Re: Breakthrough Dob

I vote breakthrough as I spent some time with f/3.3 and faster scopes. Very impressed with the views.  There are only two commercial opticians that will make mirrors that fast.
 
Starmaster is the only commercial telescope maker that will sell telescopes that fast.  And Rick tests each and every telescope to make sure that it performs well as a system before he ships to the end user.  They do it for a reason.  Marek said it well below.

>>I'm imagining being able to sit in an observing chair and use an 18" or 20" scope, or use a light, portable, short ladder on a 30" scope. It would be like having one's own, personal Fremont Peak to cart around... in a subcompact car.

Im my personl opinion, I think it is worth it for larger scopes we don't want the eyepiece to be too low for the average observer.  For 18" f/3.6 is good.  f/3.3 is practical for 24" and larger scopes.  Perhaps a 30" f/2.8, but you'll be looking at a 8-9" secondary!  That is the short axis!  The long is probably about 13" long.  That's one big honkin secondary that will require a massive spider to hold that thing nice and steady.  And the upper cage will be pretty heavy.  Imagine having a equivalent of a 10" primary up in the upper cage.
 
 
 
>>Or, better yet, the *ultimate* killer app... being able to take one's own 18" or 20" scope down to the southern hemisphere on an airplane.
 
You can do that now with a 15" or 18" Obsession UC.

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