300p Dob Discontinued!

[Damo636]

Just noticed that the SW 300p has been discontinued. This was to be my next upgrade sometime in the new year . The 300p flextube is the next option at £200 more It's an awful lot of extra money for 4 bits of metal rod

[Matthew]

It is a lot Damo,but I wouldn't be without mine.

[John]

Thats a shame - up to 12" aperture I'd prefer a solid tube scope. Another part of me is not entirely surprised though as Steve (FLO) warned us a while back that the supply of scopes from China could start to be impacted by the re-direction of manufacturing priorities over there. We might start to see "rationalisation" of a number of ranges. I've often wondered how long they would continue to make the larger, longer focus achromat refractors (ie: the Evostar 120 and 150) for

[Damo636]

Agreed John, i see no need for the flextube design up to 12'' other than maybe for someone with limited space.

[spaceboy]

I don't know.... those 12" dobs are a lot bigger than people give them credit for. If you have been an astronomer for a while aperture hunger tends to warp the fact that these things are an easily manageable size but in reality they are big old lumps. Having to put my 250PX in the corner of the living room I often see visitors jaws drop when they realize it's a telescope. Even though the 250PX looks small to me it still amazes me how much bigger the 300P is given there is only 2" of additional aperture. I have noticed a trend on eBay that 10" scopes can sell for near enough the same as the 12" and I put this down to the increase in size being an issue for most beginners or the less able bodied. The idea of a flex dob solving the storage or transport problem may be the appeal for a lot of people and this has been reflected in the sales?? I personally prefer a solid tube as you know there is less hassle dealing with stray light or setting up but transporting a solid tube is space demanding as I found out going to a recent star party. Camping gear and scopes take up a LOT of room

[Dave Dubya]

Could mean a replacement 300 dobbo is on the way? Or perhaps the Flextube will come down in price.

[haitch]

You should see my old 14" darkstar solid tube dob!

[iamjulian]

Glad to have the flex tube rather than solid tube, mainly because there is no way I'd get the solid tube version in my car.

[Earl]

The 300p Solid Tube is a BEAST of a scope to move around, id rather go Flextube at that size. but have to agree the additional cost is unrealistic. but Astro gear and "realistic prices" really don't belong in the same sentence.

[RikM]

A 10" in a sold tube is the limit for me, and I looked closely at both before purchase. I would have to go for either a flex tube or truss design for a bigger scope.

[Pug]

I spoke to someone at FLO earlier this week who told me they'd been discontinued, rothervalley optics said they were getting some in in a fortnight.

[Dave Dubya]

You should see my old 14" darkstar solid tube dob!

Indeed. We recently acquired one of these (at no cost) and we're currently restoring it back to its former glory.

[haitch]

Indeed. We recently acquired one of these (at no cost) and we're currently restoring it back to its former glory.

Mine was somewhat neglected when I got it too but I'm restoring it (very gradually) to a "new" glory partly to better appeal to my wife's aesthetic tastes.

Just wait 'til you get round to figuring out how to flock the inside of a tube that size!!!

It does make a good "grab and go" portable set up if you've got a few muscles and a car no smaller than a Saab 95 Estate!

[Dave Dubya]

Mine was somewhat neglected when I got it too but I'm restoring it (very gradually) to a "new" glory partly to better appeal to my wife's aesthetic tastes.

Just wait 'til you get round to figuring out how to flock the inside of a tube that size!!!

It does make a good "grab and go" portable set up if you've got a few muscles and a car no smaller than a Saab 95 Estate!

The flock on the inside is in okay condition thankfully. The mirrors & secondary vane were in terrible condition however and had to be re-silvered and re-welded, so it's almost there. Just needs a decent focuser and finder and we'll be carting around to events before long.

[haitch]

So it's already flocked? Nice one. I completely covered thew inside of mine with velour - reaching the middle wasn't easy!

One of the nuts on my secondary supportr had come off but when I put a blowtorch to the tip and the stuff melted I realised it was only solder. I've put a skywatcher single speed crayford on mine which turned out be a bit tall so I had to move the mirror up the tube.

The mirror itself had lost about 1/2 the coating so I had it hiluxed at Orion Optics - not cheap!

Oh yes, the binoculars & waste pipe on a pair of tuning forks!

I've managed to do away with the box around the tube (I thought it looks a bit old fashioned) by bolting metal bars along the sides and attaching the pipe slice bearings to those - I'm trying to make it so the bearings can slide up and down to adjust balance (I've currently got a weight off an EQ mount stuck to the back of the primary support with magnets) as the new focuser, 50mm proper finder and RDF, coupled with the moving the mirror up the tube a couple of inches has put things out somewhat.

[derekm]

Check this one out:

GSO Dobson Teleskop - 300/1500mm

And here's a test of the Revelation version (made by GSO).

http://stargazerslounge.com/member-equipment-reviews/84376-revelation-12-dobsonian-4.html

Posts 91 & 93.

Teleskop Service are good to deal with.

[Dave Dubya]

So it's already flocked? Nice one. I completely covered thew inside of mine with velour - reaching the middle wasn't easy!

One of the nuts on my secondary supportr had come off but when I put a blowtorch to the tip and the stuff melted I realised it was only solder. I've put a skywatcher single speed crayford on mine which turned out be a bit tall so I had to move the mirror up the tube.

The mirror itself had lost about 1/2 the coating so I had it hiluxed at Orion Optics - not cheap!

Oh yes, the binoculars & waste pipe on a pair of tuning forks!

I've managed to do away with the box around the tube (I thought it looks a bit old fashioned) by bolting metal bars along the sides and attaching the pipe slice bearings to those - I'm trying to make it so the bearings can slide up and down to adjust balance (I've currently got a weight off an EQ mount stuck to the back of the primary support with magnets) as the new focuser, 50mm proper finder and RDF, coupled with the moving the mirror up the tube a couple of inches has put things out somewhat.

Everyone seems to have different experiences with the Darkstars (I'm guessing they couldThe mirror were refurbed by Galvoptics. Cost about £200.

We were thinking of the Skywatcher dual-speed crayford for ours.