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I must admit that, in my tentative pursuit of astrophotography - a path on which I am only just starting - I have often asked myself if I'm doing the right thing. The cost is one hurdle, but it's the time involved and the long learning curve as well that I'm coming to realise is a large hurdle in itself - working full time, I'm having second thoughts about whether I'll have enough time. I bought an EQ6Pro way back so as to offer an eventual upgrade path to astrophotography, and I've enjoyed the EQ mount's accuracy and tech - very snazzy - but the set up time for visual is ... well ... a PITA.
I still like visual astronomy, though, and am keen to increase aperture from the current 8". If I decide to forget about AP, then I'd sell off my current gear and get a SW 12" GoTo Dob ... in fact, I've been looking at dobs in stores recently and doing a lot of spec comparisons. Hmmmm .... sounds like my subconcious might have made up its mind already.
For someone like me ... middle-aged but reasonably fit and healthy ... the 12" GoTo Dob looks like the "sweet spot" for visual astronomy. And I think it just fits in my car.
Since we're talking about dobs: The 14" SW Dob has knobs that allow quick assembly/disassembly of the base - it breaks down into 4 pieces - base, left upright, right upright, and front upright - which makes transport easier. The 10" Dob definitely can't do that even with tools as not all the screws are easily accessible once assembled (AFAIK). However, from what I can see, the 12" SW Dob base has such screws (14 of them) that are all accessible from the top/sides. Does someone know whether these can be replaced with aftermarket knobs to make base assembly/disassembly into 4 parts easy, just like the 14"?
(@Dave: I figure this is useful for you too, hence tacking onto your thread).
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