Skywatcher 200P Dob Query....

[hairyscotsman]

Hi folks,

New to the forum although an "old hand" at astronomy, but I am just getting back to owning a scope after a number of years.

I have pretty much decided on the Skywatcher 200 dob as my "weapon" of choice but my question for those who already own (as I cannot get to a shop to try) is how much bending is required to view through the eyepiece?

Reason being is I have lower back issues and too much bending, etc. does make it v painful. Last time I looked through a dob was some 15+years ago and i think standing was pretty upright but in pix & other stuff on the internet it doesnt really give a clear idea & my memory is a bit fuzzy!!

Obviously I appreciate that if viewing anything towards the horizon I am going to need a seat but for "general" viewing of planets and other stuff at a reasonable altitude would appreciate views/thoughts as to comfort from perspective of a back sufferer.

Many thanks

[Paulus17]

Wel when i got my 200 dob it came with the standard straight through finder and a Telrad which i couldn't use either as i can't get down low enough in comfort to view through em.So i bought the Raci and that is a lot better.I have even tried raising the Telrad on the 4" high riser,home made version and it was still no good

Oh and i tried looking through a friends Rigel and found that difficult.

[knobby]

You will be bending a fair bit, some peeps are using pc chairs as they go up and down on gas struts quite easily

[knobby]

Just measured EP height on my 250px dob...

Its 48" high at its highest

30 ish " at its lowest

40 is " at around 45 degrees!

Very rough and unscientific buy it gives you an idea

The other thing peeps are doing is to sit the dob on a levelling stand of some sort to raise it ans make it ... levellable!

[umadog]

Just get yourself a chair and there'll be no bending at all. Do a Google search of "observing chair" and see what comes up. Get one with a seat that can be raised or lowered: it's *really* worth it. My seat can by at any height above the ground from about 6" to about 30".

[hairyscotsman]

Thanks for the info Sub Dwarf, very useful & much appreciated. I'll break out the meaure tape tonite and assess my options

[paul schofield]

+ 1 for using a seat all the time with my 200p. An adjustable height seat would be even better. The only contortion required will be looking through the straight through finder. This can be happily remedied with a Right Angled Correct Image finder if you can stretch the budget another £60 ish. The other option open to you is to stand the scope on a sturdy table for use while standing, but then placing the dob on a table probably would not help your back problem much.

[twotter]

Dodgy back? Me too, and I've had a chunk of spine removed to boot. I use a folding camping stool to sit on which puts EPs at a comfortable height for me to observe. The standard finder was quickly replaced with a simple red dot finder and has proved to be comfortable to use and easy to find targets with.

[brantuk]

A height adjustable ironing chair and a right angled correct image (raci) finder scope do the job for me with a 300P dob. I'm a back sufferer too and that's the best solution for me - hope it helps you too

[stargazer79]

I bought an ironing chair too, only £23 from amazon and it is the perfect height for a 200p

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[hairyscotsman]

Thanks to all for the excellent advice, looks like a chair on the shopping list. Although not sure about the ironing chair - may give the wife ideas of some assistance in that activity :-)