FIRST LIGHT: Skyliner Flextube 350p

[Stargazer_00]

First Light Report of the Skywatcher Skyliner 350p Flextube (manual)

I managed to get the new 350p Flex Tube out last night for the first time since I received it on Saturday (not too long to wait). I saw on the weather last night that there was going to be clear skies from 9 o clock onwards. I knew that this time of year it wasn’t going to get proper “astro” dark until 1am or later and that the moon would be out and full by then and that I needed work in the morning so accepted that the session would have to be conducted under twilight conditions at best and was more of a test run to get a feel for the scope, practice setup etc. I had yet to get the scope to focus on anything as it would not come to focus on anything I can see during the day (due to fences and surrounding houses nothing from my garden is visible further away than 2-300 feet).

Set up first. This scope is obviously large and heavy. I had it set up inside the shed so I took the OTA off and put it on the shed floor (carpeted). I then took the panels (side, front and other side) off the turntable base as a single object, so I left the 3 panels stuck together to save time completely breaking it down to 4 pieces. The screws which allow the base to be taken apart and rebuilt are a little small for my hands and the holes in the base which your hands have to work are also a little cramped and prone to skinning your knuckles, so be warned! I then carried out the turntable to the lawn then carried out the panel section. I found it a bit of a pain to try and get the screws into the holes of the turntable as there is nothing to align the panels to in terms of position. You have to wiggle it and sort of hit and hope in a way on the first one and the second one. Once you have 2 (any 2) secured you are good to go on the rest as it’s all held in alignment then. After this was done I fetched the OTA, plonked it on the base and collimated it. Collimation was out by a tiny bit on the primary as expected. Total setup time from opening the shed to collimation was less than 10 minutes, probably closer to 8. Half of this was spent faffing around trying to screw the base part to the turntable part. Hardly difficult or a lengthy process in reality.

Once set up the scope literally dominated the space. I have a large garden by modern standards but from being used to seeing my 250px on the lawn (what I thought was at the time quite large) compared to this it put a massive grin on my face. I couldn’t wait to get an eyepiece in it!

The only thing in the sky at this point was Saturn as I couldn’t even see the brighter stars. It was very bright still (I’m sure you all feel my pain here). I got Saturn into the finder scope and then saw it in the eyepiece and set about trying to focus it. I could not get the scope to focus with a 1.25” eyepiece in a 35mm extension which is the same measurement as the extension that is provided with the scope. This leads me to believe that out of the box this scope would not find focus with it’s supplied equipment. Very odd. Thankfully I have other scopes and plenty of options. I grabbed a 50mm extension off of another scope and put this in with a 2” to 1.25” converter from my Meade diagonal which adds a further 8-10mm. All my 1.25” eyepieces come to focus in this configuration with about 20mm more back focus to play with, so I’m not hard up against the limit of travel on the focuser. My other 2” eyepieces come to focus fine in the 50mm extension on it’s own with a reasonable amount of back focus still available.

Ergonomically the scope is really nice to use. Much higher off the ground at mid elevation (40-60 degrees) than the 250px so you are still seated but more comfortable. At and close to zenith the scope is close to being visible at standing and depending on your height you may well be able to look into the eyepiece directly. I’m 6 foot more or less (possibly slightly over) and at this point the eyepiece is an inch or two lower than my eye line at standing so I can spread my legs wide to lower my eyeline or crane my neck down to meet the eyepiece. Neither works for extended viewing so I raised my adjustable seat (Mey stool from FLO) to maximum elevation and perched on it. The stool provides enough height that I can rest my weight on it at any eyepiece position although the higher the stool gets the less stable it becomes. It was more than sufficient to allow me to rest my weight and view for extended time.

The scope itself moves really well with the provided bearings. Smooth in both axes. It feels tail heavy even with my 24mm Meade UWA (which is a good 1kg+) so I’m not going to have to worry about counter balancing heavy eyepieces, quite the opposite in fact which is nice. I actually applied tension on the handle to prevent the tail end dropping rather than the nose.

