Ian McCallum

It's kind of academic now, as the Sky-Watcher 300p from FLO has been sold, so is out of stock... 🙄

9 hours ago, Louis D said:

Remind us please what you're looking for?  Originally you were asking about refractors and now you've expanded to Maks and 12" Dobs in another thread.  Tell us what you want to see better, and what limits you have as far as budget, weight, storage, and transport.

The $64,000 question!😂 I was looking at the 12" Dob range, but haven't seen what I really want in stock, plus the thought of a really heavy behemoth puts me off, a bit. I know I could build a trolley of some sort to wheel it out, but I don't know if that's the route I want to go.

This has caught my eye...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102r-f49-achromatic-refractor-telescope.html

Also, this Mak...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-starquest/sky-watcher-starquest-102mc-f127-maksutov-cassegrain-telescope.html

Thoughts, please?

1 hour ago, John said:

The mount on my 12 inch dob is baltic plywood

 

 

Does that mean it get's cold quicker?🤔😂

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

The mdf dob bases do indeed suffer if they get wet but the dampness inside covered storage shouldn’t be a problem and should last for years. Best thing is to build a marine ply dob base which will last indefinitely but proper ply isn’t cheap nowadays.

One thing I've came across recently and slightly related is, spray on yacht varnish (aerosol). 

I recently sold my late mum's mobility scooter.  She had an outside, lockable storage box for it.  It could easily accommodate a large Dobsonian, outside.  My main concern would be damp getting into the wooden rocker base...

8 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I think if my circumstances were different and I could house it in a garage on wheels I’d be thinking differently.

At the minute though it’d very much be “Quick there’s a break in the clouds, push the grand piano outside”.

I'm lucky that I live in a ground floor flat, the communal back door being access by two low steps down.  I could do the sack barrow method and build a small wooden ramp, for taking it down the stairs...

5 minutes ago, IB20 said:

I’ve sometimes pondered upgrading the 8” to a 12”. These weight figures of 40-55kg has really killed that idea stone dead though. I know I wouldn’t ever be bothered to use such a beast. 

I do get sciatica occasionally, so I'd go for a sack barrow or jerry rig up a dolly with castors or something similar...

9 minutes ago, John said:

Well at least that's quite a bit lighter than the original figures you had

My old Meade Lightbridge 12 inch dob weighed about that much. Too heavy for me so I moved it on to a new home and eventually went down the somewhat lighter Orion Optics route.

The Explore Scientific 12 inch dob is another option:

https://www.365astronomy.com/Explore-Scientific-12-inch-Ultra-Light-Dobsonian-305mm

That's a nice bit of kit!👍

On 28/09/2021 at 09:16, dweller25 said:

Does that include the mount or do you have one ?

And what kind of visual astronomy do you do - deep sky, lunar, solar, planetary or all of them ?

 

As I live in a Bortle 6 area, with quite a bit of LP, I tend to mostly planetary, some moon, no solar and very occasionally DSO's.  I do like looking at double stars.

8 minutes ago, John said:

The Flextube dobsonians are a little heavier than the solid tube versions although the Skywatcher solid tube 12 inch dob went out of production a while back.

I think those figures for the Skywatcher are incorrect though. I don't think it weighs more than 40kg in total.

 

 

From the Sky-Watcher website regarding the 300P's weight...

Quote

Tube Weight	21kg
Tube Dimensions	450(920-1400)
Shipping Weight	20+23 kg

On 28/09/2021 at 13:57, FLO said:

We are looking for a larger warehouse but suitably sized ones are thin on the ground (historically, Devon property developers underestimated business growth) so we are extending the one we have.  We will continue looking. 

Steve 

Are you expecting any resuming of normal stocking levels and shipping from manufacturers to return to somewhat normal, after 18 months since the dreaded Lockdown started?

1 hour ago, Andy ES said:

I should think the skywatcher could be more practical if you have got to take it out to a dark site

if you don’t have a van ??

 

 

I plan to keep the 200P for portable use and any larger Dobs would be used at home.  I can't understand how the 300P is the heavier model, given that there's less metal tubing in the OTA?!?🙄

1 minute ago, John said:

I think both will perform pretty much the same.

The Stellalyra has some nice features though such as the RACI finder as standard and a nicer focuser.

11kg is a lot of weight difference - even 50kg seems a lot to me for a 12 inch dob

My Orion Optics based 12 inch F/5.3 dob weighs in at 27kg in total - that makes a lot of difference to how easy the scope is to set up and move about once set up. Very important factors to me.

 

 

Here's a quote from the 300P specs page... 

Quote

Tube weight is approx 27 kg. Mount / rocker-box weight is 34 kg.

And from the StellaLyra model page...

