Buying a dobsonian telescope.

[merlinxlm]

Hi could any one give me some advice please. I'm thinking of buying a rigid tube dobsonian "SKYLINER-250PX "telescope later on this year. As I only have a pair of celestron Skymaster 15X70 binoculars. The reason behind buying a dobsonian is that I intend later on to buy an EQ-6 Mount and Skyscan, tripod. As I am interested in digital photography. Does anybody have any experience of doing such a conversion, if so what are the plus point's and draw back of such a conversion. Any help or advice very appreciated.

[marksward]

Sounds like a good plan. The scopes are pretty good. The EQ6 mount is very good, but (for me at least) a little overwhelming at first. The scope should fit straight on the EQ6 you will just need some scope rings. NOt sure if the mounts on the scope to sit in the Dob mount are in the way when trying to balance the scope on the EQ6 mount. But I'm sure they are simple to remove if they are. No doubt someone else can shout up to confirm.

[russ]

The blocks on the side shouldn't pose a problem as that is the balance point for the tube. You can move the dovetail to and fro to adjust the balance. The only problem i had with the blocks was twisting the tube in the rings. On rare occasions the eyepiece would be out of reach and i needed to twist the tube but couldn't because the blocks had snagged on the dovetail. No biggie though. Just undid the rings and lifted the tube past the dovetail.

In the end i found the EQ6 and 12" Newt combo too awkward to use. Better off with the 12" remaining as a dob and two smaller scopes on the EQ6 for the imaging.