Skywatcher flextube 250 auto dobsonian

[s7eves]

Hi everyone,

First post so please be gentle

Ive been trying to find a supplier who has a skywatcher flextube 250 auto in stock but every where I look is stating either unavailable or discontinued, has the manufacturer stopped supplying this model ?

the only alternative that suits my budget is the Skywatcher flextube 250 manual or the Skywatcher flextube 200 auto, which of these would you consider the best in terms of veiwing, the bigger aperture of the 250 or the ability to track with the 200 auto?

Would realy appreciate your veiws to help me decide as I cant make my mind up which one to go for.

[SeedyF]

I was in your position at the end of Sep 2011. I made a long list of suppliers, compared cost and delivery of a range of dob scopes, settled on the 250 Flextube auto then tried to secure it. Massive FAIL. After much pressing I was able to find out that it had been discontinued in the UK at least. Nobody had one in stock, a couple of suppliers said they could get me one and when I asked them were they sure and they went away and checked and then returned to say actually they couldn't

I ended up extending my budget and getting the GOTO version. It's quite a leap in terms of budget from the 250 Flextube manual or the 200 auto. The 250 goto model is currently going for £915. So assuming budget is a big issue I guess it depends what you want to do with it. If tracking is important go for the 200 auto, it is nice to keep an object in the eyepiece and keep observing it as you try to see more detail. But the light gathering power of the 250 over the 200 is quite a jump as well so the 250 will simply give you access to more and better views of things.

Hope this helps a little

[Rob L]

the only alternative that suits my budget is the Skywatcher flextube 250 manual or the Skywatcher flextube 200 auto

The 250 manual in my opinion. Auto tracking is nice if you can afford it, but I wouldn't put it above aperture.

[s7eves]

Chris,

Thanks for the reply, I guess you can empathise with my problem as you went through the same thing last year,.......at least I am now in the knowledge that the 250 auto is no longer available and I realy appreciate you taking the time to inform me.

Perhaps the Skywatcher `POWERS THAT BE` realised that to upgrade a 250 auto to a GOTO could be done for around £200 (so ive been told) by replacing the hand controler, and as the 250 auto is around £400 cheaper than the goto version maybe (without sounding cinical) the sums didn`t quite add up for them to continue supplying the 250 auto.

I have only recently taken up the hobby and although budget is a consideration it isn`t the dominant factor, its just that if I purchased everything I fancied then it wouldn`t only be Greece that is in financial crisis .........The goto version at just over £900 does look tempting though.

I suppose I could try the second hand route but to be honest I don`t think I would have much sucsess as the 250 auto seems to be a popular choice to the lucky ones that have them and are definately keepers .

cheers. Steve

[s7eves]

Rob.

thanks for the advice, do you think that the 250 is that much better than 200 for visual only, at the moment i`ve not considered AP but I believe that dobs aren`t good at photography, although I don`t know about the auto/goto dobs.

cheers. Steve

[hemihaggis]

have you tried teleskopservice in germany ??

[Space Cowboy]

If you want to try webcam imaging of the Planets and Moon then the 200 auto is a must. Great images can be had from this combination. Its a great shame the auto 250 is no more because it was the best value for money scope out there. Love mine to death!

[Rob L]

Rob.

thanks for the advice, do you think that the 250 is that much better than 200 for visual only, at the moment i`ve not considered AP but I believe that dobs aren`t good at photography, although I don`t know about the auto/goto dobs.

cheers. Steve

I don't think there's a massive difference between the two visually, but personally I'd rather spend the difference on the bigger sized scope. (which is what I did about a year ago, when I had the same decision to make)

There are people on here that have done lunary/planetary photography with a dob and even some that have achieved results with dso's.

The auto tracking is useful at high magnification when your trying to keep a planet or a glob centred, but you do very quickly learn to "nudge".

I honestly think though, that the great thing about dobs is their simplicity, when you introduce tracking and goto functionality then an eq mount is better suited. (although I appreciate at a higher price)

For me a dob is all about cruising the sky and just pointing it where you like

[s7eves]

thanks for the replies guys,I did look at a German company but i`m not sure if it was the one mentioned above, they wanted 999 euros but to be honest I dont know if that includes delivery,I would prefer to buy in the uk from someone like FLO then you know that there wont be any problems, just a thought but is there anyway of modding a 250 manual to be able to track ?

[Tribal-Wolf]

Have you tried 365Astonomy? They said to me they could get a 200 and a 250 auto last week.

[s7eves]

Thanks tribal wolfe will give them a try, notice you have the 200 flextube auto, have you ever compared it to a 250 flextube ?

[Tribal-Wolf]

I was actually planning to buy a 200P classic dob but a friend had the auto and had only used it a couple of times and never took it out again so I bought it real cheap. I looked at buying a new one and did think about the 250 but just couldn't justify the extra cash and the extra weight was too much for me as I'm disabled too. The 200 is brilliant though and I would definitely recommend it.

[SeedyF]

Chris,

Perhaps the Skywatcher `POWERS THAT BE` realised that to upgrade a 250 auto to a GOTO could be done for around £200 (so ive been told) by replacing the hand controler, and as the 250 auto is around £400 cheaper than the goto version maybe (without sounding cinical) the sums didn`t quite add up for them to continue supplying the 250 auto.

That's the sound of the nail being hit squarely on the head, exactly what I was going to try too

[spider72]

Hi guys.

If somebody is still looking for Skywatcher Skyliner 250 FlexTube auto tracking than my colleague is selling one and he is looking for about 500 £ although scope is in Caitness.

PM me if interested and I will give you his contact details.

[brantuk]

If you can get the auto version new then the handset is upgradeable to goto - that's what I did with mine. But if you go second hand beware the current new models have upgraded motors and encoders which the earlier models didn't have.

[Tribal-Wolf]

What is the difference in the motors out of curiosity? Can you see it visually?

[brantuk]

Yep - the azimuth motor I've had to bits and not only is it smaller but it has a fair bit of play on the pinion - the gear meshes fine but the motor has to turn a little before it engages the teeth with the required force. This results in quite a bit of backlash at the aperture end. I'm left assuming the alt motor is the same but haven't stripped it down yet.

I've no experience of the newer motors but the encolosures are bigger and I did read somewhere that the motors are larger and stronger and presumably more positively engaged with the cogs.

[markryan]

Hi There,

I've recently bought a 200 Auto and I struggled to get hold of it. Got it from Teleskop-Express.de eventually and they were holding 2 in stock at the time. Not sure about the 250 Auto as I was never in the market for it

Re the question of apeture vs auto, horses for courses naturally but I'd take the auto. I've manual-tracked with my auto and at higher mags I don't think you get very much time with the object in the EP whereas a combination of tracking and a quick jump to manual and nudging the dob with the handset really works very well for me. It depends how long you spend setting it up too, a quick level and point to North is workable, but 5 more minutes getting it well set and an object will stabilise in the EP for a long time which to me gives a very satisfying experience and means you can nip off for a pee and come back to the object being there or there abouts! Nudging the dob with the handset gives very nice control too. I suppose there's an argument that tracking is like image stabilisation in a camera, on my camera it effectively adds an extra f-stop or two.

Good luck whichever you want to go for. I really have fallen in love with mine.

M.