wow its arrived and bigger than i thought.

[astrofox]

My first real purchase was the Celestron C8N on a GG5. Like you I just went wow when I assembled it and it nearly touched the ceiling.

[dtr42]

i thought the 200 on an eq 5 was big then a mate put his 250 on an eq6 even bigger and last night seen a 14" flextube goto and that is a monster .frightend to imagine a 16" or that 22" that was on the forum last week they need seperate garage to keep them in. good luck with the new scope in 4 weeks you'll be thinking about the chance of an upsize

[sparkyjon]

I havent managed to get it in the garden yet but between me and the wife. Me telling her what to do and her doing it i mean lol... We got it upstairs to the big back window in the spare room and i managed all of five minutes last night before the clouds took over. Not classing it as my first light but i did have a peak a rigel which was the only star i could angle my scope at. At least i think it was rigel bright blue and very twinkly..

I've gotten used to it already. Anyone selling a 12" newt lol just kidding. I can't wait to get

[sparkyjon]

Out and use it properly...

Sorry split post touch screen phones

[lestergibson]

Like everyone says, you won't be sorry mate - nice pull. One of my mates refers to my 200p as the 'barrack buster'....... a slightly un-pc joke for that Norn Iron folk will get. Hope the ankle gets better soon.

[MikeMc]

The size of a 200 put me off reflectors looking instead to SCT or MAK for the f ratio on planets but really want to look/photo DSOs too. My first choice was a 200 but I also need to think about taking it out & the collimating too.

In the end I may settle for a 150 dps or 150 pro MAK (skywatcher) but I would love to see your results on a 200, clear skies!!!

[sparkyjon]

Collimatimg is easy mike trust me Im usless at following instructional videos because the pretty scopes distract me lol. But i got a laser collimator and its so easy.

There's loads of videos on YouTube for laser and standard collimating i found laser to be easier but i guess its horses for courses

I'll check each time now as part of set up when i eventually get it outside with an 8" you've got a good half hour cool down time anyway so things like that will help with time passing before i can geta a good look at what's up there.

[yesteryeargames]

How heavy is it with the wooden base ,

[yesteryeargames]

Talking about them arriving mine was send on Wednesday by fed ex , should I expect delivery today ? What times do fed ex deliver from ? Thanks

[lestergibson]

How heavy is it with the wooden base ,

If you're talking about the 200p dob, it's 33kg all in.

[SnakeyJ]

Missed the start of this thread, but glad to see this has all arrived in good order - Hope that the tendon heals sufficiently for you to take it out in to the back garden or yard very soon and that it will all fit in the car for the trip home to Wales

Jake

[sparkyjon]

unfortunately as much as i like it and after long discussions with the wife and about it and the future the 200p wont be staying , it's not the OTA as such it's more the EQ mount, as i said in the original post it was alot bigger than i expected and for what i want it's no good..

i have decided to sell it and buy two smaller scopes a 150p dobsonian which will be easier to fight with that the EQ-5 and a heritage virtuoso 90mm mak auto-trak... we have this plan to build the summer house at the top of the garden with power so i can hook up the virtuoso to the web cam and laptop and do some planetary imaging and at the same time a bit of star hoping with the 150p..and i think my wife wants to do some gazing now to.

i should have looked at the set up in a shop before buying it really..

and if one newbie learns from my mistake then it's a job well done lol..

[stevetynant]

Thats a shame Jon but storing your gear is a really important aspect of this hobby - if the wifes not happy neither will you be. Personally I think Dobs take a lot less room to score then EQ mounted scopes but if your building yourself a summer house ( / winter observatory) hopefully you won't have that problem in the future. I've got my 200p in a wardrobe upstairs out of the way with all my other observing gear- never hear a murmur from the Wife - and I don't get to say that about a lot of things I can tell you.

[sparkyjon]

The dobsonian bases look so much easier to handle for now, and in any case when the summer house is built i think i'll be putting a pier on the concrete slab eventually so i could get a bigger OTA in the future..and i can store all scopes up there then... guess a burglar alarm will be part of the install

i think i've tried to run before i can walk (no broken ankle pun intended) i need to take it slow there's plenty of time to uprgade in the future i'm sure the world or universe wont end just yet.. i think the 150p will satisfy my DSO needs and the little mak will be great for planetary webcam imaging and in doing it this way we can both star gaze and i can decide what i want to concentrate my upgrades on

the wife makes more sense than me i just want big n bad lol..when she explains something it makes so much more sense, dont tell her i ever said that if you ever meet her though please..

