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Good morning there is no risk that if the telescope automatically seeks towards the zenith the diagonal and the eyepiece will hit the battery?

Most modern 😢Celestron 8" SC's let you replace the secondary mirror with a CCD camera, turning it into an f/2 telescope. This feature is called Fastar or Hyperstar.

The 150mm is not any more portable than the 200mm, the tubes are almost the same length, same focal length just skinnier and lighter. Also the 200 is an f6 not an f5. Both the 200 and the c8 can use 2" eyepieces, fitting m81 and m82 does not need a focal reducer if you have a wide field 2" eyepiece. An f6.3 reducer makes the c8 almost as short a focal length as the dob, but that is where the dob still wins for widefield since it can handle a 2" eyepiece that uses the full 2" field avaliable where a 6.3 reduced sct can only go a little wider than what is possible with 1.25" eyepieces before vignetting is noticeable at the edges, up to maybe a 30mm superwide where the dob can handle a 40mm superwide or 31mm ultrawide. But another issue is the f6 scope will require the fancy well corrected eyepieces to be sharp at the edge where the f10 scope can get away with the cheaper (or older) widefield designs. F6 is not as bad as f4 or f5 in this regard, but edge astigmatism is much more pronounced than it is at f10. Something people who never go beyond a 1.25" plossl set don't have to worry about, but if you are still in that catergory you are not experiencing the best that visual astronomy has to offer

Nope it is an f6

Heck yes. I grew up with a zoom microscope, I own a zoom mic, but have wondered at lack of zoom eyepieces. Nice to know about them cheers.

Type 7

Tyyyyy

How many price this jummels

very helpful

I put mine on Grass and vibration pads. It becomes very solid. Vibration problems solve 👍🏻

Incredible roughly 27min ago just after 4am pst I spotted a quick Bright Red burst of light in the eastern sky. It was my very first time seeing anything like it.

I was confused about how someone can get 100x binos at just $200, then came to know its just 25x

I hate it when things jew up.

Great video, thanks!

My go to is the Oberwerk 6.5x32, perfect for general stargazing

I would take the dobsonian

You made great points! I’m a newb and just purchased the dob in your video!

Thank you!

Doesn't it have zoom? I just need to be moving the eyepieces?

Nice video. Thanks for sharing. I love that 7-21mm zoom, especially for moon gazing. Throw a filter on it and BOOM. I've seen Jupiter and Saturn with it as well, but find my other eyepieces (fixed focal length?), simply have more clarity. Hope to pick up this 3-8mm in a few weeks. It's a bit more than double the price of the 7-21mm, but I am judging by the reviews I see that it will be a great 'budget' eyepiece. Cheers mate!

but with the Dob, you can get set up a lot faster

I've got an 8" SCT. I need an 8" F/6 dob.

I've never known anyone that has to wear glasses when using short F/L eyepieces for high power, even the most severe cases of astigmatism are generally not noticeable with planetary viewing because a planet isn't a point source, even the people that do have severe astigmatism will choose to not wear glasses because of the added light scatter they induce (from being worn out in most cases from micro scratches, lens coating issues etc). and it shouldn't degrade the view so much that it becomes unusable, maybe you just think you need them because people say that people with astigmatism have to wear glasses at the eyepiece. idk, why don't you try it without them and tell me how it work or didn't work for you, I'd like to know how bad your astigmatism is too.

The lower the focal ratio or "f-number", the wider your *true* field of view will be with *all else being equal* . If the latter is not true, then it might be wider, or maybe not, depending on how big your telescope is. Generally, the larger your telescope is, the narrower its field of view becomes, assuming only 1.25" or 2" eyepieces are used.

The focal ratio of your Dob is f/6, not f/5.

Thanks for the review.

