Small scope shootout.....it is becoming a habit

Hahaha as the title says I think I have a problem. I like small scopes and I love doing shootouts. Maybe it all stemmed from my love of testing out equipment and the joys of using simple uncomplicated scopes. I, for one, have always been an advocate of the KISS principle, be it in life, work and hobbies. All my scopes are easy to use. I did away with my EQ mount when I got the chance (and even when I was using the EQ mount, I would use it in alt-az mode!). The closest I have gotten to a semi complicated "scope" is my Celestron NexStar 102GT, but even then it is not that difficult to use. All my other scopes are mounted on either alt-az mounts or dobsonian mounts. Simple easy and effective. Just carry it out, downstairs or whatever, plop it on the lawn and away you go. No messing around with setting circles, polar aligning and all that mystical mumbo jumbo.

Which brings me to my small scopes. I love small scopes. They may not give you the deepest views of deep sky, or the brightest views under light drenched skies. But what they lack in size, they more than make up for it in heart. Also they literally scream at you to use them when the night is dark and clear, even when you are super tired after a days work! I have seen my fair share of small scopes over the years. Hell I started with a scope some people would scoff at, my Celestron Cometron CO40 (40mm f/20 refractor from a bygone era), but I persevered and look where I am today! Scopes I have gone through include my Cometron CO40 (which I still have!), a couple of 60mm scopes (both long (Kasai orange tube f/5) and short focal lengths (Cometron CO60, Meade 60mm, and one dud Japanese 60mm f/11, a 70mm scope (Celestron Powerseeker), 76mm reflectors (two f/9.3's, a blue tubed Explorer and a Orion Spaceprobe 3, featured here and two f/4's, a Celestron Firstscope and an Orion Funscope), a 80mm Orion ST, a 90mm "dud" ST, my Orion SkyScanner  reflector 100mm (featured here in the shootout), two 102mm refractors (my Celestron NexStar 102GT and a Synta blue tubed f/5) and three 4.5" reflectors (Meade 114mm bird-jones OTA and two Orion StarBlast (a dob and a imaging OTA). I don't regard anything above 4.5" as small so I have excluded my Celestron/Vixen C6 and the Celestron Powerseeker 127mm reflector. So yes I love small scopes.

So why shootouts. Shootouts are good as I love visual observing and I also like to push my scopes to their theoretical limit, both in terms of deep sky and also lunar and planetary. I generally find that if a scope somehow lacks optically, then everything else suffers. If I am going to be dealing with smaller apertures, I want the scopes to perform as well as they can be for their given aperture. Also shootouts brings out the deficiencies in scopes that otherwise would go unnoticed. Plus it is so much fun putting scopes head to head. So who are the contenders tonight? Well well seeing how well the Orion Spaceprobe 3 performed the last time it went head to head with a 70mm refractor, I though I would put it side by side with one of my current most used scopes, my Orion SkyScanner 100mm. The SkyScanner is a great scope and a terrific value (even though it has gone up in price and it is not as cheap as it is used to be). It comes with everything right out of the box, effective eyepieces, a good red dot finder and a totally robust mini one arm dobsonian mount! All one needs is a sturdy table or a stable photo tripod. I usually use mine on my Orion Paragon HDF2 mount. It is the perfect grab and go setup as everything can be carried with one hand, and it breaks down into smaller pieces for travel.

Now the Spaceprobe 3. While it may not be as small when broken down, it is still plenty portable, Just collapse the tripod after removing the triangular accesssory tray and you are good to go. Plus it is so light it can be carried with one hand. Orion even sells a carry bag for it, although I think you have to seperate the tripod from the OTA, which is annoying as there are no captive screws. I just carry the whole thing and plop in in the back of my car/van. So yes I can carry both scopes, down two flights of stairs and into my playground observatory in suburbia...easy peasy no probs. selecting objects for the shootout was easy too since it is winter and there are so many bright DSO's that are visible from light polluted skies! I chose similar objects from the last shootout, and threw some new ones in too. Here is my breakdown and verdict:

