Quote:
Originally Posted by davewaldo
Can I realistically expect to dump my scope down, 2 star align and be off and running?
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YES!
It's that simple.
I came within a whisker of doing this to my 17.5" dob, but unlike you, I found the whole "electrification" of my scope too much of an imposition and it took away from my enjoyment of this hobby.
I did install the Argo (even though I dumped it soon after), and with the experience of others, it is just as you say "two star align and off you go".
Mind you, in my case, I would have had to disassemble the entire drive and Argo mechanisms in order to stow my big dob away. A 12" flex-dob is still a sizeable beastie when stowed, and heavy to move around. The extra gear is only a small amount extra, but it adds up. I mention this if ease of portablity is something you need to consider. I don't know how easy it would be to uncouple the rocker box from the OTA for ease of transportation with either a Servo-Cat or Synscan system. If go-to is important, maybe look into this aspect too. A lot of folks with dobs uncouple the OTA from the rocker box for transportation purposes, including with the Argo. But the motor situation may present other complications.
I just don't want to give you a "through rose coloured glasses" view on dobs. Go-to works very, very well. Some people even take photos of DSO's with them very successfully. But everything has a trade-off. Just consider how and where you are going to be using the dob, and if the scope you are considering will fit that behaviour, or how you may need to accomodate the scope and if it works that way too. You may then feel that a larger scope with just an Argo system would suffice.
Mental.