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Hi Rick
Just saw this. It reminded me of doing exactly the same as you about 6 years back - buying the same 12 inch monster. I also have the long suffering wife and backyard with light pollution to. So I thought you might like some thoughts based on experience.
- I hope your eyepieces are flat field and wide. These make a huge difference. With eyepieces there is not doubt spending on quality ones helps.
- Alignment has proved tricky for me over the years. Even with a laser colimator. You might want to read a bit more on collimation tricks.
- At this time of year (winter) fogging has been a major issue for me. I hope you have more luck. You might want to get a decent battery to power that fan. The AAA battery pack is pretty useless in my experience.
- The biggest nuisance with the Dob is trying track things manually. After getting a Goto system it is a drag especially when you try and have a 'star party' and you spend most of your time readjusting your telescope direction. Unfortunately your guests wont be adept at moving the telescope.
- The scope is advertised as portable (the Dob and the Mini) but this turns out to be much more effort especially when you want to get away from light but also have a good dry flat area to set it up. Setting up in the dark is really not fun. And dont forget about the temperature equilibration problem.
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