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8" Revelation Dob - Advice please

Rob

By Rob
in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups

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Rob

Rob

Posted
Posted

Thinking about buying a Revelation dob (8"). I may keep it on its base, however also thinking about buying some rings and mounting it on the modded EQ3 for planet / DSO imaging & viewing.

Can I have some feed back from those who own one?.

Cheers

Rob

:lol:

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FLO

FLO

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I have the 10" model on the original Dob mount (Gaz also has one but on a GEQ mount).

The GSO mirrors in the Revalation Dobs are remarkably good; the Crayford focuser is excellent. Some of the models use metal roller-bearings for the Azimuth movement; they tend too have too little resistance. If yours has them you might consider removing them and reverting back to the three Teflon pads (which are also factory-fitted, curiously). Some owners also cut several washers from a plastic milk-carton and fit them around the central bolt.

You might also find the springs that push against the mirror can be weak, which makes collimation fiddly (this is more a problem with the larger/heavier mirrors).

Don't let these comments put you off buying one; they are minor and easily fixed.

The Revelations are fantastic value.

Hope that helps,

Steve :lol:

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russ

russ

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Hi Rob,

At £199 the Revelation 8 is such a bargain, even if it didn't come with that superb crayford focuser and nice 9x50 finder.

I know when we spoke on the phone at lunch you had some serious issues with the Revelation after reading a few reviews. Been searching around myself and from what i can see, the basic jist of it is:

the optics are not bad, certainly good for low to medium power but they are not in the same league as the Orion XT range. But the Orion XT's cost a lot more and don't come with the nice accessories either.

the fan for cooling the primary mirror does more harm than good. Cools the central part of the mirror only, better leaving the mirror to air cool. Complete waste of space, pure gimmick.

some issues with the roller bearing which Steve pointed out.

Also the collimation issue on the 12" model.

The EQ3 will take the 8" but damp down times are going to be long. I can say that from experience having had the Skywatcher 8" on the EQ3. But you do have the added benefit of the HEQ5 tripod.

But thats it. At the end of the day you are getting a rebadged Hardin Dob for a fantastic price. Steve and Gaz love their scopes.

I still think they are a fantastic buy, would consider one myself for a visual deepsky scope.

Russ

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GazOC

GazOC

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I've never installed the fan, it's bang in the middle of the mirror and pretty near as well. I have no doubt it could cause problems.

It's not a bad high power scope (although aperture can hide a lot of faults), its just not it's forte but for the money they are bargains.

Have you got a link to the reviews?

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russ

russ

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Here you go Gaz:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.scagell/reviews/Revelation12.html

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/816964/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/345317/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/entryvotes.php?sectionid=12&entryid=533

The reviews on Excelsis are of the Hardin dobs which off course are the same. There's some very passionate people on their both in favour and not favour of the GSO dobs. On the 10" link they are almost coming to blows.

I would say that in typical Chinese/Taiwanese fashion quality varies which accounts for the wildly differing reviews.

I had an Orion XT10 myself but mine was an early example when Orion still sourced from GSO before their switch to Synta. My GSO example was real nice and that included reasonable powers on the planets.

Russ

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GazOC

GazOC

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The first guy is complaining that he can't use x400 on Jupiter!! :lol:. It was a pretty good review up until then.

I think a lot of the problem is that people are looking for a 'free lunch' and complain when a 10" scope costing £300 doesn't measure up to the premium stuff or try to justify why they've bought the premium stuff instead of saving themselves a bit of money.

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Rob

Rob

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Your quite right there Gaz. I just really want a light bucket for DSO to be honest!. I already have one of the best planet scopes out there (IMHO)

:lol:

Just then need a Sentinal 80 for grab n go and I'm sorted!! 8)

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FLO

FLO

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... the optics are not bad, certainly good for low to medium power but they are not in the same league as the Orion XT range.

If its Orion US, they use Synta (Skywatcher) mirrors - they used to use GSO. Having used both, I haven't seen anything to suggest Synta make a better mirror.

For observation, the EQ3 on the steel tripod is fine :lol:

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russ

russ

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The first guy is complaining that he can't use x400 on Jupiter!! . It was a pretty good review up until then.

I think a lot of the problem is that people are looking for a 'free lunch' and complain when a 10" scope costing £300 doesn't measure up to the premium stuff or try to justify why they've bought the premium stuff instead of saving themselves a bit of money.

Thats it entirely Gaz. The Revelations are perfect for what they were designed for. Just about the best value scopes around.

Russ

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