In terms of views it wouldn’t really be fair to post anything here about the views because it wasn’t dark it was twilight. I pointed it at a bright star (Arcturus) and I was surprised how bright it was. You can really see the magnitude difference between stars a lot more with a larger aperture. This was an unexpected wow moment, I was likely “blimey, how bright is that!”. In any scope you can see these bright stars easily apart from their neighbours at the eyepiece but in this scope they are incandescent by comparison! I noticed a lot more colour in the fainter stars than I have become used to. Many more red/ blues / whites and gradients of them all are visible where I’d become more used to seeing an occasional red or blue star and most white.

Saturn looked good but seeing was very poor. For some moments it came into view, sharp and my jaw hit the floor. I can’t wait to get a good night of seeing and visit our other solar system objects. I am now getting much more magnification out of my eyepieces due to an increase in focal length from 1200mm to 1650mm. This made me feel like I now need an 8mm and a 10mm to fill the gaps between my 6.7mm, 8.8mm and 11mm. Delos is calling. I probably need a 6mm too in fairness as my only 6mm is a BGO. Considering it’s still twilight at the point I’m viewing I managed to very clearly see M13 and M57, very clearly. I could barely even see the bright star near M13 to find it by eye to give an indication of the sky brightness. I had to rely on averted vision looking at the sky to get and idea where to look and then scanned the area with my finder scope and eventually found it. This scope, I am utterly convinced, will blow me away when I actually look through it in the dark. By this time the moon had started to show itself and it was 11 o clock (still twilight!) and I decided that the moon was going to wash out whatever the fading twilight was leaving behind so I packed up.

The pack up… well I took the OTA off and carried it to the shed. I then looked at the base and thought, do I really want to take that apart and rebuild it? I should just try carrying the whole thing. So I bent down, grabbed a handle on each side and lifted the whole thing as one object (using my legs to lift and leaning backwards). The handles are in a good position to keep the load well spread across your back and legs and it made it a really easy lift/carry. It went right through the shed door with an inch or two on each side of clearance. I put it down and loaded the OTA back on it and covered it up. This will be how I set it up from now on which means it will take the same amount of set up time as my 250px, less than a minute each way! Arguably grab and go

I’ll follow up with a second light or a full on review of the scope when I’ve had a good few runs on proper dark skies with it but suffice to say the scope does not disappoint in any shape or form and I am as pleased as punch.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Glad you got your first light so soon. Looking forward to the full review

[Stargazer_00]

Thanks Michael. I'll probably hold off on the review until Orion comes back. It should be proper dark then and all the best things I enjoy are around.

[faulksy]

so pleased you managed first light so quick even though the skies arnt dark, but a nice trial run, look forward to hearing your next report,

[Stargazer_00]

It was really impressive even in twilight. I was able to see the ring nebula while it was still basically light outside. Clearly as well. The time was about 10-10:15 so look out the window tonight around this time and you'll see how bright it was. I could see it as clearly as you can see it in your avatar but with a brigther background

M13 showed loads of stars as well. I even saw whisps of M51 and that part of the sky was even more lit!

On Saturn I could see many more moons than I have done in my 250px. I usually see 3 or 4 and I'm sure I saw 5 or 6 very clearly and some odd object below it a ways off which may be another one, I'm not sure. I had my highest power eyepiece in at one point and swung the scope to Saturn. I centred it in the finder and looked in the eyepiece and saw a disc but no rings. I was perplexed thinking the seeing was masking it somehow so I went in and out of focus and the disc stayed as disc but no rings. Odd. Then I realised looking in the finderscope that I was not centered on saturn (must have nudged the scope by accident) and I was in fact looking at one of it's moons! I have never seen any of it's moons before as a disc, only point sources. Awesome

[faulksy]

It was really impressive even in twilight. I was able to see the ring nebula while it was still basically light outside. Clearly as well. The time was about 10-10:15 so look out the window tonight around this time and you'll see how bright it was. I could see it as clearly as you can see it in your avatar but with a brigther background

M13 showed loads of stars as well. I even saw whisps of M51 and that part of the sky was even more lit!

