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Skyliner 12" dobsonian

MartinB

By MartinB
in Member Equipment Reviews

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MartinB

MartinB

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Having a big change of kit. As some of you will have seen my NS8 set up has now gone :D What a wonderful scope that has been. All my imaging is now going to be with my EM200 mount. The NS8 is being replaced by a Vixen VC200L. But I actually enjoy peering through telescopes and have chosen the Skyliner 12" dobsonian.

Ordered from First Light Optics last Wednesday and delivered Thursday. Got it home from work Friday night. 3 boxes - base, mirror cell and tube. The box for the tube looked like it contained a settee, it was huge. I was pretty worried I might have bitten off more than I could chew. Fortunately once all the packaging is stripped away it is a bit less intimidating.

Assembly was very straightforward even for someone as cack handed as me. All the tools and bolts are provided for the base and everything fitted together perfectly. The base has a solid handle at the front which makes lugging it to the observing location very easy.

Unwrapping the mirror cell is one of those unpleasant "this is all about to go horribly wrong" sort of moments but again no bother. A bit tricky getting the flexing tube around the mirror cell and best to recruit a bit of help. Not easy for me because Jackie was in a strong "that's rediculous what do you need something that size for, you always have to go over the top" state of disapproval. Anyway she helped me to line up the tube screw holes with those on the mirror cell and that was the OTA sorted.

Just a matter then of attaching the 9x50 finder which comes with the excellent synta bracket with the spring loaded screw. Also there is the Synta crayford which is a real plus.

I was relieved to find that I can carry the OTA very comfortably. Just cradle the upper section under one arm and grab the bottom of the ota with the other. Not too heavy at all, just clusy so watch out for steps and obstructions. Popping it onto the base is as easy as sitting down then just screw in the side handles. One of the side handles also acts a tensioner which makes it very simple to achieve the perfect tension in alt.

The collimation of the secondary was spot on leaving just a small tweak for the primary.

Movement of the ota on it's base is delightfully smooth. There is a bit of back movement which isn't a big deal.

The scope comes with a couple of Synta super plossls 25 and 10mm with a 52deg FOV. I have had a quick look through these and they seem like a perfectly competent pair of EPs which complement the scope well.

Well with the scope all set up, quite unbelievably it was a starry starry night :( I didn't have much time because of other commitments but was able to have a little scan around. Without go to and motors and tracking I feel as if someone has cut my umbilical cord :shock: Where's the handset :insects1:

Being used to an SCT and refractors the first thing that struck me was diffraction spikes and coma (using uwa eps). It will take my brain a while to switch off from these.

The seeing wasn't really good enough to enjoy good views of Mars. The double cluster looked sensational but it always does regardless of scope. Comet Holmes filled most of a Nagler 17mm EP and looked very impressive - I nearly called Jackie into the garden to have a look but thought better of it. M81 and 82 were a disappointment quite frankly - they are quite low in the sky in a bad area of LP for me. The 12" aperture scooped up all the LP very nicely so the views were really no better than I have had before with smaller scopes. M31 was well placed but couldn't say I saw any dust lanes.

The following evening confirmed what a good move buying this scope was. It wasn't yet dark but the moon was bright, frontal clouds were moving in and the forecast was grim. In 5 minutes I was set up on the lawn looking at the terminator through a Pentax 10mmxw. Now this was impressive. I can't tell you what I was looking at but it was good! Given that it wasn't properly dark I wasn't possible to judge contrast but the resolution was impressive despite only moderate seeing. This settled over the next 30mins allowing me to use a Pentax XL which pulled out more detail still. Sorry this is very vague but one of my plans it to learn what the hell I'm looking at when observing the moon. Then came the expected cloud but what an enjoyable half hour. Grab and go with diddy refractors has no appeal to me but this dob is another matter.

So tha plan is - lots of observing whilst the imaging set up does it's stuff. Learn the night sky and be able to hunt down messiers in a trice. Also get out for grab and go sessions when conditions aren't suitable or too transient for imaging.

Hopefully lots of oberving reports coming up :D

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CELESCOPE

CELESCOPE

Posted
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lol sounds like you enjoyed yourself Martin anyway, should be nice to relax and have agood look around , funny i started off with a dob for a year or so, ok to a point , but not for me , to be honest i found the gps 8 just as good , but anyway,hope you have fun ,and i bet i dont get an invite to your place ,Jackie must be well angered at me by now ,will she ever forgive me i wonder lol .

Rog

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MartinB

MartinB

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Welcome to the 'Dark Side' Martin... :(

Good to be here Gaz, got the telrad dusted down and put fresh batteries in

check out the Wixey, Martin.

Eh?

Nice one Martin, Steve's 300P was the main attraction at SGL3 and I did hear many 'oohs' and 'aahs' from people. Just don't get the base wet!

Does it go rusty? Or was it slugs?

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Whippy

Whippy

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The Skyliner's base is made from some kind of fibreboard (MDF?) and if the wood gets wet, it could swell up and render your dob mount useless. Get a paving slab or investigate some kind of waterproofing for it may be something to think about hombre.

Tony.

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markcol

markcol

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Good luck with the Dob Martin, nice review!

I've got no chance of getting anything that size -I'd be living in the shed with it, if I was lucky!

Perhaps a gradual introduction to some of the more spectacular sights over time may diminish the wife's hostility...

Regards

Mark

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  • 1 month later...
DanDare

DanDare

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Good review Martin,

There's some good reports on this dob and I'm getting tempted myself. However I've a few of questions if you don't mind.

Now that you've (hopefully!) had a bit more use are you still happy with it? Any gripes to speak of?

Just how was its moving the OTA? you say it was quite easy but as I'm getting on in years well, my half century was a few years ago :rolleyes:) and I would need to keep it in my garage so its in an out through the garage side door, up and down a step, a 35 footish lug across the garden, down three steps and viola I'm there :lol: (and back again once I'm finished with it).

Is Synta Chinese? I've got a particular aversion to buying anything Chinese at the moment!

regards

Roy

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  • 3 months later...
MartinB

MartinB

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Hmm, I'm a bit hazy now Martin. From what I recall the mirror cell unit is fully assembled. There is a cardboard cover for the mirror. Remove all the packaging and identify the small screw holes which will need to be lined up with the holes at the bottom of the tube. Carefully lower the tube onto the mirror cell. You really are best having 2 people to do this in order to properly line things up. line up the holes and insert screws. Job done (with a bit of luck!)

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