Which scope then?

OK, not trying to hog the message board ;-) but after all the planetary, resolution etc talk. If I were to get another scope, these look like the best options. It seems people get the best all around veiws, AND managibility with an 8 inch dob. Which of these would be recommended?http://hardinoptical.com/dsh8.html $299.00 (wow! how are the optics???)

http://www.discovery-telescopes.com/large8f7DHQ.html $449.00

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=366&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=4&iSubCat=8&iProductID=366
$449.00

Any ppl who own any of these have any "reviews"?

Thanks, and I'll quit bugging everyone after this haha

Ron S

A friend of mine has a Discovery 12.5", and it is excellent. If it is any indication of the smaller ones, then it would make for a great scope.

I recently received the Hardin 8" DSH, thinking that it would be my least used scope (also have a Starmaster 11" ELT), to only be used for public and camping trips. The optics are surprisingly good, and Jupiter looks amazing in it! For $299 I consider it a steal, and no longer think that it will be my least used scope! It came out of the box practically collimated already, but the primary was not center spotted for collimation. This was easy to do, however. Comes with a pair of marginal plossls, an 8x50 finder that is a pretty good finder, though I added a Rigel to it as well, and a well written instruction manual.

Hope this helps,
Doug
Midway, FL

Hey thanks for all the replies everyone! So looks like the Discovery wins over all? I remember in S&T they gave the edge to the Orion, any comments on that?
Here are individual comments to all :-)

Doug, Thanks, I am amazed that the Hardin has that good of Optics! Thanks!

Michael-Well, no cash, credit card LOL, hoping to have 500 or so free on it soon. :-)

Anthony-Thanks, our scope now is a Discovery, 6 inch F5 and I think the optics are good, maybe just the F5 part that is making the poor planetary images. That's why I'm thinking of the 8 inch F7 :-)

Michael- Oh man, yes If cash was no limit, the portaball would be cool!

Doug- Oh man, any of the 3? haha, now I'm back to where I started! LOL

Michael- Ha, yes all 3 AND a portaball AND a pig roast! Sounds great!

Anthony-OK, that's 2 votes for Discovery optics. :-)

Thanks and anymore input is more than welcome!

Take care all and clear skies to ya!
Ron

I have the Orion 6 inch f/8 dob; on a good night I could quite easily see Io against the clouds of Jupiter, with its shadow trailing, with tons of fine detail on the planet itself.

But, on most nights I see diddly, at least by comparison. Michigan seeing is typically lousy. But on good nights it's capable of suprising views.

I can't do the comparison among these scopes you mention, but I can't find a darn thing wrong with my Orion dob (well, motions are a little tight for viewing above 200x, but Michigan seeing usually makes that point moot).

The Hardin scopes are the "new kids on the block", and seem suspiciously cheap, but I've only heard good things about them - but not careful, analytic reviews. I've seen a 10 inch Hardin, at it *looks* like a cheap scope, but the owner seem quite pleased with it.

Discovery scopes also have a good rep, but I've never actually seen anything to convince me that they're significantly better than the Orion dobs. They may well be, but I suspect people also just tend to prefer American vs. Chinese made 'scopes on principle.

Thanks for the tip on hands on optics, guaranteed 1/8 wave!!
And 449 including shipping, 50mm finder, dang, that's awesome!!

http://www.handsonoptics.com/astronomy/sky_anteres/8xl/8xl.html

Ron