Brent Campbell said:
Ok for approx a grand to spend on the first "big" scope. Go with a used C8 (maybe one of the nexstar 8 SE's) or a Orion Dob Intellescope with a equitorial platform?
Primarily interested in planets and other things to show my kids. Need an easy to use setup that doesn't require a long cool down time...Don't mind building things. Equipment will be set up for visual only. Need a scope where a couple of kids can take turns.
Brent:
I have had a few 8 inch SCTs over the years. I have been frustrated by the amount of time it takes them to cool down. There is no easy way to actively cool them, in particular so that they track temperature variations during the night
I don't know how old your kids are and what experience they have had. I find that often kids are more interested in searching the night sky for themselves than in looking through the scope at something I have located. Last night was a good example. We were up at our place in the mountains and there were two high school age boys along. I had my 12.5 inch setup and it was giving some wonderful views, bright sharp and pulling in some nice DSOs from the dark sky.
The two young guys enjoyed those views but spent almost all their time wandering around the night sky with an ST-80 and a single 25mm SMA eyepiece. And too, though it was their first experience, they picked right up manual tracking.
So... I say this: Forget the kids, the reality is that you are buying this scope for your own use and you need to buy it with that in mind. Hopefully the kids will enjoy using it but it is unlikely that they will spend 1/10th the time you do using it.
Dob/Newt or SCT: That is a personal choice that can only be made by you. If you are someone who finds elegance in simplicity, likes to be able to tinker and take things apart and modify them, a Newtonian may well be a good fit. A grand should buy a decent 10 inch DOB plus some accessories. In my experience, a 10 inch Asian dob is a potent tool for the planets as well as DSOs and double stars. With a larger aperture and a considerably smaller CO, its a significant step up from an 8 inch SCT. A simple fan from Floyd Blue and it will cool down reasonably quickly and on those nights when the seeing is plus-plus, it will be stable and solid.
YMMV
Jon