On Saturn I could see many more moons than I have done in my 250px. I usually see 3 or 4 and I'm sure I saw 5 or 6 very clearly and some odd object below it a ways off which may be another one, I'm not sure. I had my highest power eyepiece in at one point and swung the scope to Saturn. I centred it in the finder and looked in the eyepiece and saw a disc but no rings. I was perplexed thinking the seeing was masking it somehow so I went in and out of focus and the disc stayed as disc but no rings. Odd. Then I realised looking in the finderscope that I was not centered on saturn (must have nudged the scope by accident) and I was in fact looking at one of it's moons! I have never seen any of it's moons before as a disc, only point sources. Awesome

as you say graham awesome, got me thinking again

[Moonshane]

the most astonishing thing about your report is that you have a carpeted shed! I knew you'd love the scope. by the way, big dobs are just light buckets so what on Earth do you think you are doing looking at planets. dobs cannot do planets surely when you get views of dark skies and faint objects it will seriously impress you.

enjoy!

[Stargazer_00]

I like to keep the scopes well looked after. They each have their own little cover and a nice off cut of carpet I had left over seemed to be just the right size to cover the shed floor. Funny thing is we got the shed because our other one was too small, this is a 6x8 foot one (the other one is a 6x4 and full of gardening stuff). I have since claimed the entiure shed for my own. I told the wife if she wanted anything stored it goes in the small one or we get another shed. That's it.

[Naemeth]

It was bright last night wasn't it!? Even at 2:00am...

It sounds like you had fun, looking forward to a report from a dark sky when it is a bit darker .

Funny thing is we got the shed because our other one was too small, this is a 6x8 foot one (the other one is a 6x4 and full of gardening stuff). I have since claimed the entiure shed for my own. I told the wife if she wanted anything stored it goes in the small one or we get another shed. That's it.

Put the idea of an observatory in there, that way your OH can store whatever she wants in the shed, and you can store the scopes in the observatory .

[Damo636]

Nice report Graham, glad you managed to first light the beast, even though conditions were less than optimal. Orion will knock your socks off in a few months time! I remember viewing it for the first time with my 12" (upgraded from an 8"), truly awe inspiring! Looking forward to the full review :-)

[vlebo]

So good to hear you have the scope of your dreams. Good luck and look forward to the next report. How did you find lifting and maneouvering the base as a whole piece? is it manageable ?

[Stargazer_00]

Thanks I find it really easy and I'm not strong in my opinion. About 30kg base I'd say. easy to carry because it has a handle on both sides. smaller dobs have one handke centrally so when carried you are not spreading the load well. I used to pull my back carrying the small base of my 250 but this one is 3 times heavier and no issue what so ever. all because the load is easier to spread.

[swamp thing]

Nice one Graham.

Very nice report. You won't need to wait for orion buddy, check out the veil, omega, lagoon, and triffid nebulae for some great views once it gets just a wee bit darker. They'll be massive hits along with all the summer globs.

Enjoy

[John]

Great stuff Graham - it's a good feeling to put some starlight through a new scope

Look forward to more reports from you on your sessions with your new light bucket. As the darker evenings draw in you are in for some treats

[Stargazer_00]

[Luke]

Good write up! Result that you don't have to disassemble the base.

[mdstuart]

Great report..looking forward to my 14 inch even more now.

I am going to get a new shed as well..that might cost more than the scope!

Will be interested in a comparison of the view of fuzzies in the 10 v 14..

