Dave47tuc
25-10-2008, 10:16 AM
Greetings all,:)
I thought I would share my thoughts of my new Skywatcher 12” Flexi Dob. I have been observing for over 20 years.
After owning a few scopes, I had a 10” Dob and made the mistake of thinking smaller was better. For some maybe, but DSO just did not cut it in a small scope. So I decided I wanted a 12” scope.
Which to buy. Well it came down to 2. The Meade Lightbridge and the SW Flexi Dob.
I wanted a scope that would fit in the car and not be too much trouble setting up. So the SW won. After speaking to a few dealers here in Australia I was able to get a good price of Steve Massey of My Astro Shop. Highly recommended if you need astro gear.
When the scope arrived a few days ago, one really big box for the ota, then a smaller box for the mount. All very well packed. This is good as the boxes where damaged. But it was only superficial.
I put the mount together straight away. The tube was ready to go out of the box once unpacked.
I was pleasantly surprised on the fit and finish. Really nice. The paint work is white and black with gold fleck through it. Very nice indeed.
I have a small sedan car and the OTA fits on the back seat very easy, while the mount went in the front seat. One of the main reasons for getting this scope.
Now last night out under the stars. I use four eyepieces a 32mm Meade wide field. 17 mm Hyperion. 10 mm Pentax XW and my friends 7 mm Penats XL. I also have a Paraccor.
Put the mount on the ground then ota goes on, lift the top half of the ota (moves very smoothly) lock it into place take covers off then put the mount handles on and you’re ready to go. No more than a couple of minutes.
A bit on how it moved. This scope is out of the box with no mods. The Azimuth moves very smoothly but too easily, and will need to be slowed down a bit. Some bits of the Velcro will do. The material bit!
The Altitude is the part that was not very smooth. It was too stiff to move up and down smoothly. With the handles fully loose it was still to hard to move. The scope balanced very well but needed to move better. I will fix this over time. I had a GSO 10” which was the same and I fixed it. The ota has no fan so cooling was done as the temperature drops. I will put a fan on in the future.
Most people will wonder if the scope flexes with the Paraccor and eyepieces in it. I did not notice this in normal movements. The poles are steel and seem very strong. The focuser is a crayford but its no feather touch. It was serviceable and it took a few seconds for the image to stop shaking at high power. I’m not sure if I will change this in the future.
Collimation was very good out of the box the secondary was fine with minor tweaking of the main mirror.
Now first light was Venus then Jupiter. It was twilight and those objects where the only ones I could see. Seeing was poor and the mirror was not cooled. Obvious thing was they where bright in the eyepiece.
I spent about 4 hours observing with my friend Geoff and his 10” GSO. Without going into detail on every object observed. It was obvious that the 12” was showing images brighter that a 10”
Actually the SW was very nice indeed. With seeing average at best and transparency average again.
I used the Paraccor but really did not need it. The 10 XW did not come to focus. But Stars where sharp across the field with out the Paraccor anyway. The 32 wide field was better with the Paraccor but not that bad without it. Some seagulls at the last 3rd of the field.
I seemed to go from finding objects in the 32 mm then going to the 10mm for a closer look.
IMO the 10 mm Xw is the best eyepiece in the world!
47 Tucanae was just awesome in the XW .
When we looked at M2 and M15 and NGC 362. We did notice that the 12” was able to resolve the Globular better than the 10”
On some Galaxy’s in the 12” where always brighter in the 12”
When I looked at 253 in my old 6” then in Geoff’s 15” (which he has as well) some weeks ago I thought that’s it I need a big scope again.
The result was great. I’ now seeing DSO’s as I like them.
To have a bigger scope like a 15”or 18” would be great but it could not fit in the car and the budget (wife) will not allow it!
All in all at this stage I’m happy with the scope out of the box. I will make some small mods on the movements, but overall it seems a great scope for the money. Oh I did put a right angle correct image finder. Also I Rigel quick finder is on the shopping list.
And finally an Argo Navis as soon as funds (wife) allows.
I don’t see the need on getting more eyepieces as I will have the four and that’s ranges power form 50x to 250x I’m sure the XW will spend a lot of time in the focuser. I hope some who are considering this scope got something out of my report and first light with the SW 12” Flexi Dob.
Thanks for reading and sorry for any spelling mistakes.
Please feel free to ask any? You may have on the scope.
