Skywatcher or Explore Scientific Dob?

[Jon Sales]

Thinking of joining the Dobson Brigade.

Thisnisnbecause half the time from my location I can't 3-star alighn my Skywatcher Mak as I can't see the guide stars in different parts of the sky.

Alsombecause of what my fiancee said the other night to me "It's a clear night just a shame the scope takes so long to set up"

This has has me looking at scopes to plonk outside the door and push around the sky.

Budget for scope is £300 plus I'll buy a laser collimator as an extra.

So should I buy the Skywatcher 200 Dob or the same size Explore Scientific one?

Bearing in mind the price difference is only a few pounds.

[russ.will]

There isn't an ES Dob for £300, so that may solve that issue! Go you mean the GSO Dob?

i'd also buy a good old Cheshire collimator rather than a cheap laser. I've had a few of those and none were worth it and you can't collimate the secondary mirror with a laser anyway.

Russell

[YKSE]

Thinking of joining the Dobson Brigade.

Thisnisnbecause half the time from my location I can't 3-star alighn my Skywatcher Mak as I can't see the guide stars in different parts of the sky.

A bit off topic, still I'd like to give my 2 cents about alignment.

I tried a couple of times of 3-star align in my backyard, not a single time it worked, just as it happens to you.

Nowadays, I do only 2-star align, it usually can be done in less than 20 minutes, for precision under 30" both in Dec and RA, while the scope is cooling. Then I just need to slew to the different objects for viewing.

[ronin]

In support of what Yong says the 3 star alignment seems a little suspect and the 2 star align is reported as much more successful. If you can see Polaris it may be worth finding out if you have the polaris alignment option buried in the setup options.

You also need a wide a field of view through the eyepiece as is possible, I bought a 40mm plossl for this aspect alone. You do not need a good eyepiece just a wide one. Equally I tend to use the small refractor as it is much easier to align - with a 25mm BST I get 4.25 degree view, easy to find anything with that.

Can you not just tell it to pick another alignment star(s)?

[Jon Sales]

I can do 2 star and 3 star no problem from a dark site. Its just my location that lets the alignment procedure down.

Thats why I've been thinking about the Dob for a quick nudge round the sky and leave the Mak for dark sites.