• M42, the Orion Nebula: an obvious test. Views with the Spaceprobe was again very contrasty. Nice dark velvety skies made the nebula stand out. The SkyScanner's background was noticeably greyer, even with the NPB filter in place.....BUT, the SkyScanner went deeper, revealing more of the outer wings than the SpaceProbe. Although I liked the views in the SpaceProbe, I prefered the image the SkyScanner threw up. +1 SkyScanner.
• M78, reflection nebula in Orion: this a harder one as it is moderately faint under light polluted skies. Still it is doable. M78 was visible in the SkyScanner wihout much effort. My notes read faint though. Still once I found it, I could hold it. This was not the case for the SpaceProbe. Much harder to hold, needed the OTA to be tapped and jiggled to be visible with averted vision. Notes read borderline visible. +1 SkyScanner.
• M45, the Pleiades cluster: Both threw up great bright views that were not very different in appearance. I prefered the view in the SpaceProbe due to its better contrast and flatter field (i.e. next to no coma). Coma was annoying in the SkyScanner, even after I used my better eyepieces, which improved the views. +1 SpaceProbe.
• Perseus double cluster: Both scope gave great views. Again the flatter FOV of the SpaceProbe gave a more aestetically pleasing view. However more of its dimmer suns were visible with the SkyScanner, even with coma. I preferred the deeper views offered up by the SkyScanner. +1 SkyScanner.
• Auriga Clusters M36, 38, 37: Same as above. Better shallow contrasty views in the SpaceProbe, but more stars visible with the SkyScanner. Preffered view SkyScanner. +1 SkyScanner.
• M31, the Andromeda Galaxy: Since the great galaxy was lower in the skies, the views weren't the best. But I had to have a galaxy in the field testing  for completeness. Again contrast was great in the SpaceProbe, BUT the SkyScanner just went deeper and M32 was easier to see, and the core of M31 was visibly brighter. +1 for the SkyScanner.
• Jupiter: The SpaceProbe beat the pants off the SkyScanner in this respect. No contest at all. High power images fell down above 100x for the SkyScanner, but the SpaceProbe just keep on soaking in the power. Very nice contrasty views of Jupiter and abundant detail in the belts at high mag when the seeing steadied. I am still amazed how much detail there is to see on Jupiter with this scope. +1 SpaceProbe.
• The waxing moon: Again the SpaceProbe kicked ass, as in SkyScanner ass. No contest here. The terminator region was a nice neutral color and the shadows were razor sharp and dark! Again high power was a non issue for the SpaceProbe. +1 SpaceProbe.

And the verdict, while I liked the SpaceProbe, if I had to choose just the one grab and go scope, I will still go for my SkyScanner. Its just goes deeper for deep sky, which is my fave past time (and the views are visibly brighter for most DSO's I looked at). I love looking at the moon and the planets, don't get me wrong. But there are heaps more to see with a bigger aperture and deep sky. I hate coma, but I have come to live with it, as all my scopes are fast scopes, and I have eyepieces that can deal with this, to some extent. When it comes to contrast, I guess I could flock my SkyScanner at some stage. It would probably still not look as contrasty as the SpaceProbe since the mirror is a hell lot closer to the mouth of the OTA. One thing to note though, I love the SpaceProbe mount. It is just so stable and easy to use, even more so than my dob mount. As I mentioned in my previous shootout, this mount is a joy to use. For instance I timed the mount and how long its damping time was. Took a whole 3 seconds after a sharp rap. By contrast, my SkyScanner on the Paragon mount took longer to settle. Will have to try the dob mount a picnic table the next time.

So yes we have come to the end of another epic showdown. depending on your observing habits, you could go either way. I am a dyed in the wool deep sky fanatic and would take bright deep sky views over super clear and contrasty views of solar system objects anyday. Your  preference might differ. that's what makes our hobby so special. Everyone is different. You make the choice......