70mm Pronto Versus 10" Dob

I currently own a 10” dob and was thinking about purchasing a used 70mm Televue Pronto (see below link for telescope details). I enjoy the views from my dob, but like the portability of the Pronto. My question is.... Can the Pronto, with only 70mm aperture be used for deep skyviewing? I have read several reviews touting how well the Pronto performs. Also, how would it compare to my 10” dob? Any comments and / or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

http://www.company7.com/televue/telescopes/pronto.html

I've owned both and while the Pronto is a great little scope, the operative term is "little". It is outstanding for wide field and is quite good on planets and the moon. As far as deep sky, however, it's still a 70mm scope. It IS however extremely handy - while I owned mine, it was probably my most-used scope.

Pat

Hi Paul, Well for most of my life I used a 60mm Unitron Refractor. I was able to find the majority of the Messier objects available from Sydney, Australia. ( approx 88 )
Now some were bright, and some were just smudges. Five years ago I was able to purchase a 4" Unitron. Now those same objects were easier to see and the smudges stood out more.
In the last couple of months I've bought a Meade Lightbridge 12" the difference is WOW, lightyears apart.
So yes you can use the 70mm on D.S.O.'s but it depends on your expectations. Cheers, John.

The Pronto is probably a better telescope than Messier had. However, if Messier had a 10 incher, we would now be trying to do a Marathon of a couple of thousand objects in one night.

Alex

One question Paul... why not go with one of the very popular 80mm ED scopes available now?

If it isn't your main scope, these are a great alternative that would cost less than a Pronto. I had a Pronto at one point and moved to an Orion ED80 and I'm glad I did. The scope cost me less money and is a better overall scope IMO.

Although it is a larger telescope in sheer size.

You'd be suprized at what a 70mm can see. I own much larger scopes, but I love hunting down DS objects with my little WO 66mm APO. And with some extended objects - because of the wider FOV, they actually have an advantage.

I currently own a 10” dob and was thinking about purchasing a used 70mm Televue Pronto (see below link for telescope details).
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Paul:

I have a fair collection of telescopes including a Pronto, an Orion ED-80 and a 10 inch F5 Asian DOB. I often travel in our motor home to dark sky locations and in the past, I would most often take the Pronto and 10 inch F5 DOB.

The Pronto is a nice small scope that did make a nice companion to various larger scopes, it is small but it does provide some nice widefield views.

However it is quite expensive used ($500) for what is really just an well made Achromat. At higher magnifications, there is noticeable false color.

I have replaced the Pronto with an Orion ED and since then I have not used the Pronto. The larger aperture of the ED-80 is a definite plus but what is really most notable is the lack of false color, targets like Rigel are much easier to split with the ED-80 than with even a 4 inch Achromat because the faint companion is not lost in the false color.

Last night was clear and I was observing with both the ED-80 and my 10 inch DOB. I am always surprised by what I can see with the ED-80, even from my light polluted backyard. Last night was not a great night, probbably mag 3.5 or so over head but the light pollution "muck" was up to at least 30 degrees.

And yet, I was quite happy to see NGC-6210, M56 and M71 as well as the blinking Nebula NGC6826, a mag 10 or planetary. I also got some great views region around of the table of Scorpius (NGC6231)even though it was seemingly lost in the light pollution.

Earlier in the evening I had observed a transit of Io, definitely there but not of course as well defined or sharp as in the 10 inch.
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I bought my ED-80 from a friend who let me try it out. What sold me was it's daytime performance. The Pronto and other achromats seem to die out at about 60x when watching birds, the ED-80 is sharp and crisp at 125x and more, that false color just really gets in the way....

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Bottom line:

With the Pronto you are looking in the right direction and 3 or 4 years ago it would have been a good choice. But its time has clearly passed, the ED-80 is a truly remarkable value, a scope that raised the bar on small, relatively inexpensive refractors to a new level.

There are other choices than the Orion ED-80 for an inexpensive 80mm APO but it is clearly the bargin... I also suggest avoiding the 80mm F/6 "semi-APO's" that go for around $400. They are more attractive than the Orion ED-80 just as the Pronto is but a good scope starts with the optics and certainly the Orion ED-80, which has been called a "Poorman's TV-85" has what it takes.

So, as the owner of a Pronto and a 10 inch DOB, I think a 10 incher and an small fast refractor make great companions, you are on the right track here, just look a bit further at what is out there.

jon