calling on 250 and 300 flextube owners.

[LDUNN1]

Great read all! I've put a work colleague onto this post as he is contemplating a first scope purchase and is thinking flexitube 250 or 300, & I guess going through the same dilemmas.

One observation from me after Reading all these comments - 77% more light gathering between the 300 vs the 250 ? I calculated it as 44% - how did you guys come up with 77%????

[thunderchild]

LDUNN1, if you are interested i will be bringing the 300p to T/H at the end of the month bring your colleague along if your coming, you are correct the 300 is only 44% better than the 250. stuart

[RikM]

the 300 is only 44% better than the 250

[Moonshane]

yeah, but that's almost half as much light gathering again?

also, don't forget, there's always the option of the 16" with 1.77x the light gathering of the 12" and 2.57x more than the 10" (and so aperture fever goes on )

[LDUNN1]

Stuart - I can't make the 30th at TH, but plan to be there on the 6th.....hopefully also with a new 'mystery toy' (its still tbe) ;-)

My work colleague will be on holiday on both the 30th & 6th, so I'll have to see if I can get him along to the meeting after that.

.......I would REALLY like to take a peek through your 300 as well though as you have gone for the option that I would go for if I were in the market for a dob!......mind you, going by the track record of the 300 at TH, I should be able to pick yours up 2nd hand early next year ;-)

Hopefully we will get some opportunities to use our scopes on the 6th

[LDUNN1]

ahhhhh, maybe the earlier posts about 77% more light gathering was for the 16" over the 12" - I read it as the 12" had 77% over the 10" & the maths didn't add up for me.

[thunderchild]

LDUNN1,I have just one thing to say about that, this one is for life not just for the moment:p, hopefully see you at the next meet probably september. stuart:D

[Telrad]

Excellent thread. Very informative as a 250 flex owner myself

[LDUNN1]

Stuart - I think you made a good choice 'for life'.

I've been lucky enough to have looked through Russ's 250.....& it does give a 'slightly' better view than my WO 66 ED ;-) .....I can only imagine what the 12" will be like.......I hope I don't get infected with aperture fever too ;-)

....lets just hope that it is clear on the 6th!

Lawrence.

[Pingster]

Hi guys. I just finished setting up the 400 goto. It only took 1hr to set up. Its a beast of size. Requires two people to build and move! 10 points to skywatcher, their packaging is amazing. Everything came in mint condition.

I always suspected the goto would be a 'tacked' on feature. But my innitial test really suprised me! I must have a second generation, as the sidewards motor noise is minimal. Its less noisey than my 8se. I am really impressed by this considering this scopes huge size. The up and down motors are a bit more noisey, probally the same or just a wee less noisy than the celestron. So far i am very impressed! Once the clouds clear at 1am tonight i will post a quick first light.

As a word of warning, ive seen a 16in Lightbridge in a showroom before buying this scope. The flextube built from thicker and stronger materials, and as a result may be twice as heavy. This thing us truely a beast and not suitable for those with back problems. Deff not suitable as your only scope as it requires 2 people to setup safely.

[Keano]

appreciate the info pingster, I was looking at the 250p auto but that vid on youtube gave me a serious "oh heck!" moment in regards to the screeching coming from the motors, you wouldn't just wake the neighbours you'd wake the dead as well. Do you think the 250 and 400 behemoth use the same motors?

[Pingster]

Hi Keano, if i remeber correctly, the one on youtube had a white Tube. Mine has a black tube so i dont know if its an MrkII. That video almost put me off too! I can confirm that the motors are very smooth. Easily more silent than my 8se. Actually the first time i pressed the side buttons i thought it was not working. Because at the default speed it was so smooth and quiet. If my 8se does not get complaints from my neighbours, then i will be just fine with the 400 flex. Remeber mine is a goto, the 'auto' versions may have different gears!

I think the 250 size will be very transportable, unlike my 400 whih will deff need two people! Lets hope a few more members chim in to give you more info.

[Pingster]

Hi Keano, have not been able to do a first light due to terrible weather.

