skywatcher 350p flextube

[astrokat]

this is my first review on the forum so i will do my best but may not be upto sratch..

ok... so the three large boxes arrived to day (big thanks to flo)

one with the tube one for the scope and lastly the flat pack base

my first impressions opening the largest of the three WOW this thing is huge, infact is a beast.

i opened the mirror next this was very well packaged and double boxed which is always a good thing

now here comes my only quibble after opening the mount and sorting bits in to some order on the floor i was finding it very very hard to folow the instuctions this was only to find that they had surplyed the 10 and 12" guide (never mind). after abit of fiddling about i finaly had the mount sorted. the design is very smart, if you want to dismatal it would be easy as they have used hand held knobs that screw together so no faffing around with allen keys.

the bearring surplyed is very smothe aswell

the flex tube it self is stunning very solid when extended with a nice paint finish,the design itself is well made it slides in to position with out any friction and clicks into place and then tightens with so nice crome fixings, the mirror was stright forward to fix in place no problems there.

im guessing it will be cloudy for awile now lol though i look forward to trying out and will add to this review my first light

overall so far i am really impressed with this bit of kit very well build with good design and it has been designed with transport in mind i would recomend this scope to anyone with what ive seen so far of this scope

thanks for reading

[astrokat]

[Hypernova]

A nice unboxing review Toby, that thing is a beast

I'd be interested in how well those little hand knobs hold the base together, they look much better than the allen key system used on the smaller dobs like mine and I guess ease of assembly and disassembly is essential when the base itself won't fit through many people's doors!!!

[Collyer911]

Hi astronaut I'm thinking of getting one of these how are you getting on with it?

[Collyer911]

Sorry astrokat, damn predictive txt!!!!

[nitram100]

Any first light reports on this? I would love to know what can be seen through a 14" scope.

[Mamsoth]

Any first light reports on this? I would love to know what can be seen through a 14" scope.

I second that. Ive just spent a bomb on an eq platform and an atik 2-hs so will just have to keep dreaming about a new dob (unless anyone could maybe give me their 18 inch obsession for nothing...yes?)

[astrokat]

hello guys ive only had out once due to weather and that was a full moon though with moon filter in place with 16mm and 7mm the moon was stunning very crisp veiw could see so so many craters and was a dream to use very smoth and easy to track subjects i will update soon as i can get out again

[Celestine]

How heavy is this wonderful scope for carrying to the car/ transport etc!!?? -Im no stranger to carrying loads of 25kg but only in the form of industrial bags and not sensitive scientific instruments!! Is there any sense of portability? I ask as I am considering a purchase!

Kind regards,

Adi.

[astrokat]

It's should be fine bud idont have any problems with getting it about takes about 20 min to set up from base to collimating so not bad I'm very pleased with the scope the views are cracking

[twotter]

I've always wondered how solid the three 'arms' are between the primary and secondary? They look quite fragile, though I'm sure they're not

[JamesC]

I'm sure the arms are similar to the ones on my 300p. They are solid. I have been using my scope regularly for 2.5 years now, still solid, no problems.