Review for Explore Scientific Ultra Light Dobsonian 305mm

[sisko7]

I have tested the Scope 7~8 times in all seasons and all kinds of light pollution, even during partial cloudiness. This one is MAGNIFICENT, far better than I expected. Great contrast and light gathering power for nebulae. In my experience is by far better than Meade Lightbridge 16", I'm not kidding. Now I wonder what was wrong with that 16" mirror. My experience up until now with dobsonians was only with that 16" Meade and I can only compare my new scope only with that one.

As far as nebulae I have for first time seen them in such clarity and contrast with no filters at all. And when you apply some UHC or OIII filters than you get some great contrast and sometimes additional detail that were not visible with the Meade. In those brighter nebulae you can see them shining. I was even joking that you’ll need ND filter for them. You could really notice the details even in fainter diffuse nebulae like Trifid nebula even Pac-man nebula.

About stars and double stars at first I had some difficulties to collimate it properly because there was no center marker on the primary mirror, but when I inserted one with a sticker, than I had no problem collimating and resolving Double-double in Lyrae and Beta Mon. And all those ruby red carbon stars and red supergiant stars are blood red, like cars tail lights.

As far as planets goes, on Saturn you can easily see the Cassini division (6mm e-p), on Jupiter you can see the GRS (10 mm e-p), but when observing Venus I had annoying diffraction cross from the spider, something that I never saw on the 16" Meade while observing Venus. So I might say that when observing bright stars and Venus the diffraction cross was noticeable. I still haven’t opportunity to observe Mars. Uranus and Neptune are pale blue dots.

For observing the Moon it was magnificent no matter what kind of eyepieces or magnification I was using. And I have used a double polarized filter to dim its brightness, which I recommend for the Moon, Venus and even for gas giants.

I have only regular eyepieces, nothing fancy with wide viewing angles, no naglers. This means as soon as I can, I’ll purchase some nice eyepiece with 100° fov or more, that is first thing on my list. Those e-ps are usually half the price of the scope.

And again, back to nebulae. All of the planetaries are great: Ring; Dumbbell; Eskimo; Cat’s eye; Helix (OIII); even the one in M46 was great. And NGC 6572 in Ophiuchus which is visible in turquoise-greenish tint, my scope never loses that color even at x250 magnification, and with the Meade it starts losing color even at x140 magnification.

All the diffuse molecular clouds are magnificent: Orion; Lagoon; Eagle; Omega, Hubble variable, there are some nice new ones that I never observed like Pac-man which is nice with OIII.

All of the galaxies are great: Bode (M81-82), Whirlpool, Needle, Black-eye, Leo triplet, Sculptor, not to mention Andromeda with M32 and M110 in same fov with 40 mm e-p. And you can easily notice two dark parallel spiral arms in Andromeda, on the Meade they were visible only with averted vision. Also in Whirlpool are visible the bright spirals, but they were visible even on the Meade.

M1 was great with UHC, Rosette is great with OIII and 40mm e-p, I had difficulties for the Veil but I think it’s the OIII filter because it is photographic version and that’s why is a lot dimmer compared to the filter I used with the Meade, the same problem for Crescent nebula. I will try again on next occasion in summer.

Open star clusters were great on 40mm eyepiece. I just think that globular clusters were on par with the 16" Meade, I don't know why maybe bad eyepieces, maybe you don’t need light gathering power for globulars which makes sense.

The red dot finder is stupid, I use it on its maximum position so it’s very difficult to make fine adjustments. But maybe I'll fix a green laser on the scope, or even buy a new red dot or a telrad. Green laser is not welcome at star parties

This scope is very portable and very compact for transport, very, very quick for assembling. You can put it together all by yourself, which is not the case with the great and massive Meade. And what is the most unusual it almost never loses collimation, or maybe you need only minor corrections. The same is with the red dot, very rarely you need readjustment. You just assemble it in 5~6 minutes and shoot at the stars!

When I got it, it had some loose screws here and there, but nothing serious. I had some trouble with the focuser, it was wobbly. So I unscrew it, rotated it 15 degrees and screw it back again, maybe that was the most serious problem, but I resolved it quickly. The stray light cover is attached with four velcro pads which are not well sticked to the cover, so some times they come off. I never needed to turn on the fans, I never had problem with the dew. No other issues in the past 10 months.

I’m really amazed by this scope, far better than I expected. At first I taught it will be temporary until I save more money for the ES 16". But now I don’t think I’ll be buying a new one, this one is GREAT and compact. I love it!

[sisko7]

I have bought this scope from Bulgaria. I have waited about 3 weeks for the parcel to arrive.

Site here>

http://www.astronom-bg.com/teleskopi/explore-scientific/explore-scientific-ultra-light-dobsonian-305mm-detail

[laudropb]

Very good review. Sounds like you have found a winner. Keeping collimating is a real bonus.

[sisko7]

Yes, I always check the collimation though The primary mirror is standing free and it's only glued to a strap with the basis. And I guess the aluminum frame is rigid enough not to have any deformations.

[niallk]

Nice review - glad the scope is performing well! Congrats

[Paul73]

Great review. And. Fantastic that you are happy with your scope.

It looks as if ES may have sorted some of the teething/quality issues.

Paul