1st scope - skyliner 300p flexi tube auto?

[johnmac]

Hi all, first post, am trying to decide on my first scope and really like the specs on the 12" flexi tube auto dobsonian and would welcome all of your comments

[Orion_the_Hunter]

Hi & welcome!

The Dobsonians are great 'scopes. To help you choose, what would you like to observe? Where will you be using it?

[Mr Spock]

Huge scope for a first. You might want to check the size to see if you can manage to move it around easily.

[mindburner]

fantastic scope. They are big and heavy though to move in and out of storage,not so bad if you can keep assembled. Awesome visual views of moon,planets and even DSO's.M42 is wonderful.I would highly recommend this scope.

[damnut]

Echo comments above, go and have a look in the flesh at what youwant before you buy. The 12" is a biiig scope!.

[swamp thing]

Hi

I would echo the previous comments. Great scope, but on the large side for a first one.

Make sure you see one first before parting with cash.

Regards Steve

[Nexus 6]

a member of the forum and North Lincs Astro, tbird, has one minus the Go To, its a big scope that will give some brilliant views but as others have already said is a handful although that's not to say you should not buy it, as long as you believe you can handle and store/transport it then go for it.

Good Luck

[Astro Imp]

You seem to already have had great advice.

If you go ahead with this, good luck and enjoy.

[DrNeb]

Fantastic choice. A friend picked one up as his first. The extra 2 inches over my 10 brought out better views on m13. But not by a huge margin. The 250px is very managable.

[stuartm]

The 12" is a fair bit larger than the 10" , the difference between the 6" & 8" is much smaller.

Where i store mine i have to go through 4 doorways, the OTA is fine but the base only just gets through.

[ItIsOnlyMe]

I have one, and if I had it all to do again I would think more about getting an 8 or maybe a 10". Then most likely buy the 12" :-)

I would suggest that you don't think of buying before you have seen it "in the flesh" and attempted to move it about.

It is a single handed two trip lift out to the garden for me and I can just about lift the whole thing in one go if I need to get a different angle to see something past trees e.t.c.

On the other hand.... it is a brilliant scope for visual and I am just starting down the road of webcam imaging plus have attached a DSLR to it for some OK short exposure shots. Tracking works well for visual work and you can add the Synscan later and save some cash up front if necessary as I did (buy an auto and then later buy the alt/az synscan mount, keep the handset and sell the mount on with the auto handset).

If you think that imaging will be your thing then this is not the way to go.

[Moonshane]

I agree with the general consensus. if you have seen, are happy you can store and handle the size and will concentrate on visual observing then this would be a fabulous first (and possibly final) scope.

I went from a 120mm refractor to a 300mm dob and never looked back (only forward to increase again to a 400mm dob ).

for me visual observing of most objects is about aperture. more aperture = more detail and gasps of ooooh.

[brantuk]

Smashing scope that can be made superb with a few decent mods (one of which is the goto upgrade). Highly recommended, but, as mentioned above make sure you see one first so you know what you're getting. You'll need a collimation tool to go with