Explore Scientific 305mm (12") Ultra Light Dobsonian

[John]

Thats a positive response from the supplier Russell 

I've seen the 10" mentioned on the Cloudynights forum but thats the only place (apart from your post above !).

[russ.will]

Interesting that is slated to be only 4kg lighter than the 12". Thankfully, it is F5, rather than the bizarrely popular F4.7 that abounds at this aperture. Either way, if it's nearly eight inches shorter than the 12", it's going to be hard on the knees....

Russell

[IanWatkins]

English manual is available on their site now as a PDF.

Cheers

Ian

[russ.will]

Okay, Tassilo has clarified the couple of things mentioned above.

1. It was always planned that the ES Dobs would ship with a 35mm extension tube for the focuser. I must confess to having had no in/outward travel issues, but my EP lineup may be particularly friendly to the ES Dobs for obvious reasons!

2. It was also always planned that the Dobs would ship with a battery box to power the fan. I don't have details of how this would fit, or what sort of batteries (8xAA or rechargeable pack, for instance) but for me at least, a little extra weight at the rear would be handy.

As and when these are available, Dobs will ship with these items automatically. Current owners will be sent them FOC.

Russell

[IanWatkins]

Nice, thanks for sharing Russ. That second point has answered a question I was about to email to them, so saved me the effort. 

Cheers

Ian

[FLO]

Poor customer service will be from the RETAILER not the manufacturer. If your retailer of Skywatcher made you wait 6 months for a part - then you should be moving your purchase away from that RETAILER, not avoiding Skywatcher.

it was OVL that failed to get the part.

They sold me it direct, but I had to wait for it to be loaded on a container, along with their quarterly stock order. I couldn't get any dealer interested, including FLO.

To be fair Russell, we didn't supply your Skywatcher telescope 

Are you sure it was sold to you direct? I understand from your previous posts it was made from parts but even so it is unusual for OVL to sell direct, they normally appoint a retailer. 

Regarding Explore Scientific. There are some changes happening at ES that might make it easier for us UK retailers to offer their products at competitive prices. If that happens we will consider stocking ES products but until then I think it best we watch from the sidelines. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[russ.will]

The OTA plus potential GOTO base never materialised and I bought my example off UKABS and collected it from Connisbrough.

OVL sold me the board direct and they sent me it on receipt of my cheque, without waiting for it to clear. That was very good of them.

You may not have sold me the 300p, but I have bought other stuff from you before and since, so I don't see your point. It's one that is hardly likely to make me look favourably on you in the future.

It must be a slow day if you can trawl my old posts. Do you not have some awkward sales enquiries you could help with instead?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[FLO]

I don't remember being asked to supply a part for your 300p Flextube but it would have been a long time ago and if we declined then it was probably because we believed another retailer had sold you a telescope built from two faulty telescopes. Considering the circumstances we probably felt it was best they provide the necessary after-sales service. 

And to be fair, I have resisted commenting in your other threads where you attack Skywatcher. It was only when you mentioned us I thought it okay to post 

Steve

[IanWatkins]

Steve,

If you do decide to stock these and other ES products, that would make me happy (I emailed FLO with a similar question a few days ago). I would just be happier buying from a) the UK and from a retailer I trust. That's assuming you can get into a position where you can offer the same products for similar prices.

I'm in the market for a big dob in the coming months, and portability is high on my wants, so this scope meets my needs and is within budget.

Cheers

Ian

[russ.will]

I don't remember being asked to supply a part for your 300p Flextube but it would have been a long time ago and if we declined then it was probably because we believed another retailer had sold you a telescope built from two faulty telescopes. Considering the circumstances we probably felt it was best they provide the necessary after-sales service. 

And to be fair, I have resisted commenting in your other threads where you attack Skywatcher. It was only when you mentioned us I thought it okay to post 

Steve

It wasn't as long ago as the post you managed to trawl up and why not defend SW in an SW thread? Surely an open discussion about the pros AND cons of a product are best served on IT'S home ground.

Just to defend the other dealer - Scope 'n' Skies in this instance - None of what was proposed involved faulty parts. They take (or used to) a lot of the excess items OVL get from Synta. The offer was thus for a fully warrantied scope, but at a reduced price, the cost being my patience. In the end, the bases didn't materialize and I bought a second hand one.The faulty board was as a result of my own idiocy in plugging a cable into the wrong port, as I posted at the time. 

To be fair, I only mentioned you because you are held up as a paragon of customer service excellence and my experience of your service would mirror exactly that. This incident was one exception, which by your own hand, you admit making an assumption without asking any further questions. No matter, because if you had sold me a new FlexTube "GOTO", you'd have got it back under trade descriptions! As a second hand buyer, I was forced to try and make the blinkin thing actually perform and as you can see in that link, I was just as vocal about it's shortcomings when I owned one. That was knowing that such posting could have stuffed my resale chances, so it's not like I was protecting my vested interests....

So I am not attacking Skywatcher, simply pointing out my direct experiences of their products and that not all aspects of their products are sweetness and light. The number of threads on this very forum and proliferation of aftermarket modifications dedicated to their scopes and mounts, attests to the fact that whilst the basics are right, much of the mechanical side needs a lot of owner input to get it to work as promised.  Is it wrong to point that out to future owners and provide a bit of balance? I may be one voice in ten, but at least the potential owner will not sit there thinking he must be mechanically inept and the only one that was disappointed.

