Whats the differance.

I'm NOT thinking about buying a APO. But can someone tell me the difference of what you will see through a APO refractor vs. a HQ DOB. I'm only interester in visual observing. I'm not interested in CCD/ SLR/ film astrophotography. I want to see it with my own eyes.

PS This should open a LARGE CAN OF WORMS !

For visual use, there is no better deal than a "GOOD" Dob. Get yourself a 10-15" Dob with a great mirror and you will be set.
The difference, well, the APO is very crisp and clean with stars that are pinpoint with little circles around them. The Dob is crisp and clean with pinpoint stars and no little circles around them (Usually).
But! When you look at faint objects that are far, far away, in the Dob they are much more detailed and bright than in a 4-5" APO.
We are talking visual Astronomy here, so the obvious advantages that the APO have in Astro Photography are of no consequence.
Get a 10" Zambuto and a good scope for it and the skies are as nice as any APO, costing much more, I have ever looked through.
Bang for the buck here, that is what we are talking about. Plus, visual images and this is where aperture comes into play and becomes king.

Hey George,

One thing to consider is whether you will ever do any terrestrial observing. A DOB is pretty much useless there, although it could be arranged with difficulty. You could set up the DOB on a picnic table, for example. Please don't laugh, I have done it.

As for owning EITHER an AP or a DOB, many of the folks with huge DOBs also own a small APO for those situations where the DOB would be cumbersome, e.g. grab and go, or terrestrial. That way you get the best of both worlds.

Well, I have an FS128 and a 16" Starmaster dob. I would agree that under dark, steady skies, the dob will exceed almost anything the FS128 can show, except wide field views. The North American Nebula, for example, is much better seen in the FS than the Starmaster. However, the Starmaster will show the central stars in M57 and the Helix regularly, though I have never seen them in FS. Also, I can use 400X-500X pretty regularly on the planets with the Starmaster, but rarely go over about 300X with the FS. I love galaxy clusters like Stephans Quintet--beautiful, though faint, in the dob, pretty much non-existent in the APO.

Still, I have to admit for what it will show you, the smaller APO has that certain "je ne sais quoi" that the larger dob just does not capture. The views are simply prettier in the APO.

Randy

i'm a relative youngster here, but started my astroitis about 18 months ago. a fairly experienced observer (portaball 12.5") recommended an 8" dob as a start. I promptly started hunting down faint globs and glaxies, looked at the moon, all was fantastic. i've since moved on to my own portaball (10") and in the meantime spent some time with an 18" dob from a friend. oh, and the 8" orion dob got an upgraded mirror (0.991 strehl). The guy who lent me is 18" has a 24" starmaster. we pushed that baby _way_ over the tasco limit last april whilst looking at the eskimo nebula in gemini. the seeing was amazing. We barlowed (2x powermate) a Televue 2-4 zoom, set at 4, 3 and yes, 2mm. That equates to 2700x+ at 2mm. the tracking could only hold the nebulae in teh FOV for a brief moment, but wow. holy #@$!#@@. pert'near 3000x and it looked like that S&T SBIG ad. try that with an APO!

I bought a TV60 last january for a travel scope, and it too, was amazing. 4.3° views of orion and the veil, outstanding (though lowish-power) planetary views. my observing buddy has a TMB105. i always thought the views were sorta dim, being a dob guy. however, mars at 700x was awesome through it at BFSP. never mind saturn at equally illegal powers.

sufice to say i broke down and just bought a TMB80/480, as 60mm wasn't big enough. the TMB is still extrememly portable, and it fits in a pelican case with the 2" diag and 9 eyepieces. hoo-ah.

the TMB gets over 5° views, I've had it shortly on the moon and (duh) mars, as well as M31 and assorted messier eye-candy.

the APO views are mesmerizing. so contrasty, such dark skies, and the airy disks, mama mia.

I must echo the sentiments of the old-timers here, that if you are serious about visual astronomy, you need a big-@ss dob for star parties and 500mile jaunts to dark sky sites (i.e. BFSP) and an APO to take with you EVERYWHERE.

only getting one scope? okay, i guess we'll let you (or should we?) then buy an 8" or 12.5" portaball. maybe a Uti8. I just saw a 7" starmaster for sale here on AM. poncet platforms are nice, and enhance the dobsperience.

don't forget, the other half of the equation is spending the rest of your savings on televue, pentax and/or TMB eyepieces! just ask floyd. they've given him an entire forum for just that stuff!

one scope: 12.5" portaball
two scope: 18" starmaster and TMB80/480
3 scopes: 8" portaball, TMB105, 24" starmaster

eyepieces (no choice here, you must buy them all)

41pan or
35pan (or 31 nagler, though i don't have experience with it.)
24pan
16nag
11nag
9 TMB planetary or supermono
6 TMB planeraty or supermono
2-4 nagler zoom

long post from detroit... 8O