Better optics?

Still reading... still researching... and attending a local club on the 17th to look through some toys. I'm gonna get my first "real scope" eventually.

Anyway, much advice and literature has me leaning towards a versatile, transportable (issue for me), and affordable (other issue for me) 6" or 8" Newtonian Dob. I can learn the sky and the hobby for a year or so before forking out big $$$ if I end up wanting to. I understand a good 6"-8" f/7 or f/8 will do well with planets and doubles, and perform great for deep sky objects.

Here's my question: which would have better optics for such a beginner's scope... a Discovery 6" f/8 (or their 8" f/7) OR a comparable Orion Intelliscope? I ask because for the price of just the scope and base from Discovery I can get the scope AND computer assist from Orion; is there really such a difference in quality? I read somewhere that quality, standardized 6" f/8 mirrors are easy to produce and that it may not matter Chinese/American or whatever.

As always, any light you can shed is appreciated!

-Ken

The Orion is a good scope. The price is good. The delevery can be immediate instead of months like Discovery.
The Go-to would be great. The only thing to consider would be the metal tube is a bit more prone to dewing up.
Since you only intend to use it to learn the sky. I think the Orion would be the way to go. You could use it and then probably sell it for a good price in a year or two.
Plus, with the savings you could get a few EPs for starting out. Some of Orion's plossls would be fine to begin with and the price is low.
Floyd

Hi Ken,

Well, in my opinion the Orion 6” or 8” is tough to beat for the money. I have a couple of expensive scopes (Obsession, Tele-vue, etc) but I wanted a little “kick around scope”, something I didn’t have to worry about if other people wanted to view through it. So, I ended up buying the 8XT before it went to the Intelliscope. Man was I pleasantly surprised at how good the scope performed for $350.00. In fact, it did so well that I hardly ever got my 12” LX200 out any more. I highly recommend these scopes for anyone just starting out in astronomy. And Orion is a pretty good company to deal with also;-).

Clear Skies,
David

>>Here's my question: which would have better optics for such a beginner's scope... a Discovery 6" f/8 (or their 8" f/7) OR a comparable Orion Intelliscope? I ask because for the price of just the scope and base from Discovery I can get the scope AND computer assist from Orion; is there really such a difference in quality? I read somewhere that quality, standardized 6" f/8 mirrors are easy to produce and that it may not matter Chinese/American or whatever.
------

My guess is that you are looking at the cost of the Premium 8 inch Discovery DOBs rather than the standard. These are a different bird than the Orion scopes, all bird plywood bases, all teflon bearings, a crayford focuser and all the rest. Discovery also makes some DOBs similar to the Orion scopes that have particle board bases etc at a comparable price.

The real advantage of the Asian DOBs are that they have short tube lengths, that makes them much more portable and transportable. There is a big difference between a 45 inch OTA and a 50 or 52in when one tried to put it in the trunk or across the seat of a smaller car.

If I were in your shoes, I would be considering a 10 incher, the added aperture is a big help for DSOs and is a better planetary scope. (I have an XT-8 and a OPT Star Hunter 10, that is my experience.) These days the best planetary scopes seem to be large custom DOBs like Starmasters that are F4.5 or so. Collimation is more critical and there is more coma but I find it acceptable and the 56% greater mirror area is a big help.

One issue with the Orion scopes is that they are back ordered and the hand controller has yet to surface so one will be waiting. Still the Push-To may be attractive though for us star hoppers it cuts out half of joy of observing. Searching and finding the target seems to be frustrating for some people, personally I find great joy in challenge and believe that learning the sky is best done hands on, maps or software, that first hand experience of finding the guide stars and finally finding the target is important.

8 inch and 10 inch DOBs are great scopes, portable, powerful, easy to use and simple.

jon