First light skyliner flextube 250 Dob

[Karen]

IT is a Sky watcher Skyliner Flextube 10 inch Dobsonian.

I carried this heavy beast outside in two parts. There is no way I could have carried it fully assembled without risking a nasty injury or damage to the 'scope. Future owners be aware.

So about 8pm I was ready give it a test. Firstly I needed to align the finderscope so after a lot of nudging and "gunsighting" along the tube I managed to get Jupiter in the 13 mm Hyperion.Then tried to align the finderscope on jupiter but couldn't because the mounting bracket had not been screwed on straight. So after a bit of headscratching I got out the screwdriver and slackened of the fixing screws, tiddled the bracket round a bit, retightened and then aligned the finderscope.

I then did a star test and found the collimation to be spot on.Then had a look at a few easy to find objects.Firstly Jupiter again.The banding and moons were clearly visible although I have had better views with the 127 mak.Then I swung over to The Orion nebula which looked really stunning, big bright and clear.Then had a look at the Pleiades again very bright and clear.

Then I decided to change the 21mm hyperion to 2inch and have a look at the double cluster. After a few minutes of swapping adaptors etc I tried to get the Double Cluster but suddenly all stars looked very dim in the eyepiece. After a bit of investigating to find the reason I found the secondary mirror was dewed up. In fact it looked like ice! So game over until I get some dew shielding and a shroud to go around the truss.

I need to improve the azimuth movement on the mount with car wax or extra washers or something because it is very jerky. Overall I am very pleased so far and am looking forward to many nights of object hunting. Aperture fever is totally cured for me because there is no way I would get anything bigger than this!

[CJBooth]

That looks ace, congrats on the first use!

There were cracking skies over the East Midlands last night weren't there?

You have the same problem I do, the secondary dewing up in minutes...

[John]

Nice report !.

As well as a light shroud around the truss poles, you could add a dew shield to the top of the scope. As well as combating dew on the secondary this will stop stray light getting into the top of the tube which should increase contrast.

I feel there is no advantage to using the Hyperions in 2" mode - they are 1.25" eyepieces when all is said and done. Removing the lower barrel and lens assembly gives you a rather mediocre 22mm focal length which won't be well corrected for use in an F/4.7 scope.

[Karen]

That looks ace, congrats on the first use!

There were cracking skies over the East Midlands last night weren't there?

You have the same problem I do, the secondary dewing up in minutes...

Yes a lovely clear night, I must be blessed, new equipment and no clouds! It looks like the same tonight.

[Karen]

Nice report !.

As well as a light shroud around the truss poles, you could add a dew shield to the top of the scope. As well as combating dew on the secondary this will stop stray light getting into the top of the tube which should increase contrast.

I feel there is no advantage to using the Hyperions in 2" mode - they are 1.25" eyepieces when all is said and done. Removing the lower barrel and lens assembly gives you a rather mediocre 22mm focal length which won't be well corrected for use in an F/4.7 scope.

Thanks John,

I will have to buy a lot of camping mat.

I have a 21mm hyperion which changes to 32mm in 2 inch mode so I was hoping to get good widefield views of open clusters.

[John]

...I have a 21mm hyperion which changes to 32mm in 2 inch mode so I was hoping to get good widefield views of open clusters.

Nice idea but it does not really work. The Hyperion becomes a rather average 22mm eyepiece when the lower lens / barrel is removed. It will show lots of astigmatism with your F/4.7 scope.

[jabberwocky]

im looking at this for my next scope, you say it needs to be carried outside in 2 pieces, how easy is it to reassemble once outside? does the base fit through a standard patio door? what is the base diameter?

i guess my dilema is aperture vs portability

how much heavier or more awkward is it than the 200?

no point buying the 250 and then finding i cant be bothered with it a lot of the time

[Karen]

im looking at this for my next scope, you say it needs to be carried outside in 2 pieces, how easy is it to reassemble once outside? does the base fit through a standard patio door? what is the base diameter?

i guess my dilema is aperture vs portability

how much heavier or more awkward is it than the 200?

no point buying the 250 and then finding i cant be bothered with it a lot of the time

The base is 50cm diameter and will easily go throug a patio door.

It is possible to carry it fully assembled but in my case only a few feet. A big healthy man would probably have no problem. I only have to move mine about 30 feet outside the doors in two pieces. Moving it hundreds of feet or down flights of stairs would be no fun at all!

I have no idea how much heavier it is than the 200 dob.

Assembling the 'scope to the base is simplicity. Just lower the tube vertically onto the base and screw in the two pivot handles. It takes less than a minute.

Hope that helps.

[GazK]

I also have this scope and have been living with it for 16 months. A truss shroud will solve your dew problems, I haven't had the secondary dew up once and I dont have an extension shroud. You're right about the AZ bearing, I tried cheap solutions but last summer bit the bullet and bought an ebony star ring from teleskop-service.de and some new virgin teflon. The difference was amazing and for £40 I now have a scope that moves with no stiction but doesn't swing in the slightest breeze like a lazy susan bearing might. I also found a telrad and an erect finder each made a step-change improvement in the useability of the scope. At its heart it has good easy to collimate optics and thats the main thing.

I have seen some marvellous things with mine and I'm only just getting started. You will too.

[bish]

I've got the solid tube 10" and had under a dark sky for the first time last month. Excellent scope.