[Carbon Brush]

Sorry to hear you are having to let the 200P & EQ5 go.

Is it reasonable to leave the mount/tripod assembled within easy reach of the garden?

If not, after the first few times, mount assembly is 5 minutes. Bits of masking tape on the counterweight shaft can be used to mark balance points. You don't need accurate polar alignment for visual.

I would really regret letting my 200P go. Superb DSO scope that takes loads of magnification for planets, when the sky is up for it.

But I'm not struggling with a dodgy ankle.

There was (maybe still there) a 90mm Mak with EQ(small) mount on ABS.

Cheap enough to allow you to put the 200P in storage for a while?

Good luck with whatever you choose and keep us updated.

[laser_jock99]

If you thought an 200mm (8") scope was big- here's a 200mm F6 besides a 300mm (12") F4 .......

[JAG007]

That's a shame you are letting the scope go. I am sure you will enjoy the other 2 when you get them. I am still thinking what to get, I want to see more scopes before I commit to buy. Let us know how you geton with the other 2 scopes.

John

[nephilim]

Shame you have to let it go mate, I got my 200p/EQ5 on Friday & while very happy with it, I didnt realise it would be THAT big haha, but its staying & my girlfriend loves it. To get an idea of the size of the thing, here's a pic of it next to my 130m/EQ2 BIG difference for only a 70mm gain

[JD75]

It is a bit of a beast. Mine is now set up by the patio doors and every time I walk by I wonder who docked Hubble in my dining room.

Shame you're letting it go but I hope you get on great with the new scopes.

[sparkyjon]

Yeah there is a lot going on in my house at the moment as we have also just passed the fostering panel so we are waiting for a placement that could happen at any time and both spare rooms (one which used to be my man cave) lol have now been turned into bedrooms.

So my set up has had to collapsed and put under our bed at the moment as we need as much space as possible so it would be a nightmare if we have to set up it up each time.

I think if i buy those two scopes the 150p on a dob will give me A tidy size aperture and the little mac can be useful for the misses and if any of the foster kids want to use it that'll be great for them you never know it could make a difference to them having something like that to occupy their time. .

Long term plans are summer house top end of the garden as i have a 11x11 concrete base that was here when we bought the place a 7x7 corner summer house giving a nice space for a pier to be made. and eventually and no doubt in a few more years bigger and bigger scopes lol.

[munro]

There is a lot to be said trying to contact a local club before you buy a scope. Unfortunately there are so few shops around nowadays selling scopes its very difficult to see before you buy

[sparkyjon]

Your right mate its hard. I did want to get to the local meet before buying but with had weather cancelling it and me being 1: impatient and 2: an ebay bargain came up, i hit buy now without thinking about it lol.

The one thing that's come out of this is i can now gauge the size of any future upgrades thanks to pictures that have been put up in recent threads plenty of 8" against 12" and bigger pictures to judge and i don't think Im going to lose money on the deal..

Trust me to learn a lesson the hard way john (jaguarxjsport) your doing it the right way take your time and choose wisely.

[the bishop]

Hi

re:

" Yeah there is a lot going on in my house at the moment as we have also just passed the fostering panel so we are waiting for a placement

that could happen at any time and both spare rooms have now been turned into bedrooms."

i think what you are going to be doing is fantastic well done!

Sorry to hear re scope as yes space is always a problem, but hey get that mansion at the bottom of the garden sorted and off you go again

and who knows your astronomy passion could well inspire and be a real help for the kids!!

best of luck

gra

[sparkyjon]

Hi

re:

" Yeah there is a lot going on in my house at the moment as we have also just passed the fostering panel so we are waiting for a placement

that could happen at any time and both spare rooms have now been turned into bedrooms."

i think what you are going to be doing is fantastic well done!

Sorry to hear re scope as yes space is always a problem, but hey get that mansion at the bottom of the garden sorted and off you go again

and who knows your astronomy passion could well inspire and be a real help for the kids!!

best of luck

gra

cheers gra I'm sure it will all come good eventually..

[skir]

Well my scope arrived today and even though I'd looked at pictures in this thread I still wasn't quite prepared for the size of it! Unfortunately it's missing the bracket to connect the finder scope to the ota which means I can't get on with checking collimation, aligning and using it. Ah well its cloudy anyway!