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Flextube AUTO.

Theninjagecko

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James

James

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1. Slightly louder than an EQ6 when slewing but not by much. Virtually silent when tracking.

2. You can push it around manually to your hearts content and not worry about the tracking. If the tracking is already on it will just reengage once you stop pushing.

HTH

James

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Theninjagecko

Theninjagecko

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1. Slightly louder than an EQ6 when slewing but not by much. Virtually silent when tracking.

2. You can push it around manually to your hearts content and not worry about the tracking. If the tracking is already on it will just reengage once you stop pushing.

HTH

James

Kool, I thought it might damage the motors or something.

Here is a good question, Can the flextubes be EQ mounted later on? I see somespace there on the tube but not sure its enough to get some rings and tail on.

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James

James

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I'm not sure you can, the problem will be putting rings around the approximate centre of gravity of the OTA which may require a ring around the trussed area which would be impossible.

James

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Theninjagecko

Theninjagecko

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I'm not sure you can, the problem will be putting rings around the approximate centre of gravity of the OTA which may require a ring around the trussed area which would be impossible.

James

That's what i thought yeah. Thanks for your help James, much appreciated.

James, one reason I'm considering the flextube auto is I'm worried that the 300p might give the NEQ pro problems because of weight. Would the NEQ pro hold the 300p and my current mak 127 for guiding + 2 ccd cameras and have no problems with slippage etc?

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tinvek

tinvek

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presumably you could mount the two rings around the lower "half" and have the dovetail set so you could mount it on the mount higher up. obviously you'd need a very rigid dovetail but i'm sure arthur could come up with something

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James

James

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James, one reason I'm considering the flextube auto is I'm worried that the 300p might give the NEQ pro problems because of weight. Would the NEQ pro hold the 300p and my current mak 127 for guiding + 2 ccd cameras and have no problems with slippage etc?

The mount will hold that weight just fine in terms of slippage but I don't think I'd like to try imaging with that weight. Generally for imaging you want to underload the mount as much as you can. I know many image just fine with a 10" OTA (Yfronto is a good example on here) but I think a 12" Newt is pushing it too far.

Perhaps anyone on here who's managed to image successfully using a 12" Newtonian could let us know!?

James

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Theninjagecko

Theninjagecko

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The mount will hold that weight just fine in terms of slippage but I don't think I'd like to try imaging with that weight. Generally for imaging you want to underload the mount as much as you can. I know many image just fine with a 10" OTA (Yfronto is a good example on here) but I think a 12" Newt is pushing it too far.

Perhaps anyone on here who's managed to image successfully using a 12" Newtonian could let us know!?

James

Do you think id be better off with a 12 inch flextube auto for my planetary / lunar imaging, and then a eq5 pro + ed80 + my mak 127 for deepsky, the mak would have a focal reducer on and be used for guiding.

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Theninjagecko

Theninjagecko

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You should purchase the latest Sky at night magazine, it has a really great review of the scope and highly recommends it.

cheers

Neil

I see you have the normal version... Any good?. I will go buy the magazine tomorrow, how much is it?

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drummerp

drummerp

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I luckily purchased our scope from TJ from this site at a good price. If you shop arround you can pick one up used for under £500.

The views are incredible with this scope although I havent yet been to a really dark site. I'm hoping at the Salisbury star party it'll be really dark so we can really appreciate the optics of the scope. But since we purchased it we haven't been dissapointed.

It also collapses down very easy and can be put back up really well. Its a heavy scope including the base but i dont find it a problem moving it.

Cheers

Neil

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Theninjagecko

Theninjagecko

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I luckily purchased our scope from TJ from this site at a good price. If you shop arround you can pick one up used for under £500.

The views are incredible with this scope although I havent yet been to a really dark site. I'm hoping at the Salisbury star party it'll be really dark so we can really appreciate the optics of the scope. But since we purchased it we haven't been dissapointed.

It also collapses down very easy and can be put back up really well. Its a heavy scope including the base but i dont find it a problem moving it.

Cheers

Neil

Sounds awesom, you took any images with it ?

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drummerp

drummerp

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I'm hoping somone takes a motorised version to the Salisbury Star Party so I can see if its worth updated my manual Flextube in the future.

I haven't yet been able to take any images using the flextube I tend to use my other scope as it tracks quite accurately.

Cheers

Neil

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Theninjagecko

Theninjagecko

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I'm hoping somone takes a motorised version to the Salisbury Star Party so I can see if its worth updated my manual Flextube in the future.

I haven't yet been able to take any images using the flextube I tend to use my other scope as it tracks quite accurately.

Cheers

Neil

I recon it depends on if you do much hi mag observing? if yes then tracking would def be worth it.

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NickH

NickH

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It's also reviewed in depth, with images... in Astronomy Now...funnily enough :-),... and every single question asked is covered (including how loud it is)

Must be Sky at Night week :-)

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NickH

NickH

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That's the one...

I found,, that the trackign accuracy was critically related to the flatness and setup (flatness of the base/floor you put it on). I got some really good long tracks with it on a nice flat concrete floor...using a bubble level

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Theninjagecko

Theninjagecko

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That's the one...

I found,, that the trackign accuracy was critically related to the flatness and setup (flatness of the base/floor you put it on). I got some really good long tracks with it on a nice flat concrete floor...using a bubble level

Long as it would track with a 5x power mate so i could couple a dmk21 to it for planetary imaging i feel I'm 99% going to get the 12 version for my lunar/planetary imaging setup and my observing setup, kinda kill 2 birds with one stone.

My current mak 127 goto tracks pretty well, and as long as you put the az to 0 and point it roughly north it doesn't care where it is, I've had it tracking on some right funny floor angles lol.

I think skywatcher should have made the base so it has adjustments for getting it level.

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drummerp

drummerp

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I think skywatcher should have made the base so it has adjustments for getting it level.

I dont think it would take much to add some sort of adjustable feet to the bottom of these bases. Like these rigid-feet.gif from this website -- Plastic Feet, Adjustable Glides, Furniture Feet, Levelling Feet, Machine Feet, Tilting Adjusters and Conveyor Feet from UK suppliers Ross Handling Ltd.

Cheers

Neil

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