I bought a 10" Dob. (It is of course on backorder because it is 2020)

Aperture fever rears its ugly head.

After selling my Omni XLT 150 (a 6" newt on an equatorial mount), I finally had enough money to upgrade from my Apertura DT6 6" dob to a 10" dob. I was certain that I was going to get the 10" SkyWatcher Classic due to its light weight and low cost among the commercial dobs, but I decided to get the slightly more versatile SkyWatcher FlexTube because, although it's a bit heavier, it can be set up to allow for DSLR photography and binoviewing easly, and although I'm not interested in that now, I don't want to block myself off of that option. Additionally, I might be able to support the full length of the 10" Classic when transporting it NOW, but that might change if I needed to use a smaller car in the future, so the collapsibility of the 10" might come in handy. 

This might be my last big telescope, so I wanted to make sure I get it right. I could more easily lose weight and gain muscle to better carry the telescope around than I could rebuild the entire Classic closed-tube dob to make it compact, so I'm going with the FlexTube.

(On a similar and yet opposite note, I passed up an offer for an old 10" Orion Dob for real cheap because I figured it might be so heavy that I couldn't use it--old dobs were much heavier than newer ones)

I realized after testing with some equivalent weights that I could probably handle the telescope (at least if I keep the OTA and the base disassembled for transport, as I do already with the 6" dob), so that was enough for me to decide to get the slightly heavier FlexTube instead of the closed-tube Classic.

8" FlexTube Dobsonian at the Cline Observatory

I have a lot of experience with FlexTube dobs, as the SkyWatcher FlexTube 8" Dobsonian is the same model we use outside on the viewing pad at the Cline Observatory, which supplements the 24" CDK in the dome. We usually have three or four of them alongside a C8 on an equatorial fork mount.

Normally I only ever have to lift them from the cart down a few feet to the floor where I want to put them, but I was a little worried about the extra weight in the 10" version. Until I realized I could probably get away with keeping the OTA and base apart.

The upgrade from the DT6 6" f/8 Dob to the FlexTube 10" f/5 Dob will be optically very significant. Almost three times the light gathering. That will be exciting. It will also have a 2" Focuser, allowing me to take in wider field views than the DT6. Although since I got the more expensive FlexTube instead of the Classic, I won't be able to afford a 2" eyepiece just yet. But I will be asking for eyepieces for Christmas.

Another big advantage of the FlexTube is I won't have to replace the finderscope. I have been contorting my back when using the 6" dob for long enough, so there was no way I was gonna keep the straight thru finder on the Classic dob. The FlexTube has a right-angle-correct-image (RACI) finder to begin with, which is much easier to use.

I expect I'll find having two full-size dobsonians, a 6" and 10", somewhat redundant. So I might sell my 6" Dob and get a 5" AWB OneSky tabletop dob instead, for times when I want a grab-n-go instrument which remains very powerful. I might also consider the 6" Orion StarBlast 6, the largest available tabledob (which struggles to be called a tabledob) I don't dare sell the DT6 until I've gotten used to the 10" though. I don't want to be without my serious observing instrument.

I am definitely looking forward to having the capacity to use 2" eyepieces, eventually. One of the other observatory hosts bought a smartphone mount to use with the Cline Observatory (which she can use, due to auditing the Observational Astronomy class--otherwise hosts aren't even allowed in due to the pandemic), but found that it wouldn't connect to 1.25" eyepieces. I'd left my smartphone mount in the observatory. I thought I lost it, so I bought another, which I still have and use. So we made a trade--she bought another 2" smartphone mount to leave in the observatory for me, and I let her keep the 1.25" mount I left behind.

Of course, all of this has merely been set in motion, for the 10" dob is not due to arrive until probably around Christmas. OPT says 14-28 business days, which sounded too good to be true. I called Astronomics first (which didn't specify a timescale on the website), which is how I got "around christmas" from. I called OPT next to see if somehow they had knowledge that Astronomics didn't, and they said--and I could hear the resignation in the salesperson's voice--that yep it could be 2 months. So I went with Astronomics, which gives a discount to Cloudy Nights members.

I'll still have plenty of time left with my 6" dob, and there's still plenty of observing left to do between now and Christmas. Exploration done now is probably even more important than before, as it will be a useful way to scout out objects to revisit with a 10" telescope--ones which are just on the verge of being interesting, or ones which are nearly impossible to find but which a larger aperture would help bring out. And it'll be a very interesting comparison.