06:00: That's not correct. Focal ratio (aka "speed") has nothing to do with how wide or narrow the view is, or consequently, how much it magnifies the target. This is determined by the focal _length._ The focal ratio is simply the focal length divided by the aperture. What the focal ratio does, is determine how much light is being gathered in a given amount of time. Lower focal ratios gather more light in the same amount of time, the same amount of light in less time, or a combination thereof. If you double the diameter of your telescope, while keeping the focal length (magnification) the same, you gather 4 times as much light in the same amount of time. This will decrease the required exposure time for the same "quality" of photo, and will make fainter objects easier to see during visual observation. However, the area that fits in your view remains exactly the same. The only time your statement holds true is when comparing telescopes with the same aperture. In those cases, a lower focal ratio will indeed indicate a wider field of view. But that's only because at the same aperture, a lower f-ratio is a consequence of a lower focal length. It's not the focal ratio that is responsible for the larger or smaller magnification; it's the focal length. Take for example a 400mm focal length scope with a rather smallish 80mm (3.15") lens. This has a focal ratio of 5. However, so does a 2000mm telescope with a big, fat 400mm (15.75") lens. The 400mm scope will allow you to image larger nebulae though, whereas the 2000mm scope will be too narrow, but an excellent scope for planetary observation.

What's the SE stand for?...thanks

I just got a nexstar8 SE...but what does the SE stand for?? I also got a 8mm Radian that is nice...did you know the name Radian is because the special glass used is slightly radioactive....if you look at them in a really dark place you can see they put off a glowing green light, but it's all good 😊

What brand lithium pack are you using?

Many thanks for this review. Very informative! I’m shopping for my first telescope. I’m mainly considering the 12” flex-tube Goto dob from Skywatcher, but since it’s not easily transported, a vendor suggested the Celestron NexStar SE 8” or the NexStar Evolution 9.25". The vendor says these two NexStars or comparable to the 12” dobsonian, but I’m not convinced. Any thoughts?

In conclusion, the sky watcher of 300 and motorized is better than the nextar 8se

I just ordered these since I can’t get a telescope. They should be here by Friday, I hope they’re not late. I’ll see if the tripod I have will be able to handle it. Want to get back into the hobby. Thanks for the video.

Awesome video..

The Dobsonian has a much smaller focal length - less than half, (and hence magnification) than the Schmidt-Cassegrain, so the latter is better for planets.

I bought a Meade 10" Lightbridge telescope a few years back, the views were phenomenal, but at around 65 lbs., the telescope was extremely bulky, although it broke down and set up pretty easily, but it was a real bear taking up and down stairs as I lived on a second-floor condo. If you are an older individual like me, and you are thinking of getting a larger Dobsonian, you should consider weight if you have any back issues. you might be better off getting the Nexstar, at under 40 lbs., its considerably lighter to carry around. Although I will say the dew issue is a definite concern.

Great video and thank you for the advice.

just curious, why not go to a 2 inch diagonal instead of the focal reducer for wider fields of view (with the appropriate eye pieces)?

cool

I would go for the Dobsonian scope!

I decided to get the stellalyra 8 inch dob over the skywatcher as it has a right angled finder a fan and superior eyepieces for slightly less money!

Does it make planet viewing, like Saturn or Jupiter, clearer? I have the same telescope you have and have only recently started my journey this past August...

C8 is a planet killer, but to your point, when focal reduced, it does pretty well. The 8” Dob is geared to sweeping across the sky.

Hi, thanks for making this review. So would you say that once you get a focal reducer you can turn this into a deep space telescope? Also, what was the model number of the focal reducer you use again? Thanks!

Thank you

7:50 You never needed f / 10 or higher? Most planetary observations and some lunar usually happen at f / 10 to f / 20, which are major beginner targets. That's why f/15 Maks are often called "planet killers". Fortunately, getting a 2x to 3x Barlow will take your f / 6 scope up to f / 12 to f / 18.

Both are predominantly Alt-Az though the 8SE can be placed on a built-in wedge.

The SE can take a hyperstar adapter.. Which makes it a deep space telescope. In a short body... I got the SE6 with a Hyperstar. It turns it into an f2. Which gives me he best of both worlds in one telescope...

Did you see the fireball last night Stephen around 10pm 14/9.i just heard the boom

Thanks for sharing. It's very good camera.