But today i waited untill it was quieter and did a proper motor test. I now believe it is more louder than the 8se or very simular. Yesterday i tested in a shop with 4 people talking hence it appeared really quiet. On a positive note you can set the speed between 1 and 9. Nine being the fastest and most noisy. But its no where near as horrid as the volume in the youtube video. Only a proper night test will confirm. At speed setting 1 to 4 its does not appear to make any noise at all, but remeber the scope moves really slowly for fine tuning.

It appears when set to 'goto' it automatically moves at the highest rate. And i can't find a way to make it use a lower speed. Like everyone else we are all nervous about using the goto at night. With my 8se even tho my neghbours do not appear to notice (as they have never complained)... i do feel conscious of its noise!

Remeber in auto mode, if i am correct all it does it follow the object you are looking at so will be completely silent. And manual control you can set the speed lower depending on how little noise you wish to make.

[Keano]

Cheers pingster,hope the weather clears for you soon (you must be dying to give that monster a whirl as id imagine the views through a 400mm scope wouold be amazing) im very jealous mate . As to the noise of the motors I appreciate the heads up, as im only interested in the auto tracking function thnx to you I now know it shouldnt be a problem. Let me know how you get on with first light.

[russ]

I wouldn't have classed the Auto and Goto Flextube as noisy. Used both and they are certainly not Meade or Celestron ASGT noisy. Perhaps a tad louder than the HEQ5 or EQ6 Pro but not much.

That said not tried them in the garden with houses all round. But from the dark sky site the Meade scopes (ETX125 & LX90) easily drowned them out .

[Pingster]

Keano,

Its so frsutrasting! This is ap fever in its terminal form. Got the tools, but the weather won't let me use it! I have 10 darkish sites on my BBC weather bookmarks. And all of them showed rain and 100% white cloud cover, if any of the locations showed partly cloud i would have driven out in a snap!

I was checking my back and front doors for openings all last night untill 4am. And nothing, just rain and clouds. Its so frsutrating. This scope has x4 the light gathering power of my 8se. I so badly want to see it in action.

Next weekend we have no moon, if weather permits i will do a full writeup of 8se (Quality Small Optics) Vs 16in (Budget Optics). So far in daytime use the 8se blows it out of the water for clarity and sharpness. <-- update. Did a side by side test on same daytime object. 16in scope brighter and had more detail. Compared at various mags. Using a 6mm eyepiece then powermate x2. The 8se image got darker and more blurry. Colours that were lost at high mag by the 8se, was maintained by the 16in flextube. All in all the 16in scope is brighter and is super sharpe. Is amazing a 'budget' mirror can be as sharpe as a premium 8se. I am so lucky to have got delivered a fine sample. The daytime tests point towards the 16in giving me much better results in darkness. Can't wait!

[Luke]

The noise level of the 300 flex auto is fine for us, a bit louder than the EQ6 but quieter than the CG5. It's quiet enough not to worry about it bothering the neighbours. We're very happy with this scope!

[LDUNN1]

.....don't know if this helps, but I have used my nEQ6 goto in my garden late at night, & have never felt that it comes remotely close to disturbing the neighbours.....I don't think it would wake them even if they had their windows open, & I have 5 or 6 neighbours close by

[Keano]

Cheers folks, cant say I like my neighbours much so couldnt care less if they get woken up:D (just kidding, although I really dont like em) my father is another matter,wake him up and i'll never hear the end of it.

Pingster I sympathize, ive had all of 2 nights with my scope since I bought it a couple of months ago.Dont think i'd recommend anyone just starting out in astronomy to buy a scope in the summer time,so annoying, makes me wanna take a huge hairdryer to all those clouds

[Pingster]

Hey Keano,

Not wanting to distract from your thread, i have started a thread to discuss my observations of an 8in vs my 16in Flextube. Will be updating it as regular as the skies allow!

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/150460-celestron-8se-xlt-vs-flextube-400-16in-goto.html#post1898014

[SimonfromSussex]

I have a 300p skyliner auto and its cracking. I have put castors on the base so moving it about is easy. Fits in my estate car no prob. The visual views from this scope is cracking def collects a lot more light than anything smaller.