IF....

IF a refractor's your game, you have your choice of low end achros, high end apos, and some nice affordable ed's in the mid range of quality. But what IF reflectors are your game, what choices do you have between the entry level stuff and thhe high zoot stuff (Zambuto, Royce, et. al,)? Suppose I wanted to sell my Orion XT-8 and my 14" T-Scope, and with the proceeds buy something nice in the midrange of quality? Suppose I wanted a nice 10" somewhere between entry and Zambuto?
Question 1. Is a fairly excellent mirror in the 10" range going to seem satisfying after the 14"? Anybody made that trade-off and lived to tell the tale? I do have some nice dark skies to work with.
Question 2. With Discovery/Orion/Meade on the one hand, and Starmaster/Portaball/Teleport on the other, is there ANYONE who makes a quality mirror in that space in between? Thanks for any thoughts you may have to offer!
Larry

I can't imagine a 10" will be all that satisfying after using a 14" .

I thought Discovery was a bit of a step up from the low end stuff... it's a step up in price for sure.

Parks sells mirrors and OTAs that are a little cheaper than the "high zoot" names you mention. I've never seen one, but they seem to have a good reputation.

I think 10" is a good compromise size for views, lugging weight, car portability, reasonable f-ratio with feet still on the ground, cooldown time, etc. A premium 10" mirror is not much more in cost than a premium 8" mirror, and the tube will weigh about 30 lbs instead of 20lbs. For these small concessions, the 10" goes about half a magnitude deeper than an 8".

Have fun. Can't see selling the 14" unless you don't like lugging it around.

Duane

When I got into this hobby, I did a lot of reading here and observing people playing the upgrade game. As soon as I got far enough into the hobby to realize that it would stick, I figured out where I wanted to wind up and went straight there, and saved a lot of time and probably a lot of money. On the other hand, the upgrade game can be very exciting, always thinking about what you want to get next, reading and talking about gear, etc. It depends on the balance you want between evaluating and dreaming about and selecting and acquiring gear, and actually using it. That may depend on how big a bank account you have, and how much free time -- and how much cloudy weather.