New 10" Quattro just delivered

[pjmaciw]

Thanks to those awfully nice people at FLO (thanks Steve) I am now the proud owner of a Skywatcher 10" Quattro. Cloudy skies as one would expect but the scope has been wizzing around my living room all evening.

Overall impression is good. This is one big scope......cant wait to actually see stars through it. Build quality looks good, tube has baffles, focuser is nice and smooth and will take a DSLR well. I particularly like the primary collimation knobs...... nice and easy to use. The tube length works well with the NEQ6 and dosen't hit the tripod legs.

I am no expert on scopes, previously has a Mead ETX 90 for a few years but didn't use it much then more recently had a Skywatcher 127 Mak az goto......brilliant scope that got my interest going.

Not much more I can say at the moment ........ I will post again when I have used the scope.

[Black Knight]

Oooh, nice! I take it you got the steel tube version?

[smoggy]

If you did get the steel tube, how heavy is it?

[Big Jim Slade]

Yes, it would be great to know the weight.

And: pictures good man, pictures!

[spaceboy]

Where's the pics ?

[pjmaciw]

It's a steel tube and weighs 16 kg on my dodgy scales which always tell me I am heavier than I think I am.

Tried to use scope tonight but difficult to get the telrad and scope aligned between the clouds. Once telrad was aligned I managed to see Wild Duck (M11) and was suitable impressed. The collimation of slightly off but I didn't have time to sort it out as the clouds were coming in fast. Also M81 and M82 but clouds drifted over so gave up for the night.

Sorry about the lack of pic ..... not sure what you want to see. I will take some pics tomorrow when I attempt to sort out the collimation.

[NGC 1502]

Hi Pete, I think we enjoy pics so we can all drool

I like the idea of a nice compact 10" F4.

Hope you get to use it soon, will look forward to hearing how you get on..........Ed.

[pjmaciw]

Pics at last.

I had a go at collimation today. Ok, I think. Used Cheshire and the Hotech laser.

http://www.ontheisle.co.uk/Quattro/Q2.jpg

http://www.ontheisle.co.uk/Quattro/Q3.jpg

http://www.ontheisle.co.uk/Quattro/Q4.jpg

http://www.ontheisle.co.uk/Quattro/Q5.jpg

http://www.ontheisle.co.uk/Quattro/Q6.jpg

http://www.ontheisle.co.uk/Quattro/Q7.jpg

[fatwoul]

Looks great, Pete, as did the same model at the fair yesterday.

Just make sure you never take photos like that with the flash switched on, Pete. Flashes or torches down a Newtonian are really bad news, because they make everything look very very dusty, and you then have to resist the temptation to clean stuff.

[Big Jim Slade]

Thanks for the pics, Pete. My scope lust is satisfied.

The debit card is twitching, must resist, car needs replacing. Or does it....

[Deneb]

It's a fine scope, get some bob knobs for the secondary it make your life easier when collimating that secondary without fiddling with a allen key...

Nadeem.

[rwilkey]

Beautiful scope, I saw one in the flesh this weekend with FLO at the Norman Lockyer Observatory, nice finish, also baffles look odd in a reflector rather than a refractor, most impressed though, also gold writing on the side singles it out from the wannabees like my 200P, enjoy it whatever anyone says and carry on impressing us!

[russ]

Looks very nice. Very short and stubby. And the baffles look like they will do the job.

As Nadeem says, make yourself some secondary collimation thumb screws. Very worthwhile.

[fatwoul]

Beautiful scope, I saw one in the flesh this weekend with FLO at the Norman Lockyer Observatory...

I think I saw you (wearing an olive drab jacket with patches on it, right?)

[rwilkey]

That was me, had a great day and bought a couple of EP's, great discounts!

[spaceboy]

OOOOO very nice Pete!