PlanetGazer

From someone who uses a GoTo dob, there will be a huge learning curve that will come with frustration. Once you get it sorted, it's amazing. Note that you will need a proper AC power (a good battery, which is not cheap) Most alignment problem are from power. But it's all good when you get a good battery, until the motor gears slip 😢 then it gets messy. Not sure how common of a problem it's, but I got it after one year of use.

Not sure exactly, I store it in my office, heat over here will ruin anything , yes it takes place in my office, but I would love to look at it everyday to remind myself to get it used. Not to mention that indoors reduces the amount of dust. You will figure the perfect spot for it once you buy it. You shouldn't be in a rush anyway. Enjoy whatever equipment you have at the moment, it's only a gate to the amazing heavens above Clear Skies!

Hi JM £20 well spent. It will serve good as a starter telescope, to test your eagerness of the hobby. If you find yourself getting into the hobby, start by buying a 2x barlow and 5 mm EP which will serve you on the long run, the barlow with the 25mm you already have will give you 12.5mm, which would cover the 10mm range. If the 25mm EP you have is the stock Skywatcher, I would keep it and rely on it, the 10mm stock ones are not that good. I use the xCelx celestron 5mm, which give good planetary and lunar views. Not always though, the sky conditions have to be stable. Edit: Consider buying a used 8 inch dob, the sweet spot

Oh that's the first time I see such a model. Which makes me think that such a handle should be there for all models. Mine doesn't have it, but the thread i showed in the earlier picture is on the same level, but from the other side. Your scope look 12 inches or more, right? This is how my base looks, but I have a different handset model:

So how do you correctly tighten clutches in a goto dob system? I assume they are not easily accessible. Initially I thought I would have to use a wrench to tighten this part in the altitude motor box, but wanted to ask here first.

How do you check that? Do you mean leveling the OTA on the mount to the horizon before starting it up?

You're more than welcome to participate in the discussion! If you mean balance point for equatorial mounts, then this does not apply in my case. My scope sit on a dobsonian mount which designed in such a way that it doesn't require balancing, unlike equatorial mounts. Here is a link showing a picture of my scope: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-flextube-goto.html

Battery works very well, it was perfect the session before. The battery was fully charged for last session. 12.5 is max I usually get. Regardless, battery issue doesn't explain why OTA slips before turing it on, it should hold it self without switching on the system

Long storey short : the OTA slips dramtecly when vewing an object to 0 altitude. Details: So I bought the Skywatcher GoTo flextube 10 inch a year ago. It was nothing but great, until yesterday when I was just starting the session to level up the scope on the mount for alignment. I Went to get some equipment and when back noticed the scope has declined to a minus reading on the altitude! With no attachments on the OTA. I re-leveled it to the horizon and it held itself, put on the nothing but stock attachments as usual. Switched on the GoTo and started aligning, when alignment is successful, I chose an object and notice the object is far off. I check the battery voltage and it's 12.5 volts, which indicates it's not a battery issue. I turn it off to re-align again, this time when I press the up arrow to align to an object I notice the GoTo gears struggle to move the OTA upwards, but eventually the speed increase to normal and manage to points upwards to the object. I pick a second object which happens to be near the zenith and the GoTo goes out of control straight to zenith and carrying on above 90+ degrees on the altitude bearing. I try to stop the scope with the handset before the base of telescope hits the wood in the base, only to notice the handset is not showing light or responding. I turn the GoTo off. Start to align for the third time, this time aligns but still off target. I ignore and start viewing Jupiter which happens to be 40+ in altitude , after few minutes of viewing, the scope drops slowly to zero altitude with no hand or handset movement! Handset is still showing that the viewed object is still Jupiter! Note: I did notice weird sounds of the gears when trying to increase altitude. Not the common sound. Has anyone faced this issue and fixed it, should I return under guarantee? Is this a gear slippage? Or clutches not engaged? Your help will be much appreciated!

Hello Mr GuGuzai Dobsonians are a great choice, usually size 8 , or 203mm with 1200mm focal lenght is the sweet spot. (https://www.opticaluniversescientificinstrument.com/products/gso-8-deluxe-dobsonian-telescope or https://www.opticaluniversescientificinstrument.com/products/duplicate---skywatcher-skyliner-300px-flextube-dobsonian-synscan-go-to-telescope-1-1-1 it depends on your budget at the end. all should do well for planets. I see planets fine in my 130mm and 250mm mirror telescopes. more detail in the latter. Big mirrors does get affected by weather, change of temperature from warm to cold or vise versa (if telescope is stored inside then you bring it outside for example), it will require allowing the mirror to settle to surrounding temperature in the observing site. some use fans, but around 30 mins of waiting should be fine. as for imaging, manual dobsonians and any manual Altazimuth mounts will make tracking obejcts hard, as you need long exposures to get good imaging. however some experienced astrophotographers manage to get ok images with dobs.

start with pointing an object on the ground during day, large tower chimney, can you see things fine ? be ware of the sun, never go near it

I second that

Currently Looking at the ones you mentioned here, also found these much cheaper ones: https://www.365astronomy.com/32mm-SWA-Super-Wide-Angle-Eyepiece-70-degree-2-inch.html definitely they would not match the quality of the above, but how much is the compromise?

I'm considering both, part of the list of comparision. Noted, thanks for the advice! you are tempting me more towards the 20mm, also thank you for the advice. Thanks. Sorry all for the late replies, I wanted to read all advice with a clear mind. After reading all, I shifted my search to the right eye pieces, but i'm afraid I fell in a new rabbit hole, there are other options that came up, so still undecided, I will update with my final choices before I buy

Planning to add a 2" EP to my collection as I have a SW 250P (10 inch) and want something special for DSOs and would love to capture the range of Andromeda in a gaze, so angle would be important . I'm thinking of the range between 35mm to 50mm. Budget is not a limit, though I would prefer to have an EP reasonably priced if available. I regularly use the 25mm standard plossl that came with the scope, which is doing more than ok. I have a 32mm and 16mm classical plossl, but don't use it much as it's hard to use with eyeglasses. I was thinking of the Explore Scientific 52° 40mm, but then I realized it's only 52 degrees and other reviews say that the brand is planetary focused. I was also looking at the televues, but should I make the crazy jump? I wouldn't mind much cheaper EP that have a little less performance that I wouldn't notice anyway at my current level, or is it worth it now? Thanks in advance! Edit:typo