Enjoy

Mark

Sent from my BlackBerry 9320 using Tapatalk

[scarp15]

Very informative account regarding this scope, which does not appear to have any in depth review. A good indicator for anyone wishing to go with a 350 flex as opposed to the 300. It would appear to be ideally suited for primarily observing from home, with perhsps occasional forays on trips to dark sky locations / star parties. This sets it aside from the 300 flex, which is quite manageable as primarily a portable instrument.

Look foraward to follow up reviews.

[Stargazer_00]

I'm planning on writing a lot about this scope. I found nothing about it to read when I wanted to but it so in due course I will correct that. If anyone stumbles across anything I write and wants to ask a question please pm me

[Stargazer_00]

I took some photos at lunch because the sun was out and made for a good opportunity. I'll probably reuse these in whatever review I write later.

Firstly setup time.

I managed to get from this (3 packed scopes in a shed)

To this (all 3 set up) in 6 minutes (I timed it to see)!!

From left to right:

• Skywatcher Explorer 150p on an AZ4 set up with legs at shortest setting (I use it like a dob, seated)
  
• Skywatcher Skyliner 250px (solid tube)
  
• Skywatcher Skyliner 350p (flex tube)
  

You could argue my entire is shed is grab and go based on the setup time.

[Moonshane]

You could argue my entire is shed is grab and go based on the setup time.

that's my kind of thinking!

[swamp thing]

Like the last comparison photo Graham. The 14" is a pretty compact little package isn't it?

Looks like it could use a light baffle on the front end of the scope on the side opposite the focuser, or is it just the pic that makes it look this way?

[Rustysplit]

Graham, great first report. As Steve has said, the nebs in Sagittarius are a fantastic sight in a decent size dob. I was amazed when I saw the Swan( Omega ) for the first time in my 14" the other week.

Looking forward to more reports as you get used to it.

[Stargazer_00]

Looks like it could use a light baffle on the front end of the scope on the side opposite the focuser, or is it just the pic that makes it look this way?

I was thinking this too. The focuser is closer to the top lip than the other two scopes. I'll see how it performs in practice. I have an astrozap coat for the central part on it's way as there is no way I'm going to expect serious views from it in a light pollution area without a coat. I'll have a good think about how I can make a half tube baffle for the opposite side of the focuser.

The focuser itself will be going west almost immediately as well I expect, for a Moonlite CR-2. I don't really like the feel of this focuser. the kn-obs are too close to the tube and I find my fingers getting jammed between scope and kn-obs often already. It also binds on each rotation but I'm sure that can be corrected with grub screws. I'm basically going to pimp the scope quite alot. I'd like to try and get a good review of it in it's box fresh state first though so I can actually give sound experiential advice. Then it's pimp my scope time.

Can you also see a large difference between the finders on the 14 compared to the 10? Both are supposedly 9x50s. The one on the 10" came with it, the one on the 6" is my RACI for the 14" which is waiting for my Rigel QF to turn up (which it did after this photo was taken) so that'll go over to the 14" and the one on the 14" which looks huge will move across to the 6" as those are the 2 scopes I'm intending to keep long term. The 10" is on gardening leave at the moment, probably until september/october until I'm satisfied it was served as a benchmark for comparison for me to see the upgrade I've gotten and also for the review. I doubt I'm going to be in a position this often where I have this range of scopes. I could probably argue to keep the 10" for a lot longer, if not permanently but given how easy the 14" is to set up I can't think of any time I'd go for the 10" over the 14". The 6" has it's own place forever as it was my first scope, it offers lovely wide views almost an RFT, it's on an AZ4 so can be used standing and is small enough for me to tote around with me very easily. Also it's white light solar is good with a full aperture filter.

[Stargazer_00]

Graham, great first report. As Steve has said, the nebs in Sagittarius are a fantastic sight in a decent size dob. I was amazed when I saw the Swan( Omega ) for the first time in my 14" the other week.

Looking forward to more reports as you get used to it.

Sag literally doesn't come into view for me as my house is in the way Lots of messiers in there I'll probably never see without venturing out.