How easy is it to live with?

[Cjg]

For those of you with the Skywatcher Dobsonians, how "easy" are they to live with if you have to transport them to use them?

Am torn as I don't have a lot of space at home or in the boot of my little Skoda. Was poised to go for the Skywatcher 127 Maksutov as that is compact and easy to transport, and thus will be used lots... but I know that the views will be better with a bigger aperture.

Am wondering would I think is it worth the hassle to cart to car and set up a Dob, whereas the 127 is very much more a "grab and go" so would be used lots more?!

Thanks for any advice / thoughts

[swamp thing]

Hi

Neither of my Dobs are made by skywatcher but Dobs are Dobs.

I think your best bet is to go and see some.

No-one can really tell you if you have room in your life for a certain scope or not.

Contact your local society and go and see some scopes in the flesh.

Alternately check out the social groups via the community link at the top of the page, there might be a local one for ya.

The 127 Maks are great little scopes anyway so you can't go far wrong IMO.

Regards Steve

[Cjg]

Thanks Steve

[Hypernova]

I wouldn't worry too much about fitting a dob up to around 8" in a small car, as long as the tube (around 4 feet long) can lay on the rear seats and the base can fit in the boot then you're fine. I have managed to get my SW dob in the back of an old Ka on one occasion and there was still some legroom left in the front seats for humans.

[Bender]

i think the foot print of the scope base in a flat is not that much. But i was glad I only had to carry my 10" Skaywatcher 5 m onto the pation.

The wooden base is quite heavy. Wonder how the slim metal OO base compares.

[Mark at Beaufort]

The old saying is the best scope is the one that you use. So if taking out the Dob becomes a chore every time you want to view the night sky you might regret not buying the smaller scope.

The smallest Dob is a 6" and is quite compact - First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian. The Mak is a great little scope for the Moon, Planets and double stars. Have a look at some scopes before you decide but you might be best buying a good grab and go scope.

Mark

[Moonshane]

I have only used Orion Optics UK dobs and was quite shocked at the size of the Skywatcher bases. The 8" SW base is larger than the 12" OOUK base. The OOUK base is also quite light and very strong. Being made of 10mm aluminium plate it is virtually indestructable. The downside to OOUK generally is that they are very expensive new and quite expensive used. Highly recommended though.

Personally, I sold my tripod and mount and bought dobs as they take up far less space than the former. I am definitely sold on dobs but can also see a place for a smaller unit too.

I currently have a 6" f11 dob (the feet spread to 11" but the main frame of the base is only 8.5"), am putting together a 16" f4 dob (which will have a footprint of 21.5") and also have a hankering for a 70-80mm fast refractor for wide field, travel and solar observing in due course. One scope will rarely satisfy everything (or so we keep telling ourselves).