Revelation 10" f/5 M-CRF Premium Dobsonian Telescope versus Skywatcher Skyliner 250PX Dobsonian Telescope

[Jimtheslim]

ok,

 

Having thought it all through I'm seriously considering upgrading/going for something different and come the end of the month could possibly stretch to buying one of the two above mentioned scopes. I am a fairly fit, back trouble free, man in his 30's who could cope with carrying a 10" in and out the garden.

Both are around the same price (£400), both the same size and similar focal ratio. Is there likely to be much difference or are many of these scopes at these prices made in the same factories? Can't find much on the Orion but I'm guessing that's because they are far outsold by Skywatchers. Anyone care to offer any horror stories/anecdotes/personal opinions on either of the above?

[rockystar]

The things that draw me towards the revelation are the dual speed focuser and the cooling fan, the declination pivot looks like it might also be better. Can't comment on the actual mirror, but I suspect they are very similar. It's also cheaper at telescope house, albeit out of stock!

I can't actually compare them, but these are the 2 I looked at (8" rather than 10") when I was looking to change and I was being drawn towards the Revelation, before I snapped up a skyliner second hand - I would have posted a very similar question though before I purchased new.

[Jimtheslim]

I bought a revelation dialetric diagonal for my frac and was pretty impressed with the difference over the cheap, stock one that came with it, hence I brought the revelation into the equation. It does seem to have a few extras that the skywatcher doesn't that you mention so wasn't sure if this was to the detriment of the optics/mirrors

[simmo39]

i have the 12" revelation, had it for about 18 months and find it brilliant as a quick set up and go scope (cooling aside, the fan helps a lot with that ) im in my fifties and although a bit of a weight to lug about its a fantastic scope. the 10" should be lighter and no probs to move.  One thing, you will need to change the primary mirror springs at some point as the ones in the scope are a bit soft and collimation can slip as a result. 

[rockystar]

good point, there must something about it that makes it nearly £50 cheaper - could be brand loyalty though. Skywatcher are well respected, revelation maybe trying to get into this space? I'm going to keep an eye on this thread though, so that if (when?) I upgrade, I can be well informed.

[Jimtheslim]

the two are the same price at Rother Valley Optics but the revelation comes with a 2' eyepiece and a plossl along with the cooling fan. The skywatcher would mean that I end up with another set if standard 1.25' 10 and 25mm eyepieces so the revelation is very tempting

[John]

It's good to see that RVO are stating that the 1/12th wave figure for the primary mirrors is RMS rather than leaving the purchasor to guess or assume (wrongly) that it's a Peak to Valley (PV) figure as some vendors have done in the past.

The 30mm Superview eyepiece and the 9mm plossl are better than the stock Skywatcher ones I agree, though the Superview is not really a "premium" 2" IMHO.

 

 

[todd8137]

Me I've seen the revelation stuff and the quality is rather shameful on some scopes I've seen ,a. cheap 10/1 focuser would not sway me nor,would the ep's ,the build,quality of the skywatchers is second to none compared to the revelation I no of two in a,club I attend they have had to fix things , I would say that the skywatchers are  better as there pretty hassle free ,the revalation stuff needed  bolts ect replacing  after a few uses  the secondary holder was very eye opening to say the least ,these may have been from a bad batch but I prefer the sky watcher ones ,

It simple to fit a PC fan to a dob ,and 10/1 focuser come up cheap all the time ,unless your planning to stick this on a tracking mount for,AP  or avi capture the standard focuser is fine ,these are just my views and my point of view so take what you will from it 

Pat

[Mark at Beaufort]

I had a 10" Skywatcher flextube which was very good quality. The focuser was replaced with a Moonlite and I also changed the secondary collimation screws. No complaints on the quality of the mirror or secondary. I sold it because I obtained an Orion VX8 f4.5.

A few months back I bought the Revelation 12" Dob from Telescope House. You might find this review complete with modifications that I made useful  -

I did not need to change the secondary collimation screws but I don't like using a screwdriver at the end of the scope. The same situation applied to the Skywatcher. I think the primary mirror springs are not the best on the Revelation which is why I changed them. I did not changed these on the Skywatcher. I have flocked the Revelation but I did the same with the Skywatcher.

There is always debate about the quality of the primary and secondary mirrors but all I can say is I cannot complain with either that I have bought.

Finally, the focuser on the Revelation is better and you have a fan on the primary. The 30mm EP is okay and better than the supplied Skywatcher EPs IMHO. The price is very similar and I suppose I would slightly lean towards the Revelation.

PS - I forgot to mention the balancing arrangement on the Revelation which is far superior to the Skywatcher system. With my 10" Skywatcher I had to place weights at the end of the tube to balance bigger EPs this does not happen with the Revelation.

 

 

[Jimtheslim]

3 hours ago, John said:

 

The 30mm Superview eyepiece and the 9mm plossl are better than the stock Skywatcher ones I agree, though the Superview is not really a "premium" 2" IMHO.

 

 

Yeah, I guessed these wouldn't be great, and I have a nice set of used Meade plossls already. I just picture myself ending up with two pairs of stock Skywatcher EPs.

The revalation states that the focuser has a 35mm extension 'for some eyepieces'. Does this mean that the revalation wouldn't necessarily take all 2" or 1.25" EPs? Is this the case with the Skywatcher?

I have read a few disparaging reviews of Revalation equipment, seemingly more so than Skywatchers but have no idea if it's the same proportionately. I would probably go for SW and 'play it safe' so to speak.

[Mark at Beaufort]

The Revelation 12"  comes with a 35mm extension tube. I have not used this tube with any of my EPs - that includes  the whole range of ES 82 degrees EPs plus my TeleVue 8-24 zoom.

[FenlandPaul]

Very happy 12" revelation owner here.  My eyes are probably the limiting factor so the scope is great for DSOs and I'm not even as fastidious as I should be about collimation.  The 2" Superview is fine, but I actually prefer the view in my 32mm 1.25" Revelation Plossl.  The focusser is beautifully smooth and precise.  It's a good scope and I imagine the 10" is similarly well made for the budget.  The Flextubes also feel great though.

Basically you'll have oodles of fun with either!

P

[John]

I think some of the "bad press" for the Revelation dobs came from the 1st generation that were sold a few years back now. These seemed to have either no or very poor quality mirror overcoatings which caused the aluminised surface to degrade a lot quicker than would normally be expected. There are still examples of these around and I've seen and read about quite a few of them on here where the owners have needed to have their mirrors re-coated after just a couple of years use.

Similar issues seem to be prevelent in other GSO made scopes of that era as well (eg: Meade Lightbridges). I'm pretty confident that the overcoatings on the GSO mirrors used in the current generation of Revelations are good now.

 

 

[avtaram]

I've had my Revelation 12" Dob for two years now and it's been kept in the summer house during this time.

The mirror does dew up during the cold weather but I have not noticed any problems with the mirror at all, it still looks like when I first got the scope. The Dob base still looks like new and is very smooth in alt/az movement, the dual speed focuser is nice and solid and a joy to use.

Avtar