Likewise, I am not attacking ES who, I note, you are not so keen to defend - I am yet again pointing out my direct experiences of ownership of the product and the ups/downs this may entail. As before, it was my money, my scope and I'm entitled to my opinion of it. I will, in further posts, say how it all panned out again in the interest of disseminating accurate information. What others choose to make of it, is up to them. 

Russell

PS: Glad to see you've got Telrads back in stock.

[russ.will]

Steve,

If you do decide to stock these and other ES products, that would make me happy (I emailed FLO with a similar question a few days ago). I would just be happier buying from a) the UK and from a retailer I trust. That's assuming you can get into a position where you can offer the same products for similar prices.

I'm in the market for a big dob in the coming months, and portability is high on my wants, so this scope meets my needs and is within budget.

Cheers

Ian

It is already possible to buy from a UK dealer at prices very comparable to ES.eu and that includes Maxvison EPs.

Russell

[FLO]

It wasn't as long ago as the post you managed to trawl up and why not defend SW in an SW thread? Surely an open discussion about the pros AND cons of a product are best served on IT'S home ground.

I found your email requesting a spare part. We received it back in May 2012, only three weeks after your post. We probably noticed we hadn't supplied the telescope then saw your post here at SGL saying a competitor had built it from two faulty ones. That probably made us nervous 

I only posted here because you mentioned us and Skywatcher and I thought it fair to say your experience is atypical. 

(Please don't think I spent ages 'trawling' through your old posts. The SGL search facility is very effective. I simply searched for posts made by you using the word 'flextube'. It took less than a minute). 

Is it wrong to point that out to future owners and provide a bit of balance?

No, of course not   Members posting about their experience with astro kit is one of the forum's strengths 

Likewise, I am not attacking ES who, I note, you are not so keen to defend

We are not currently an ES dealer and I haven't used the telescope reviewed in this thread so am not in a position to comment either way. But I am familiar with ES eyepieces and am impressed. 

PS: Glad to see you've got Telrads back in stock. 

So are we

I am finding your pictures and comments on the new telescope very interesting so please don't let me be a distraction

Steve

[russ.will]

I came home today, to find a box almost as massive as that which contained the entire Dob, sitting in the hall. Inside, was a complete new mirror cell and mirror in it's box, surrounded by enough packing to wrap myself in.* ES clearly weren't taking any chances with this shipment.

Tassilo had suggested that if I suffered any residual astigmatism with the current mirror in a new cell, then they would send me a new mirror too, which I was happy enough with. I didn't know that a mirror could be damaged in this way - essentially from one shock - so it appears they decided to play safe, cut their and my losses and send me a new mirror anyway. Cool.

Also in the box was the 23mm extension tube and battery pack for the fans.

The battery back is a straight 8x D cell in fabric case with strap affair, with a very long, unswitched cord. Presumably with this amount of battery, ES are expecting you to plug it in and leave it on for a long time, because I can't imagine the fans can draw much power.

The 35mm extension tube has an undercut, rather than taper, plus a nice wide brass compression ring with a pair of good sized thumb screws. Some won't like the lacquered bare metal at the top, but I do.

Now all I need is a clear night to test out my fully sorted scope. Fat chance.

Russell

No, i'm not going to prove this - but it was a LOT.

[SnakeyJ]

Good support from TS and Tassilo on this Russ.   Hope the new mirror and cell perform - the weather looks pretty good at my end of the land, so hope conditions improve and you get some fine conditions this week for a decent look.

[IanWatkins]

That's a good outcome, please report back on performance.

I also notice the 16" has just dropped nearly £100 in the past week.

Cheers

Ian

[jcaz3]

• Any chance you could post a photo of them packed away?  thanks from a potential buyer...

[russ.will]

A quick update. I haven't tested the original mirror in the new cell to see if it suffers any residual astigmatism from the transit trauma, but the new one is absolutely spot on. Really nice tight stars that are so easy to tweak back to perfection over a session, because of that ever-so-handy front colimatiion rod.

I can't wait to try this out without the moon, but a quicky session last night gave me one of the best views of Saturn I've ever had. Nice clear Cassini division and gentle banding with little pin [removed word] moons, even though it was all too low to be viewed comfortably.

That remains my one bugbear with this scope - The EP position, but now all the fundamentals are sorted, that will be next on the list.

Russell

[russ.will]

• Any chance you could post a photo of them packed away?  thanks from a potential buyer...

Yes - I'll try and do it tomorrow night.

Is there anything you'd like included in the picture for scale?

Russell

[IanWatkins]

An elephant. African, mature male.

Failing that, a loaf of white, medium, sliced bread.

[jcaz3]

Nice! thanks, I think the rocker is 18"x18"x12" so that should help scale;  Just wishing we had there here in US but not till August... Thanks again.

[astrorg]

It would be nice to see what it is capable of imaging, possibly imaging the same night with 2 this telescope and another to see the difference in crispness!

Just a thought.

I have read the 16" is 42Kg - a bit heavy for a guy getting older!

;p ]

I think I've probably hijacked Tom's (earth titan) thread enough. So I thought I'd post some piccies, along with my trials and tribulations of owning this scope.  For the moment, lets do the pictures: