That $300 telescope my neighbor had made me feel like I am missing out

I saw my neighbor's Orion SkyQuest XT8 setup last Saturday and the moon shots he pulled were CRYSTAL clear compared to my little 60mm. He said he got it used for $300 and now I wonder if I should just save up for something bigger instead of upgrading my current one step at a time. Has anyone else made the jump from a small refractor to a dob and regretted the weight or storage hassle?

3 comments

3 Comments

paige_owens51mo ago

omg that moon shot thing is so real. my buddy got a used XT6 last summer and spent like 2 hours trying to get me to look at Jupiter through it and i was just like okay fine but then i actually saw the bands and the moons and i felt like i was missing a whole other universe. for real though the weight thing is no joke. he keeps his dob in his garage on a furniture dolly so he can just roll it out to his driveway instead of lifting it. thinking about getting one myself but i gotta figure out where to put the thing first cause my apartment is tiny.

xena_bailey181mo ago

That XT6 is no joke for weight, @paige_owens5, but that first look at Jupiter makes every ache worth it.

nancyjones1mo ago

Isn't it wild how you can walk past that same sky your whole life and never really see it until someone puts a scope in front of you? That furniture dolly trick is genius though, I swear half of this hobby is just figuring out creative ways to move heavy stuff around.