dobsonian question on brand and quality

[hansolo1]

i have narrowed my new telescope search down to an 8in dobson but which company is best i am looking at orion classic xt8 or the celestron star hopper the celestron mount looks like particle board or are they both particle board or is there another company i should be considering all together like zhummel

[Dave Mitsky]

You should also consider Discovery. They offer higher quality solid tube Dobs but at a higher price, of course.

http://www.discovery-telescopes.com/discovery/pdhq.html

Dave Mitsky

[randb]

You should check out some reviews on these. I wanted to buy the XT10, and everyone on here recommended it. But I decided to get a used Meade SCT or the Celestron 8i SE, cuz of its portability. I read reviews on some of the Dobs, and I think the Orion XT series is better than the others. Meade recently launched the Lightbrdge truss dob series. I couldn't find any reviews on that one, but you should probably go to a dealer and check it out.
Hope this helps :)

[John Allman]

I bought an 8" Orion XT as my entry level scope earlier this year and have enjoyed many viewing hours using it since. However, portability is an issue with the unit. I have to tote my scope just a few yards away from its storage area for set up, but I wouldn't want to lug it much farther. For the money I still consider it a great value.

[Dave Mitsky]

Here's the page for the new Meade truss-tube Dobs: http://www.meade.com/lightbridge/

The old Meade solid-tube Dobs were notorious for poor cool-down times due to their mirrors being directly attached to metal counterweights. Assuming the new design has avoided that mistake and has the same good quality mirrors, it could be quite a bargain.

Dave Mitsky

[aurora]

Most of the modern commercial 8 and 10 inch dobs are decent scopes, usable out of the box. At least, the ones already mentioned in this thread seem to be.

Orion has a metal tube, the others are probably sonotube (material used for forms for concrete footings). Either material works well, there are some minor plusses and minuses to both.

Many people do various tweaks to improve their dob after they have had it for awhile. The Dob design lends itself to that. None of these have to be done, but a few that come to mind are:

Adding a telrad in addition to the finder scope

Adding a counterweight to the back to balance large eyepieces and the telrad, velcro bean bags or hang fishing weights or whatever

Tweaking the gliders on the altitude bearing and the azimuth plate, if they are not already teflon and ebony star formica. You want a smooth motion, with no "stiction", and you want the motion to stop when you let go.

Building a new rocker box out of plywood to replace the particle board (this one is nontrivial but not too bad for someone with even the most basic woodworking skills and some kind of electric saw). Particle board works OK, but it has a worse strength to weight ratio than plywood.

Building an off axis mask to hold a small solar filter

Adding a small fan to the back, or adding new ventilation holes if the mirror mount does not allow the mirror to cool down quickly.

[redshifter]

The nice thing about the Orion dobs is that they have adjustable tension on the altitude bearings. No balance issues no matter how heavy the load on the scope/focuser (eyepeice, barlow, etc). Dunno if the new Meade dobs have this feature or not, older reviews indicated that the Orion dobs are the most usable right out of the box. My XT10 has the following mods, but these enhance operation of the scope, they aren't necessary:

1) Plastic washers cut out of a milk jug between the ground board and mount for easier azimuth motion

2) Telrad instead of finderscope

3) Flocking paper added to inside of tube

4) Added Orion fan for cooldown

5) Mod to the mirror support

6) Eased tension on the mirror clip screws

Pretty much every 'budget' dob on the market will use particle board for the mount, but I"ve had dobs for 6 years now and haven't had an issue. Some of the higher end dobs (starsplitter, obsession, etc) will use higher quality wood for the mount.

[SMARTI]

I just purchased the Orion Intelliscope with object locator. I feel pretty confident that it was a smart buy; however, does anyone have anything to add? I would really appreciate it.

[aurora]

A telrad or other 1x finder would be the first thing I would get. Even with the digital setting circles, it would be easier to find the starting objects quickly if there was a telrad or a red dot finder on the scope.

the second thing to add would be an adjustable observing chair.

And the third thing would be some books, charts, or software programs that indicate cool things to look at.

[Wolverine]

I just purchased the Orion Intelliscope with object locator. I feel pretty confident that it was a smart buy; however, does anyone have anything to add? I would really appreciate it.
Welcome to the forum, SMARTI. I think you'll find you made a wise investment. aurora's advice is noteworthy.

[SMARTI]

Thanks Wolverine. I now want to get some serious observing time under my belt. I have been waiting for this moment since I was 13(20 years ago)! I guess I can never say it was an impulsive buy.:D

[Wolverine]

Congrats. :)

I'd recommend a quality, laminated, spiral-bound star atlas. They're invaluable as your experience grows. You'll also probably end up investing in additional eyepieces eventually; there's no rush, take your time and tailor your purchases to your observing preferences.

Attached are a couple pics for grins, I added a right-angle optical finder and a Rigel Quikfinder. This (http://www.focuser.com/cgi-bin/dman.cgi?page=productdetail&plugin=dstore.cgi&product=CR2) is pretty much all that remains on my upgrade list.

Enjoy your new baby!

[redshifter]

I just purchased the Orion Intelliscope with object locator. I feel pretty confident that it was a smart buy; however, does anyone have anything to add? I would really appreciate it.

Just read the list of mods to my XT10 posted a few posts up, I'd recommend those for any XT scope.