Stellalyra 8” Dobsonian Telescope: A Comparative Hands On Review

[great_bear]

On 10/11/2022 at 14:11, Louis D said:

these GSO scopes have been available under multiple other brands for years.

Yes, I have the Telescope House one, under their Revelation brand.

I found that when the correct balance position and tension is dialled in, no magnets are required for balancing, regardless of what eyepiece is used (note that Delos are the heaviest that I use). I did upgrade to the (now standard) RACI finder but went back to the straight-through finder. I operate this scope sat next to it and in this position straight-through is much more intuitive to use and doesn’t seem to cause me any neck strain.

The only extra thing I bought was a (very expensive) shoulder bag (Orion USA) for the OTA. I agree a handle would be a better (and cheaper!) option, although I suspect the shoulder bag could help avoid condensation when bringing into the house but proving that, would be a Schrödinger’s Cat exercise 🙂

I bought the scope for use at the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers’ meetings because I discovered only Dobs can withstand the breeze at The Hub in Regent’s Park and give rock-steady views. Experienced and new stargazers alike never fail to be taken aback at how startlingly good the views are through this scope - it has a fine mirror. 
 

Edited November 19, 2022 by great_bear

[great_bear]

Oh, one other thing for those who decide to use magnets, if you don’t want to stick anything on the scope, you could wrap a magnet in sticky-backed foam, as I did with this one I use on my 150PL (note also the thick red rubber-band as a handgrip) This is the size of a large bar of soap, and I have used it for many years now:

[bosun21]

5 hours ago, great_bear said:

Yes, I have the Telescope House one, under their Revelation brand.

I found that when the correct balance position and tension is dialled in, no magnets are required for balancing, regardless of what eyepiece is used (note that Delos are the heaviest that I use). I did upgrade to the (now standard) RACI finder but went back to the straight-through finder. I operate this scope sat next to it and in this position straight-through is much more intuitive to use and doesn’t seem to cause me any neck strain.

The only extra thing I bought was a (very expensive) shoulder bag (Orion USA) for the OTA. I agree a handle would be a better (and cheaper!) option, although I suspect the shoulder bag could help avoid condensation when bringing into the house but proving that, would be a Schrödinger’s Cat exercise 🙂

I bought the scope for use at the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers’ meetings because I discovered only Dobs can withstand the breeze at The Hub in Regent’s Park and give rock-steady views. Experienced and new stargazers alike never fail to be taken aback at how startlingly good the views are through this scope - it has a fine mirror. 
 

Not so for me. I also have the Starsense unit and a RQ on mine and when I add my phone and a Baader Morpheus into the equation it most definitely needs a counterweight.

[great_bear]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

Not so for me. I also have the Starsense unit and a RQ on mine and when I add my phone and a Baader Morpheus into the equation it most definitely needs a counterweight.

Do you mean that you’ve reached the end of travel for the adjustment? - or that the difference between your lightest and heaviest loads is too great?

[bosun21]

I have reached the end of the adjustment for the fulcrum point and I cannot reach balance with the additional items i have mounted. It will hold position only if I tighten the sides to excess, but this makes any movement erratic. 
PS- There’s also the triple finder bracket I forgot to mention.

Edited November 19, 2022 by bosun21
Typo

[great_bear]

28 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I have reached the end of the adjustment for the fulcrum point

Ah OK - I was referring to balancing between lightest and heaviest loads. 

But I do see how you’ve reached the absolute limit. Looking at mine there’s only about 15mm of adjustment left, which wouldn’t allow much more than the load I’ve got. Easy to fix by counterbalancing but it is indeed surprising that they didn’t provide for a at least a bit more travel on that adjuster.  

[bosun21]

1 minute ago, great_bear said:

Ah OK - I was referring to balancing between lightest and heaviest loads. 

But I do see how you’ve reached the absolute limit. Looking at mine there’s only about 15mm of adjustment left, which wouldn’t allow much more than the load I’ve got. Easy to fix by counterbalancing but it is indeed surprising that they didn’t provide for a at least a bit more travel on that adjuster.  

Yes I agree, but I suppose at the end of the day they are all made to a target budget. I’m very happy with the scope otherwise.

[Louis D]

To allow for more downward/backward adjustment range, the rocker box side height might have to be increased to allow the tube to clear at the bottom.  They may have deemed the range enough for most users.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Louis D

[great_bear]

On 20/11/2022 at 03:52, Louis D said:

To allow for more downward/backward adjustment range, the rocker box side height might have to be increased to allow the tube to clear at the bottom.  They may have deemed the range enough for most users.

Perhaps - and it's certainly the case that the size and operation of the scope is - in its current configuration - perfect for outreach; the height of the rocker box is such that children old enough to look through a scope will find it the right height, and adults can use a regular stool and be able to bend down or straighten up and look through the eyepiece at all elevations without requiring the seat to be adjustable in any way.

It's the most physically-comfortable scope set-up that I've got.

[Daveviney4]

What an excellent write up , I'm currently looking at buying a new scope but I've not had one for quite a while and trying to get my 9 year old into the hobby .I've been looking at goto scopes mainly the sky watcher star discovery 150 WiFi but I'm not sure it will give me the views that I'm after and would prefer something bigger so also been looking at dobs , reason for the goto is just ease of finding stuff and preventing the 9 year old getting bored .I think I'm ok at the basics though so now thinking the stellalyra would be a much better purchase 

[cajen2]

44 minutes ago, Daveviney4 said:

What an excellent write up , I'm currently looking at buying a new scope but I've not had one for quite a while and trying to get my 9 year old into the hobby .I've been looking at goto scopes mainly the sky watcher star discovery 150 WiFi but I'm not sure it will give me the views that I'm after and would prefer something bigger so also been looking at dobs , reason for the goto is just ease of finding stuff and preventing the 9 year old getting bored .I think I'm ok at the basics though so now thinking the stellalyra would be a much better purchase 

Yes, the SL 8" is a great dob - I have one myself. If you want a push-to system, making it easier to find stuff, also consider the Celestron Starsense Explorer range:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-starsense-explorer-series/cel_starsense_exp_8_dob.html