Clear skies.
David.:thumbsup:
I thought I would share my thoughts of my new Skywatcher 12” Flexi Dob. I have been observing for over 20 years.
After owning a few scopes, I had a 10” Dob and made the mistake of thinking smaller was better. For some maybe, but DSO just did not cut it in a small scope. So I decided I wanted a 12” scope.
Which to buy. Well it came down to 2. The Meade Lightbridge and the SW Flexi Dob.
I wanted a scope that would fit in the car and not be too much trouble setting up. So the SW won. After speaking to a few dealers here in Australia I was able to get a good price of Steve Massey of My Astro Shop. Highly recommended if you need astro gear.
When the scope arrived a few days ago, one really big box for the ota, then a smaller box for the mount. All very well packed. This is good as the boxes where damaged. But it was only superficial.
I put the mount together straight away. The tube was ready to go out of the box once unpacked.
I was pleasantly surprised on the fit and finish. Really nice. The paint work is white and black with gold fleck through it. Very nice indeed.
I have a small sedan car and the OTA fits on the back seat very easy, while the mount went in the front seat. One of the main reasons for getting this scope.
Now last night out under the stars. I use four eyepieces a 32mm Meade wide field. 17 mm Hyperion. 10 mm Pentax XW and my friends 7 mm Penats XL. I also have a Paraccor.
Put the mount on the ground then ota goes on, lift the top half of the ota (moves very smoothly) lock it into place take covers off then put the mount handles on and you’re ready to go. No more than a couple of minutes.
A bit on how it moved. This scope is out of the box with no mods. The Azimuth moves very smoothly but too easily, and will need to be slowed down a bit. Some bits of the Velcro will do. The material bit!
The Altitude is the part that was not very smooth. It was too stiff to move up and down smoothly. With the handles fully loose it was still to hard to move. The scope balanced very well but needed to move better. I will fix this over time. I had a GSO 10” which was the same and I fixed it. The ota has no fan so cooling was done as the temperature drops. I will put a fan on in the future.
Most people will wonder if the scope flexes with the Paraccor and eyepieces in it. I did not notice this in normal movements. The poles are steel and seem very strong. The focuser is a crayford but its no feather touch. It was serviceable and it took a few seconds for the image to stop shaking at high power. I’m not sure if I will change this in the future.
Collimation was very good out of the box the secondary was fine with minor tweaking of the main mirror.
Now first light was Venus then Jupiter. It was twilight and those objects where the only ones I could see. Seeing was poor and the mirror was not cooled. Obvious thing was they where bright in the eyepiece.
I spent about 4 hours observing with my friend Geoff and his 10” GSO. Without going into detail on every object observed. It was obvious that the 12” was showing images brighter that a 10”
Actually the SW was very nice indeed. With seeing average at best and transparency average again.
I used the Paraccor but really did not need it. The 10 XW did not come to focus. But Stars where sharp across the field with out the Paraccor anyway. The 32 wide field was better with the Paraccor but not that bad without it. Some seagulls at the last 3rd of the field.
I seemed to go from finding objects in the 32 mm then going to the 10mm for a closer look.
IMO the 10 mm Xw is the best eyepiece in the world!
47 Tucanae was just awesome in the XW .
When we looked at M2 and M15 and NGC 362. We did notice that the 12” was able to resolve the Globular better than the 10”
On some Galaxy’s in the 12” where always brighter in the 12”
When I looked at 253 in my old 6” then in Geoff’s 15” (which he has as well) some weeks ago I thought that’s it I need a big scope again.
The result was great. I’ now seeing DSO’s as I like them.
To have a bigger scope like a 15”or 18” would be great but it could not fit in the car and the budget (wife) will not allow it!
All in all at this stage I’m happy with the scope out of the box. I will make some small mods on the movements, but overall it seems a great scope for the money. Oh I did put a right angle correct image finder. Also I Rigel quick finder is on the shopping list.
And finally an Argo Navis as soon as funds (wife) allows.
I don’t see the need on getting more eyepieces as I will have the four and that’s ranges power form 50x to 250x I’m sure the XW will spend a lot of time in the focuser. I hope some who are considering this scope got something out of my report and first light with the SW 12” Flexi Dob.
Thanks for reading and sorry for any spelling mistakes.
Please feel free to ask any? You may have on the scope.
Clear skies.
David.:thumbsup: