Which scope is "better"

Which is the better scope and for what reasons. I am never going to do photography. I presently have a meade 10" f4.5 reflector and was thinking maybe I would do better with a meade 10" schmidt-cassegrain. What are the pros and cons for each of these scopes?

Thanks.

You have all you need.

The SCT has more flexibility as far as photography and such--but that is a moot point in your case. Dob or EQ mount, just keep the reflector. If you had started out with the SCT, I*'d say just keep that, too. There just is not much reason to cahnge what you have.

Alex

The real advantage I see in the 10" SCT's is the mount. It tracks your target. And perhaps finds it as well.


The newt can be cooled quicker.
It can also be equatorially or equatorial plateform mounted if you want tracking. Or not. Ebonystar and furniture glides work!
At f/4.5 a Paracorr is really really nice.

Simple quick answer, BOTH!! You can never go wrong with owning 2 or 3 scopes.

A 10" SCT is a lot more expensive than a meade 10" dob. Perhaps you're better off upgrading the dob with an EQ platform ($500 new, less used) and saving the $$$.

But of course it depends what you want to upgrade--optics? tracking? digital circles? Aperture?

If you get a higher quality 10" dob, and a tracking platform, and Sky Commander, you may as well get a 10" SCT with autostar.

However, the dob setup is a lot cheaper in bigger sizes; somewhere between 12.5" and 15" seems to be the turning point.