Quote

Shipped weight OTA	30kg / 66lbs 2oz
Shipped weight Base	20kg / 44lbs 1oz

5 minutes ago, Mike73 said:

I had the Skywatcher 300P and had some fantastic views through it, I also stepped up to 12" from the 8" Skywatcher (which I think is what you currently have?) and it was completely worth it. 

Thinking about it I've had a 8", 10",12" and 16" and out of all of them the 12" was probably my favourite (for DSO's).

It is indeed the 200P I have, at the moment.  I suppose my next question would be the difference in cool down time between the two telescopes above, one having a fan and other not?🤔

I'm eyeing up two possibilities regarding a 12" Dobsonian.  They are the StellaLyra or the Sky-Watcher versions...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-12-f5-dobsonian.html
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock/skywatcher-skyliner-300p-flextube-dobsonian.html

The StellaLyra version comes with a dual speed Crayford focuser, a fan for cooling down the primary mirror and a decent RACI finder as standard.  It weighs in at a combined weight of 50kg.

The Sky-Watcher 300P flextube is more expensive, doesn't have a RACI finder, dual speed focuser or cooling fan for the primary mirror and weighs 11kg more than the StellaLyra.  It's also about £250 more.

The choice should be obvious, but unfortunately the only one in stock is the Sky-Watcher version.  The StellaLyra is out of stock till perhaps early next year.

Any thoughts?🤔

There's always eBay.😉

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311&_nkw=rubber+eye+cups&_sacat=0

On 02/10/2021 at 17:59, Alan64 said:

Oftentimes, it's quality you're after, rather than quantity.

Do the StellaLyra or SW Dobs come into the former, rather than the latter?🤔

I suppose I could get another SW Dob, the 12" version...🤔

6 minutes ago, Alan64 said:

I don't know if the question has been asked: have you ever owned or observed through a refractor?

I've seen globular-clusters through this wee 50/600 achromat...

But for those who have never experienced a refractor, 80mm is the minimum to suggest; yea, even a 70mm is praiseworthy...

A reasonably-priced gamble...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar/sky-watcher-capricorn-70-eq1-refractor.html

Nope.🙁

The collimation on the 200P is okay, just my memory that's faulty. 🙄

It's towards the higher end of the magnification scale, where I get larger but indistinct images, as you'd expect... I'm thinking for example of the 5mm eyepiece and smaller, etc. 

Perhaps it's time to look at the bigger DOB's again... 🤔

7 hours ago, Stu said:

The only thing I would add to my previous comments for the OP, are that the Scopetech f15 has the same focal length as an f6 200mm dob, so you will get the same field of view in both.

The way refractors complement dobs is often by showing a wider view of the same (or different) scenes, so an f7 100mm ED refractor would, to my mind, be much more flexible, and ultimately have higher resolution and a wider field than the 80/f15.

Although I get some nice views of Jupiter and Saturn, I do find much above 150x magnification, they tend to get a bit indistinct using my Sky-Watcher 200P. 

Would the  Scopetech give me better views at higher magnifications at 150x and above? 

On 28/09/2021 at 09:15, Stu said:

I actually have both of these on trial from FLO at the moment. They are actually exactly the opposite of what you said ie they are dedicated visual instruments, not really suited to astrophotography at all.

They have a long focal length and slow focal ratio, with well figured optics so are good planetary and lunar and double star scopes, but don’t have the widefield capability you would get with a 100mm f7 for instance. They also only have 1.25” focusers so the maximum field of view in the f15 would be about 1.3 degrees, vs around 3.8 degrees with a 40mm 2” eyepiece in the f7. Personally I wouldn’t recommend one as your first/only refractor as they are quite specialised although I have had some lovely lunar and double star views with both scopes.

If you had to choose between the 2 models, which would you choose and why?🤔

22 minutes ago, banjaxed said:

My first scope was the 200P and I wouldn’t part with it as it has given me some wonderful views. If you are on flat ground a platform trolley will make it very easy to wheel out and be ready to view in a minute or two. I also have the ST 120 on a AZ5 Mount with the stainless steel tripod which is just about manageable for me to carry but I usually take the mount and the scope out separately as I am the wrong side of 70 and can’t risk getting a hernia 😀

That's a problem, as we're not getting any younger.  🤣

Would I have to buy new eyepieces or would my existing BST's do the job? 

4 minutes ago, johninderby said:

I had a 12” solid tube dob and had no problems carrying it outside but that was from the conservatory. If you had to carry it down stairs then it could be awkward. 12” is a bit of an inbetween size. Big but not too big for someone that is reasonably healthy with no back problems.

I'm in my early 50's and have occasional sciatica. 

I was thinking of wheeling out out the shared back garden with a set of dolly wheels and a small ramp. I live in a ground floor flat and the back door is down 2 small steps.