Revelation12" Dobsonian.

[bomberbaz]

Have seen one on ebay and as I am thinking about getting a dob, wondered if anyone who has one can comment. How portable is it. I am going to have to go out to darker areas to do any serious viewing of DSO's and so portability is a must.

I dont think it is the weight as base a tube weigh in at around 25kg each, thats not that bad. Its more a case of how awkward would it be to move around.

Other than that, its a case of looking around for either an 8 or 10 inch instead.....

Steve.

[Daniel-K]

how bigs your car? 12inch solid tube is a beast but the views are worth the hassle my friend had one

[dtr42]

10" dob is do able but the 12" can be a bit big to lug about [my dob 10" fits just in a bmw 320 on the back seat the 12" wouldn't ]most people with the bigger scopes tend to use people carriers/small vans do you have a link [there's a 12" skywatcher but that is ota only so you would need to buy/ build a base or buy an eq6 or equivalent is it the one on astro buy and sell?

[John]

If you can handle the size and weight the views are superb. A 12" scope will provide a lifetimes observing. With the Revelations it's worth getting as much info on the condition of the mirrors and mirror coatings as you can - some of them were not overcoated very well and I've seen a few that needed re-coating earlier than would normally be expected.

I first saw spiral structure in the galaxy M51 with a 12" dob under dark skies

[Daniel-K]

Baz whats your budget, you need to ask your self what it is you want. something i should have done a long time ago on my 15th scope in 18 months . DObs are great for DSO's i have a 8" and a 16" both truly fantastic and would recommend them to any one

[Moonshane]

I could get my 16" f4 dob in my Rover 200 hatchback and if my wife brought a few things along in her car all my camping gear too.

a 12" f5 dob is very portable as long as you have only one passenger and a car as big or bigger than a golf. the base would actually be more trouble than the scope I suspect.

initially 12" dobs looks massive but after a while they don't seem so bad. the views are excellent at that aperture, especially from dark sites.

[Mike73]

Gets my vote...If the optics look in decent enough nick then a 12" dob is a great size scope for DSO's. Its where you start to resolve globular clusters and pick out spiral arms on galaxies.

Yep it will be a big lump but as long as your half fit and have an average size car then you wont have any problems transporting it to dark sites.

[bomberbaz]

Thanks a lot all of you for the input. I am quite a strong guy as I go to the gym regular, so I am not cocerned with weight really. My car is a Primera which is very big when folded seats down. Waiting for a response about the mirrors first though, thanks for the heads up on that one John.

So I am going to sleep on this one but I think a 12" dob it is if the reply is good.

Regards, Steve

[bomberbaz]

I could get my 16" f4 dob in my Rover 200 hatchback and if my wife brought a few things along in her car all my camping gear too.

only just read this and realised what you said. You managed a 16" dob!!!

How heavy was that, surely it was too heavy to handle. I dont know what your weight was but judging of what I can find out,it must have been a good 50kg+.

Steve

[Moonshane]

the tube weighs about 70lbs and the base about 30lbs so it's manageable (although I am sweating a bit afterwards). I am going to convert it to a truss dob next year sometime.

[bomberbaz]

the tube weighs about 70lbs and the base about 30lbs so it's manageable

Honestly thought it would be heavier than that, so not too bad then

[John]

Honestly thought it would be heavier than that, so not too bad then

Orion Optics tubes (which Shane's 16" has) are quite a bit lighter than their Skywatcher and Meade equivalents. The tube of my Meade Lightbridge 12" weighed close to 50lbs wheras the 12" Orion Optics F/5.3 tube which I've recently acquired weighs 35lbs.