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Big Dobbers - please don't shoot me down!

DRT

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DRT

DRT

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I posted this thread a few weeks ago asking for advice from the Dob squad and had lots of fantastic responses.

But ... today I took a decision that goes against most of the advice in that thread, for what I think is good reason.

Today I agreed to purchase a Skywatcher Flextube 400P (16") Dob.

My reasoning is...

1. It allows me to test having a large dob with the level of light pollution my home viewing area suffers from.

2. It will cost me about 20% of the cost of what I eventually hope to buy.

3. From what I have read here and elsewhere, LP narrows the gap between good and bad mirrors.

4. Having visited the seller and handled the scope I think it will take about the same time and effort to set-up as some of the top end scopes I have seen.

5. I don't have to wait for my bonus in March.

So, the mirror might not be perfect and the mechanics might not be ideal - but I think I have done the right thing in taking a step towards the Nirvana of a 20" wonder-dob and it will give my TV EPs a good work-out along the way :wink:

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DRT

DRT

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Should be a great scope Derek - a dream scope for many on here so no need to apologise.

Not apologising, John, just bracing myself for my application to join Dobfest 4 being inexplicably lost in the post :lol:

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todd8137

todd8137

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I started with a 12" solid tube skywatcher and I still talk about it now,I went backwards for a while and my scopes got smaller I spent nearly 4 grand on the all singing dancing scopes carbon fibre triplets and such like ,wow it was cool I now own one scope my 16" dob and I love it as its own obsy and it still excites me every day and I have seen things my baby scope could never see the only thing I miss is sticking a camera on it but web cams to vid the moon still does the job ( not to stack) am sure you will have many a great night out

Pat

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DRT

DRT

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Here she is...

post-33858-0-54531500-1444326458.png

The good news is that it fitted in my car no problem. I am able to load and unload it from the car alone. Set-up time was less than ten minutes.

Collimation needed only a minor tweak and it is now sitting cooling down ready for tonight's predicted clear sky.

I am planning a few mods so will start a new thread with a better title soon.

Chuffed? Me? You bet I am!!! :grin:

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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I'd like the chance to try a 'killer mirror' big Dob. I never have. Our own big Dob (20 inch) has a humble mirror but visual experts - more expert by far than I am - seem to feel it does the job. Given that, for bright objects at high magnification, many big Dob buffs stop down their aperture I'm left wondering how important a 'killer mirror' really is in a big Dob? What are you going to look at in it? If it's faint nebulae then what are you trying to resolve? Double star splitters will want a top class mirror but this is not something I've ever got into.

In a nutshell I can't see why your new new scope won't serve you as well as our big Dob has served us - and that's now a ten year service.

Olly

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nightfisher

nightfisher

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Looks good Derek, if i had room to store a big dob i would jump at getting one.............I have a silly dream that when i win the lotto i will have a house with a huge balcony leading from the bedroom and wheel out a large dob for some superb viewing................back to reality 

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DRT

DRT

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Thanks, guys, I've got everything crossed in the hope that the current cloud will break and in about an hour from now I will be looking at M13 at about the size of a football :lol:

...or perhaps it will just be cloudy till morning and I'll catch the Moon and a few planets just before dawn :wink:

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Indibush

Indibush

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Great looking scope. Iv get the 10" (solid tube) which I'm well happy with. With that your gonna see what the New Horizon missed.

Good luck for tonight, hope it's clear for you.

Tony [emoji437][emoji437][emoji437]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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