High performance visual viewing machine

Sometimes I get the feeling that visual observers belong to the group of species risking extinction in the near future. The discontinuation of the manufacturing of Portaball telescopes was a hard blow to me, because I belong to this group, and even though I possess one of these scopes I foresee the need to acquire a new telescope, and the use of the Portaball over a few years has seriously spoiled me.
JUST IN CASE of a serious attack of something (aperture fewer and other related diseases) I'm interested in alternatives to the Portaball, but this can not be just any scope.

Any telescope desercint the designation "Astronomical telescope" should have superb optics and be sufficiently stable to allow CONVENIENT observation at powers in the 200 - 500x range. Telescopes not fulfilling these requirements are not really interesting to me. In addition to the basic requirements I shall be looking for the following qualities

- Portability
- Ergonomics
- Ease of collimation and any other maintenance operations
- Superior craftsmanship
- Dew removal and cooling fans for the optics.

I'm interested in hearing about your opinions about different brands of high-end dobs, for example:

- Starmaster
- Obsession
- Plettstone
- Johnsonian
- Teleport
- Others (Do t-scopes, Starsplitter or others play in the same league?)

My size range of interest is 13 - 18 inches of aperture (possibly also looking for a highly portable 10-inch).

Inge S

Hi Inge

There are several earlier threads that already address this topic.

I would add AstroSystems to your list of top scopes (superior work, dew removal, ease of collimation) and delete Starsplitter. I believe Starsplitter is no longer building scopes.

Thanks
Bill

IMO, Starmaster and Obsession with built-in tracking would be good choices. StarStructure too, and probably some others that either I'm forgetting or don't know of. A nice aftermarket cooling fan setup is available from Floyd Blue for the Starmasters. I'm spoiled by the performance and convenience of integrated dob tracking - I'd never want a scope again that doesn't have it. A proven, accurate, rigid scope structure, coupled with good-quality build, after-sale support, top-of-the-line primary and secondary mirrors, and integrated tracking are what I look for. Most scopes in this category come apart for decent portability.

BTW, there are many threads on this here and on the Starmaster and Obsession Yahoo boards.

Hi Inge,

FWIW, I have a T-scope 14 with Obsidian optics, and it does everything I bought it for very well. If you decide to go that way, my experience indicates that you will be in for a rather loooooooooooongish wait with very little communication while you wait. One of the things I've come to see is that if there's a line forming, and lots of positive feedback, it's probably a worthwhile product. Read that to mean Starmaster, Obsession, and the like.

A few additional comments:

I never doubt that Starmaster and Obsession are excellent scopes. I also believe that adding tracking devices can make them even more comfortable to use. However, I'm worried about weight and ease of set-up. I normally have quite unstable observing conditions, and there is always a risk that clouds may come in while I'm busy setting up the scope. Therefore I prefer a scope that can be set up very fast and easy and/or be collapsed to a volume small enough to be brought along as checked luggage with the airlines. The 12.5-inch Portaball fulfills these requirements although it is on the large and heavy side for a travel scope.

Obsessions and Starmasters look a bit clumpsy and heavy. t-scopes on the other hand, offers a line called far-star telescopes which look extremely compact. Also the Plettstone scopes appear to be light for their aperture. These are my impression mainly from looking at photos and may be completely wrong. I therefore need comments from people who actually have used such telescopes.

Adding GOTO functionality seems to improve the ergonomic aspect of observing, at least the ability to maneuvre around the difficult spot at zenith. Once again I'm a bit sceptic. I fear that implementation of GOTO means additional wires, gears and stuff that will harm portability and ease of set-up. Any comments to this?

Inge S