Posts Made By: Ivan Gastaldo

Hello Phlllip, and welcome aboard! 8)

A BIGGER scope will grab more Light Pollution, but will also grab more Light from the object you are observing, so don't believe that Larger scopes are LIMITED in BIG CITY skies... that's just a MYTH many people still believe...

Astrophotography as mentioned in previous posts is something NOT to be taken lightly, and will cost LOTS of money if you want to do it seriously. I would recommend to get a GOOD scope for VISUAL use first, and then move to Astrophotography once you have acquired enough experience and KNOW what you want...

Now remember, a larger scope will be HEAVIER and BULKIER than a small one, so take that into consideration if you plan to move it around, or to put it in your car to go to a Dark Site... (but the views will be worth it!)

Larger scopes will excel at showing you DSOs, even while at the City (some DSOs will be just a smudge), but smaller scopes will have a HARD TIME showing even that at the same location... this due to smaller Light grasp.

For Planetary work, it all depends on your location's atmospheric conditions. If you are affected most of the time by the Jet Streams, then the larger scope will be limited to a bigger extent than the smaller scope, since it won't be able to be pushed as high as it could be, while the smaller one most likely will. (for example, a 10" could be pushed to a theoretical 500x (50x per inch) but due to bad seeing, you probably only will get to 200x-250x, while the smaller scope (let's say 5") could be pushed to it's max of 200-250x, so there's no huge benefit of a larger scope)(but detail in larger scope "could" still be better at that magnification due to more light/detail collection)

I particularly live in South Florida, and we are blessed most of the year with great Seeing, so having a smaller scope would limit my planetary observing, that's why i went with a 10" SCT, which is a good compromise in size/weight/performance.

Hope this helps a lil' bit...


Clear skies! 8)

Hello Michael! 8)

IMHO, I would suggest getting the Orion scope, get familiar with it, enjoy it, and if you ever feel like you've outgrown it, then you could go ahead and build a monster scope for yourself... 8)

As others have already indicated, if you want to build your own scope, to your specifications, then go ahead and have fun, but don't expect to come out cheaper than Orion Scopes or any of the other "affordable" brands.
You could end up with a higher quality scope, no doubt, but the price won't be the same, as the components would be more expensive.



Clear skies! 8)

Congrats Greg! 8)
I've only heard good things about those scopes, so it is not surprising to hear this from you too...

Nothing beats being outside, enjoying the skies with your kids beside you...



Clear skies!

Jon, I'm with you on this one...

Kim, I currently own the Meade 10" LX-200GPS, and an Orion ED-80 is piggybacked on it via Losmandy plate & rings... a great combination! (the ED-80 can definitely be used as an Imaging platform, and most definitely as a Guiding Scope too) 8)

Gotta love COLOR FREE optics!


Clear skies!

Greg, I'm thrilled to hear that DSCs are doing THE TRICK for you...
In my case, GOTO works flawlessly every single time, and has been doing it for over 3 years now...

To each its own... enjoy what you have... 8)


Clear skies to all!

Floyd, I think this thread should've been named "My thoughts about CHEAP GO-TO...", as most of us know that this stuff "normally" does NOT apply to $1000+ GOTO scopes...

The issue is MAINLY with all the SUB-$250 DO-IT-ALL-GOTO-SCOPES, just turn it ON and watch it take you "where no man has gone before"... (we all know that this marketing strategy tricks the POTENTIAL astro-community into believing that they can become astronomers with the flick of a switch)...

A SAD reality that we all must live with, as there's not much that we can do to stop this, besides spreading some of the knowledge that we have and hope that this will prevent them from falling into the BLACK HOLE that some manufacturers have created...

As a side note, I saved my neighbor from doing this same thing, as he said that he was about to buy a Walmart scope... but when I showed him my scope, and explained to him what he was about to get into, he quickly backed out of that idea... (so now, every time I'm outside, he stops by and takes a peek through my scope... so I ended up saving him money and aggravation, while he gets the better views through my equipment )


Clear skies, mis amigos! 8)

Herb, that's THE MAIN REASON I got GOTO...
It simply got too be too much trouble finding DSOs due to heavy LP in my area... GOTO has allowed me to ENJOY my skies... (my 2 previous scopes were PUSH-TOs)

Do you have any statistics? how many broken scopes versus how many working scopes? any particular models? (mechanics/electronics WILL eventually break, same as your computer, TV, toaster, car... but we don't go around saying they are not reliable...)

All I've seen in the LX-200 & LX-200GPS Forums are a VERY small amount of people complaining compared to the total number of users...


Clear skies to all!

Great report Donny! Glad to hear that "you and the boys" are sharing some Quality Time under the skies... (enjoy them while they are little, they grow up too fast!)

As a funny note: you mention in your post that they were gettin' interested in ASTROLOGY... and I surely hope you meant ASTRONOMY...


Clear skies, and don't forget to keep posting! 8)

Arrgh, Arrrgh, aye, aye, captain! 8)
Actually, in all seriousness, I've always thought about getting me one, but never got it.... one of these days I must... it makes sense.