Hello everyone I am new to this site and this is my first post.

I would like to ask a question in regards to current equipment and the purchase of new.

Currently I own a Tasco 114mm apperature with a 900mm focal length. I have 2 different eye pieces 12.5mm and a 4mm along with a 2x barlow lens. I am currently saving my money for a Zhumell 8" Dob. Am I going to be amazed by what I see.. as far as more detail in the Orion Nebula along with better detail in Andromeda. I only ask because I am still new to the hobby. I just recently learned about collimating my telescope and WOW!!! I was amazed on how much more I could see. I was able to see the "Double, Doulbe" of Epsilon with just my Trashco. Can only imagine how much more light the Zhumell will grab, and honestly the optics of the Tasco can't be all the great compared to the Zhumell. I havn't been able to resolve any Open Clusters or Nebula's since I don't have a wide angle eyepiece. I don't plan on taking the 8" dob anywhere it will be stuck in the backyard as I live in a non-light poluted area. 10" would be an option but would rather save the extra for filters and other eyepieces. Thanks for your time... will be reading alot of the comments from other posts to catch up on the verbage...

Thanks.

Welcome to the board stepken!

Zhumell is not a name I recognized, so I had to Google it. From the reviews I read, it looks like a good scope. Definitely a step (or three) up from what you have now. A "red dot" and/or a right angle finder would be a good investment, since a straight through 8x finder can be a pain with a dob. A 32mm or even 40mm 2" wide angle eyepiece would also be nice for open clusters, M42 (the Orion nebula), M31 (Andromeda galaxy) and general stargazing.

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Since you have the luxury of a dark backyard, I think you should reconsider your purchase and get the 10" Dob instead. You can always save up for some accessories, many of which are often unnecessary to begin with or can be acquired later as your observing skill improves. You can add accessories in the future but you can't add aperture to a smaller telescope. A 10" scope will put you into the lower end of the aperture range where deep-sky objects begin to get interesting.

Dave Mitsky

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De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

To add to Dave's comment, I've owned a 10" f/5 Cave newtonian for 49 years now. It is still my main visual scope. I haven't yet outgrown it nor have a run out of new objects to hunt down.

To me there's a big difference between a 4.5" and a 6" and another jump to an 8" scope and again a big one going to a 10" but then the jump to a 12.5" doesn't add as much as the cost would indicate. From there on up cost seems to rise ever faster than performance gains. The 10" seems the sweet spot, still rather inexpensive yet very much superior to the 8". When I look through an 8" I really feel the loss of light after all the years with the 10". Even my 14" I use for imaging has only a very small gain over the 10 for deep sky work. I see a bit more help in planetary viewing where the extra light helps with low contrast detail on Mars, Jupiter's belts, clouds of Venus, etc.

Many now start with a 6 or 8". But if you want a scope that will keep you busy for decades go with the 10", you won't regret it in dark skies. Just save enough for a good star atlas, binoculars if you don't have them and maybe a red variable intensity LED light for reading the charts. Though red cellophane over a flashlight can be somewhat effective and cost nothing. I prefer something variable however. You may have these already.

In the meantime you have your now "Improved" 4.5" to tide you over while saving the extra money.

On collimation, yes that's very important and the lower the F ratio the more important it is and the more precise you have to be. For fast scopes, f/5 and less I use a sight tube to get the basic alignment then a laser to finish it. After that usually just the laser is all that's needed. Starting with the laser can result in alignments that look great but are really off by a long way as you'd quickly see with a sight tube with cross hairs. At F/6 I can get collimation as accurate as needed with just the sight tube. Just eyeballing it is sufficient at the near f/8 ratio of your Tasco. Now that you have collimation down it shouldn't enter into your scope choice.

Rick

Thanks for the replies. With a full moon this past Saturday night tried fighting the light pollution. Had some luck with seeing Orion, stayed up long enough to catch a glimpse of Saturn. There are a nice grouping of Galaxies to the left of Saturn which I wasn't able to pick up at all. Especially Leo Triplett, would have been nice to have that 10" for that. I may reconsider my thoughts now with moving to the 8" and go for it with the 10". Makes more sense now, it would be hard to move up apperature.

Anyone have first hand knowledge with a 10" Zhumell. I believe most go with the Lightbridge by Meade. I have found the Zhumell 10" for $499 with free shipping. Also found it for $369 but shipping on that one is $46. That place is more focused on the photo, video and audio industry, makes me kind of skeptical on what I would be recieving.

Again more replies welcome and thanks again for the replies.

I doubt that where you buy it has any bearing on the quality of the scope. Most places just get it in a box and ship the box.

__________________
Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Like Kaptain K I'd not heard of Zhumell before so I called a friend who works for a near by mail order telescope store that carries them. He recently bought a 10" Orion StarQuest not sold by the company he works for. He prefers his Skyquest for two reasons. For him the Orion finder is better (he can't crink his neck when viewing high in the sky that the straight through Zhumell finder requires and prefers a right side up, not mirror reversed view. Then he thought the eyepieces that came with the Orion were "far better". Though he has an extensive collection of even better eyepieces so this was not a real issue for him. He already owned a "better" laser colimator so that wasn't an issue for him. I assume he is using one that can be used when you are at the back of the scope without need to keep walking to the front to check your adjustment as with a standard laser collimator. I didn't ask however. I use one and much prefer it.

While the scopes look suspiciously alike I note the focal lengths are very slightly different (2"). He couldn't tell me if they used the same Chinese supplier. He indicated the thought both companies constantly shop the Chinese companies for the lowest cost so that may explain the similarity.

He thought those differences worth the extra cost to him. Their customers however seem to like the Zhumell.

He said they've had few complaints about the Zhumell and the one serius one wasn't really Zhumell's fault (the coating lab screwed up and it didn't show for some time). Zhumell fixed the problem immediately. Coating lab problems I've found to be a big problem for all mirror makers, not just Zhumell. I can't hold this against them at all.

That's the best I can do having never seen one. So who is buying all these I'd never heard of?

Rick

The one i was looking at was on Telescopes.com. It comes with a dual crayford focusor, right angle finder, and two eyepieces one being a 26mm 2" Plossl the other being a 9mm 1.25" plossl. It also comes with a laser collimator. Have heard mixed reviews about the collimator, better with a cheshire. For the 8" $349 and the 10" $499 with free shipping on both.

The 8" has a 1200mm focal as the 10" has a 1250mm focal.
The 8" is f/5.9 and the 10" f/4.92

The Orions are being sold with out a star finder.

Sorry not trying to make an advertisement here.. just stating some specs.

Thanks..

If you by the 8 in a year or two you'll be wishing you had the 10 unless the added bulk is a problem. Most don't find that so until you get larger.

Cheshire or site tube is needed at the start of collimation. At f/5 I prefer the laser for the final touch up. By then you are sure your main alignment is fine. With a laser from the start you can get reflections that are perfect but alignment is crap. That's why the bad rep you'll hear. But when it needs just a tad of touchup or you want a quick check to be sure it's dead on then the laser is my preferred tool at f/5 and faster. But only for that purpose. It's faster for me and a tad more accurate.

I'd say you've found your scope.

Give a report when you've had a chance to evaluate it.

May the new scope cloud curse avoid your house.

Rick

There are really only two major manufacturers of cheap Dobsonians, Synta in China and Guan Sheng Optics (GSO) in Taiwan. Synta supplies Dobs for Celestron and Orion, while GSO is the OEM for all the rest, including Zhumell.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Thanks to all that replied...