Is the Skyliner-200p Auto any good?

[Dil]

I'm considering buying my first 'real' scope and fancy the skyliner, but do I need auto-tracking or not? I'm not really interested in photography at the moment...just looking at all the pretty things up there will do for now!

Any advice etc would be more than welcome as I don't want to waste my hard-earned cash!

[russ]

The tracking of the Auto is certainly a good asset for planetary viewing. But having used a couple of Autos now, there is a lot of friction from the motors which makes moving the scope a bit of a chore.

I can certainly see the appeal but given the choice i prefer it plain.

[brantuk]

Hi Dil - the benefit of auto tracking with a dob is that you don't have to constantly nudge it - the object tracks in the eyepiece and mine will stay on target for a good 30 mins+. Being alt/az a dob will be no good for photography anything more than short exposures - most likely of planets.

The big thing with dobs is that you get very good value for money - they are probably the best £'s per aperture inch available and smashing for gathering light and seeing pretty things.

However - don't expect anything like the images you see in mags, tv, or web. Those are taken with long exposure on eq mounts. What you'll get with a dob will mostly be black/white and greys. The only colour will come from planets and some double stars.

Hope that helps

[Carl M]

Hi Dil, welcome to SGL, I have the skyliner 200P normal on just a dob mount without the goto and I must say it is a very good scope for the price. Like brantuk says EQ mounts are better for photography however, If you plan on imaging planets or the moon you can buy a webcam pretty cheap from morganscomputers and a nosepiece both for about 20 odd quid Cheap Philips SPC880 webcam - 49269 - discounts & offers . If you have anything over windows XP you will need to have it flashed to run on vista/windows 7.

In the future you can always upgrade to an EQ mount if you wish to do long exposure photography for DSO's.

Hope that helps a bit

Carl

[Dil]

Thanks guys...I'm certain that I want a dob, but still debating over the auto part

[brantuk]

One other thing - very few dobs are perfect out of the box - there's nearly allways some modification you'll want to do. E.g. balancing the tube, smoothing out the axes, fitting a telrad or raci, dual speed focuser upgrade, dealing with backlash (particularly on auto's), levelling feet, etc to name but a few.

I'd recommend an AZ setting circle and a Wixey for accurate object finding

[russ]

Thanks guys...I'm certain that I want a dob, but still debating over the auto part

If you don't want to nudge the scope to keep objects centered, especially planets, it's a no brainer.

It's just not as nice as a standard dob for swinging around the sky. But that may be just a small price to pay.

[Space Cowboy]

Price wise its more a comparison between the 200 auto and 250 manual. If your not bothered about imaging the planets and moon (200 auto will be very good) then I would go for the 250 manual.

Here is a image of Jupiter taken with my 250 auto and philips webcam :

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-planetary/124652-jupiter-jan-9th-auto-flextube-dob-250-a.html

[martyh]

I dont even have a telescope yet, but these are the sort of images that are giving me itchy feet. Nice image

[Yeoman]

I bought the 250px manual version rather than the auto, less to go wrong, better views etc and with my iphone sky walk app I have no problem finding things in the sky.

A manual will hold its used/resale value better also I think as there is nothing to go wrong.

Apparently the auto and goto ones are good but I went for better views, I just look on the iphone to see whats there then I can just take it outside the patio door and have a look then pop it back in againi in a few minutes, the auto and goto I think take a fair bit of setting up each time.

[Dil]

I'm thinking that perhaps I might get the manual version, then I will have spare cash to buy gadgets with.

[bcfcciderhead]

go for the manual and spend the extra cash on some EP's, 32mm will be good for deep space views and a telrad finder, a must have in my book, wont be without mine

[Yeoman]

I'm thinking that perhaps I might get the manual version, then I will have spare cash to buy gadgets with.

I did in the end after much deliberation, its not that hard finding stuff yourself, especially if you have the star walk iphone app.