They are simplistically scaled up old-fashioned designs of the smaller dobs, constructed of cheap particle board. So they are heavy, bulky, have flexure issues and move less smoothly than the more expensive or good home-built truss dobs. Any small problems the smaller dobs might have are greatly compounded when you go up in aperture.
The flexure and movement issues can be fixed to a certain extent though. There are some good articles about on this site and others.
Optics are generally OK, so you can always plonk them in a different structure at a later date.
Some of the hardware (focuser etc) can be a little"cheap" but better than they used to be.
Fairly good value for money overall.
|