Title says it all. Obviously cheaper is preferred but I wanna buy once here, not twice. This is for a 9 year old boy, my son, who’s *really* into space like dad! Any an all recs especially with links are greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I dont have direct experience with tabletop dobs, but the general opinion on them is they are typically of poorer quality than full size dobs. They tend to be more difficult to use (there is likely to be a table in the way when looking through the finder and eyepiece) and they are easier to knock over if you put them on something to raise them up.
I would highly recommend a 6" floor dob to avoid all these issues. Longer focal lengths should help if it has a spherical mirror and they tend to be much more stable, they can be a bit large and clunky to move (particularly for a 9 year old) but in my opinion that is preferable to easy to knock over and damage.
In that price range, i would recommend looking for used dobs, pretty much anything from skywatcher (occasionally badged newstar in canada), celestron or meade should be a good starting point (any of these new would be a good choice as well but may be a bit out of your price range). If you are going to be helping your kid most of the time with the scope i would go as far as to recommend an 8", in my opinion they are the best price to performance on top of still being easy enough to move from place to place.
TL:DR, please consider a full size 6" dob for you and your kid. It will be more stable, and not being on a table will make it easier to use. Most full-size dobs are a good bet, so look for one in your price range. You may have to go used not new.
EDIT: Removed wrong information about tabletops commonly having spherical mirrors.
Very few tabletop Dobsonians have spherical mirrors, and none of the commonly recommended ones do. Synta made 100/400, 114/450, 130/650, and 150/750s are all parabolic primaries.
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"right now" things are a bit tricky because the most recommended tabletop dobsonians, the sky-watcher heritage 130 and 150, just went into back order. And it seems there is an estimated 3 months waiting time.
I will say if you want anything good-ish asap, get the $160 Celestron Moon Mission 100.
It is not "perfect", but actually quite good for its low price. It has a proper parabolic mirror to form sharp images. It is also lightweight yet sturdy, and extremely easy to use.
The drawbacks are
1. 100mm is relatively small.
2. The primary mirror is not collimatable.
(3. The very fast focal ratio means some "coma" is unavoidable. Everything considered I will argue that it is not a big deal, tho.)
I do agree they are starting to get a little large for a tabletop though. My 6" tabletop seems way bigger than my 5", it's too tall for my 9 year old to use on the same table surface as we use for her 4.5" and my 5".
See the buyer's guide. From there, the Heritage 150 is currently $309 and is a 6" tabletop dobsonian.
https://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/heritage-150-tabletop-dobsonian
I saw that. Backorder everywhere. Est restock is late March.
I dont have direct experience with tabletop dobs, but the general opinion on them is they are typically of poorer quality than full size dobs. They tend to be more difficult to use (there is likely to be a table in the way when looking through the finder and eyepiece) and they are easier to knock over if you put them on something to raise them up.
I would highly recommend a 6" floor dob to avoid all these issues. Longer focal lengths should help if it has a spherical mirror and they tend to be much more stable, they can be a bit large and clunky to move (particularly for a 9 year old) but in my opinion that is preferable to easy to knock over and damage.
In that price range, i would recommend looking for used dobs, pretty much anything from skywatcher (occasionally badged newstar in canada), celestron or meade should be a good starting point (any of these new would be a good choice as well but may be a bit out of your price range). If you are going to be helping your kid most of the time with the scope i would go as far as to recommend an 8", in my opinion they are the best price to performance on top of still being easy enough to move from place to place.
TL:DR, please consider a full size 6" dob for you and your kid. It will be more stable, and not being on a table will make it easier to use. Most full-size dobs are a good bet, so look for one in your price range. You may have to go used not new.
EDIT: Removed wrong information about tabletops commonly having spherical mirrors.
Very few tabletop Dobsonians have spherical mirrors, and none of the commonly recommended ones do. Synta made 100/400, 114/450, 130/650, and 150/750s are all parabolic primaries.
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"right now" things are a bit tricky because the most recommended tabletop dobsonians, the sky-watcher heritage 130 and 150, just went into back order. And it seems there is an estimated 3 months waiting time.
I will say if you want anything good-ish asap, get the $160 Celestron Moon Mission 100.
It is not "perfect", but actually quite good for its low price. It has a proper parabolic mirror to form sharp images. It is also lightweight yet sturdy, and extremely easy to use.
The drawbacks are 1. 100mm is relatively small. 2. The primary mirror is not collimatable. (3. The very fast focal ratio means some "coma" is unavoidable. Everything considered I will argue that it is not a big deal, tho.)
Yeah I looked into that. Worried it might be wobbly and also the small mirror. I appreciate it though. Naught have to go that route.
6 inches is a little large for a “tabletop” Dob. A 6 inch f6 will be 36 inches long. You’re better off looking for a used 8 inch.
6" tabletop dobs are always f5.
I do agree they are starting to get a little large for a tabletop though. My 6" tabletop seems way bigger than my 5", it's too tall for my 9 year old to use on the same table surface as we use for her 4.5" and my 5".