise for the 200P Dave. Needs a few mods to make things easier. Best ones I'd recommend would obviously be the lazy Susan bearing, flocking the OTA, a RACI finder and the Lacerta 10:1 dual speed focuser upgrade adapter. In fact that's most of the ones I've done The only other one is the moveable setting circle and adjustable levelling feet I put on the base.

They give great views of DSO's and planets in my opinion. Obviously the better the eyepiece the better the views.As a cheapish scope I think they give great all round views and are fun to mod. You won't be disappointed

[Daz Type-R]

+1 Felix, I love mine!

[cosmic dave]

Cool, as you know Mark dso's are not that important to me but would be nice to have a scope that can make the most of them also don't want to go to big because of transportation issues.

[oldfruit]

Well knowing you as i do Dave you love your planets, you should really ask yourself if you would be better off getting an 8 inch newt on a driven mount. Best of both worlds. Not too large, large enough to give some great views of Jupiter,plus dso`s (though i know they aint your thing  ) and a driven mount would keep the image in the eyepiece for longer to enable you to study Jupiter, the Moon or other planets better.

 

A dob would give great wiews also but for higher power views of Jupiter you would need to keep nudging the scope every now and then to keep it in the eyepiece. That said, many do not find this a problem and don`t nind it at all.

Are you not happy with your refractor? or would you use it in addition to it? Lot of things to think about.

[cosmic dave]

Oh no I'm not getting rid of the frac its an addition not replacement.

[Brantuk]

"dso's are not that important to me but would be nice to have a scope that can make the most of them also don't want to go too big because of transportation issues"

 

8" is a critical size - it's the point at which you really start to see stuff. This is why it's the most popular size for anyone getting into astronomy for the first time. Imho - you're going to look through the eyepiece and fall in love with dso's as much as you are planets and you'll want to see more and more - it really is addivtive. Now - you've got a 5" frac - the leap to 8" is significant but not as significant as 10".

 

If there's any way you can transport it the difference a 10" dob is going to be much more rewarding and you'll be glad you did. Sell a child or get a smaller wife - it's worth it lol.

[andyboy1970]

Agree with Kim.

I think you will find the 8" similar to your 120 frac on Planetary except without the false colour.

If you want to pursue DSO's then get as big as you can.

I had a 4" frac. and found my 200p a lot more rewarding on any target so got shot of it.