New Zhumell Z10 Dob Newb 1st Impression

[MarkVIIIMarc]

My Z10 arrived today.  I put it together following a video on Youtube, drug it out to take advantage of the last hour or two of somewhat clear skies for a couple days and I'm want to type in my first impressions for the other new folks wandering in.

It is BIG!  I was considering a Z8 and ended up with this.  I THINK I'll be able to move it in my Lincoln with no one else in it.

It was easy to put together base and all.  The video was great help.

The main tube cover sucks.  In shipping it got shoved in the OTA tube.  Had to use a shoe horn to free it and it somehow got pushed in there again.

The 90 degree finder scope is considerably easier to use than inline ones.  Now the finder gives a fuzzy image and is only lined up well enough for the wide view lens but I suspect I'll figure that out.

In my rookie opinion based on observations, my scope did not need collimated somehow as images looked sharp.  I will fool with the laser collimator during the cloudy couple days coming up to zero it in more.

Man there is a difference between the 30mm 2" and 9mm 1.25" eye piece fields of views!  The Orion Nebulae got cloud covered pretty quickly so I wasn't able to check it out but I did find Jupiter.  Man it scoots across the field of view quickly but even my 5 year old could see a couple cloud bands.

Thanks for your time and may you all have clear skies.

[Dave In Vermont]

That's a very good 'First Light' report - thank you!

Do take your time tending to the more subtle nuances of new-scope ownership - like sighting in your finder. Collimation and star-testing. You'll see. For first-time collimation, everyone goes through a state similar to an anxiety-attack! Fear not - no one's ever died from it! After this - it's like riding a bicycle. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about. As for this 'scope-cover' thing, I just keep my caps on and dust them off periodically. For outdoors, I use a blue roofer's tarp and cinder-blocks to weight it down - this when I'll be setting a behemoth up for several days at-a-time. You see these all over the map up here. They'll keep expensive gear clean and dry all-seasons - but I haul back in before winter.

Enjoy your Zhumell!

Dave

[rockystar]

if you are struggling to align the finder, you may have offset the mirrors - this is what i did on my first collimation - so the primary and secondary are aligned, but twisted a little bit, so they are not pointing straight out of the tube, which is why you can't align the finder. Maybe.s

have you collimated the laser collimator? If you twist it in the focuser, does the dot on the primary stay in the same location or does it draw a little circle?

[Putaendo Patrick]

Congratulations on the new scope. In terms of amateur astronomy, there really isn't much that 10 inches of aperture can't do!

[laudropb]

Very nice first scope. If the views through your finder are fuzzy, then perhaps it needs to be focused. There will be a mechanism to reach focus, but I am not familiar with your instrument, so can't help.

[Astro Imp]

Nice to read your report.

You really need to sort your finder out. First make sure it is focused, then align it during daylight.

As for collimation don't fiddle just for the sake of fiddling, do a star test and if all is well leave alone.

For a good overview of collimation Astro Baby's guide is well regarded. http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro babys collimation guide.htm

HTH and good luck.

[pjsmith_6198]

Congratulations on your new scope.   I've had my Z10 for almost 2 years now.  It's a great scope and I think you 
will have a lot of fun with it.    To focus the finder, you have to loosen the ring with the ridges on it then  screw the objective end in or out to get a sharp focus then tighten up the  ring that was loosened to lock in the focus.   Once you do that you never have to touch it.  

Once it's in focus it needs to be aligned to the telescope.  To align it first find something easy to find without the finder  such as the Moon. Get it centered in the eyepiece and look in the finder.  If it is not centered in the finder cross hairs,  play with the 2 adjustment screws until it is.

The laser collimator that came with my scope was badly out of collimation.   Before you use it to collimate your telescope, check
the collimator first.   If it needs adjustment,  you can do that with a 1.5mm hex wrench.    I would also get a Chesire Collimator and
a collimation cap as described in the link Alan posted.  That is excellent info.

My tube cover also sucks.   It just doesn't stay put.  If you find a solution for that ,let us know

Phil

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Thank you all for the tips and advice.

Tonight I brought the finder inside and was able to figure out both the focus and the allignment method.  Not the most obvious of focusing procedures.  Maybe I missed it in the instruction PDF. 

A good use for a stormy night!

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I read all sorts of message board questions about the finder over the last couple days so this update is really for all the Z8 and Z10 owners out there.  Had a chance to use the finder. 

The finder's method of focus is rather crude but once you figure out that stuck "reversing locking ring" will do wonders.  I swear I saw the Galilean moons with just the finder last night and got it alligned spot on for even my 9mm eyepiece. 

[Dave In Vermont]

It appears to be a GSO 8 X 50mm RACI finder-scope. Good! They're my favorite ones - I have 2. Once you have it focused for stars, planets, etc. - you won't need to re-focus it. Unless you also use it on terrestrial objects. A big Plus++ is it's an RACI. This will save you money on a chiropractor! A typical straight-thru finder supplied with most Dobs are an utter pain-in-the-neck. And the Nylon-bolts that position in the tube-rings are good as they are easy to micro-adjust in-the-field without causing vibrations to the object in your eyepiece.

I like 'em!

Enjoy your amazing new scope,

Dave