i need help deciding which brand telescope to get i already know the type its a 10" dobsonian Newtonian reflector i'm not sure what brand to get celestron, meade, zhumell, or orion if anyone has any experience with these brands and types of telescopes please help me out!
2007-11-18 10:31:38 · 5 answers · asked by th3_ch0s3n_0n3 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Meade has a good one. Zhumell is a possibility. Celestron is possibly the one I would recommend to you.
When you get it would you please loan it to me for a few weeks? I feel certain that it will outperform my Meade 6 inch
Refractor.
The trick to getting good views with this Dob will be determining what eyepiece works best for your normal viewing activities and then searching www.astromart.com for a good used Televue Nagler (or better) eyepiece in that size range. The Televue lenses and certain others have a much better optical quality and eye relief than the standard plossl eyepieces that you will most likely get with your new or used telescope.
I originally purchased standard Plossl EP's to get started, but later began picking up used Televue EP's off of Astromart's Classified Ad Listings when ever I could afford to drop $200 bucks or so. Like others, I have contracted "big lens fever" and often drool over pictures of 10 and 12 Inch SCTs. your 10 Inch Dob will zoom past me in performance I am sure.
Good luck and good hunting.
Recommended sites:
www.cloudynights.com
www.astromart.com
www.telescopes.com
www.heavens-above.com
2007-11-18 11:01:59 · answer #1 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am an Orion fan. Excellent products and top notch customer service.
oriontelescopes.com
Mead products are good too however they are having serious financial problems and their future is questionable.
Celestron is ok but not the best. I am not familiar with Zhumell. Williams Optics are exceptional too.
I suggest you join a club. You can try them out by way of a lot of people at star parties. They will help you out in the field when you use you new purchase too. Best of luck!
2007-11-18 18:51:53 · answer #2 · answered by B. 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I suggest you join an astronomy club. I did and it was quite interesting and I got to use some really cool equipment. The members also ground their own lenses so they could make their own telescopes (it took heaps of time to make). It sounds like you have a good idea of what you want but you would benefit from being a astronomy club member not only in choosing your telescope but also finer details on how to use it well and maintain it (and that can be just as difficult).
2007-11-18 18:43:59 · answer #3 · answered by oz_engineer 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As usual, Geoff is right on!
The reason my personal favourite is Orion, is the fact that they have excellent quality control to ensure only excellent quality equipment reaches the customer ( this is not true of all Dealers ) and they are famous for their excellent customer service, before and after the sale. This can be invaluable, especially for a newcomer.
Adolph
2007-11-19 05:30:17 · answer #4 · answered by Adolph K 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
These scopes are all made by two companies. Those with the 1270mm focal length are made by Guan Sheng in Taiwan, and those with the 1200mm focal length are made by Synta in China. Guan Sheng used to make slightly better mirrors, but Synta pretty much matches them nowadays. I wouldn't recommend the Meade, since a truss tube is unnecessary in this size, and just causes collimation problems. My favourite is the Orion Intelliscope version because of its nice smooth bearings. But you really can't go far wrong with any of them. This is my favourite size and type of scope.
2007-11-18 21:16:21 · answer #5 · answered by GeoffG 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