Hey all,
I thought I would post up some first impressions on the Skywatcher 14" go-to telescope I picked up earlier in the week (AKA Skyliner 350p). I couldn't find much on this scope when I was researching it, so hopefully this adds to the available reading material a little.
This is only the second time I've managed to have it out so I haven't really had a chance to run it through its paces. I've just been testing out the go-to, and the moon has been pretty bright so it's hard to gauge the optical performance just yet. Ok, here goes...
First off - I had trouble the first night because I was trying to align the scope (2 star) in a yard with a narrow field of view. The stars I chose weren't far enough apart and as a result, I think the go-to suffered. Tonight I took it out the front of my place, which has a wider field of view. I aligned on 2 stars that were close to 180 degrees apart and the go-to is virtually spot on now. Objects are all well inside the field of view of a 20mm eyepiece.
Collimation is simple enough, though I'm not a fan of needing a tiny allen key to adjust the secondary. I might look into a bob's knobs option, or try to work something else out.
That aside, making adjustments to the secondary is easy. I haven't really spent too much time on the collimation yet since I've been more interested in testing out the go-to (it's a novelty!). Once I get under some darker skies I'll have a chance to tweak it up and really check out the optics. No complaints so far though.
Just to step back - the instructions are lousy. You can kind of make out what you're supposed to be doing, but there's certainly no step-by step method provided. Having taken the primary out of my old scope many times, putting this scope together was simple but newbies may need more guidance than the manual offers.
Setting up the go-to is simple enough. Level the base (I use rubber door stoppers from bunnings) as well as you can. I use a spirit level at the moment, and this works well. I do have a digital angle finder that I may use eventually but if tonight's go-to performance is anything to go by, it's not necessary. A simple spirit level will be fine.
Setting up the computer involves entering in your GPS position.. I used the coordinates from my iphone (the compass shows GPS position) but you can use google maps if you need to. Just right click on your location in google maps, and then "get directions from here" and it will display the coordinates of the point you selected. If you need to convert to Minutes/seconds from a decimal readout, there's online websites that will do this for you (such as:
http://boulter.com/gps/ )
Then you basically just choose either "brightest star" method of alignment, or "two star" method (you need to be able to identify 2 bright stars in the sky)... then you use the motorised slew function to centre the first star, the computer takes over and points to the second star, and then you have to centre this star in your eyepiece (which trains the computer) and you're good to go.
Tonight I took the guided tour - it takes you on a go-to tour of some of the more interesting objects that are visible from your location. I don't know if it's because the scope is made more for a Northern Hemisphere audience, or if it's just how it is, but the majority of the objects were very low to the horizon. Visible from a hill maybe, but not from the average suburban backyard.
Objects which were visible tonight were the sculptor galaxy, orion nebula, 47 Tuc, tarantula nebula, saturn nebula, and a few glob clusters. All the objects were well within the field of view of my 24mm eyepiece. No complaints at all with the go-to function. I really REALLY like being able to just find objects like this.
I hear people say that it's no way to learn the sky - you should learn to star hop. I agree to an extent, but there's plenty of time for that. But for the majority of casual observers, there just isn't the time. You might get a clear night, free from other commitments, once every week or two if you're lucky. Being able to just set up and find objects easily gets you more time at the eyepiece. This means less frustration, more wow factor, and more people hooked on the night sky. Too many people with telescopes only ever see the moon and a few planets/nebulas.
My 24mm panoptic cannot reach focus (not enough outward travel) so I can't push it all the way into the 1.25" receiver. This is annoying but AFAIK, not uncommon. Easily remedied, but worth mentioning. My 10" dob didn't have this problem.
My DSLR can't achieve prime focus but the cool thing about the truss scope is that you can lower the struts and clamp it in place - no need to move the mirror up in the tube. NOTE: I haven't had a chance to really test this out, it worked well enough for a few quick snaps of the moon but I haven't checked to see what the effects are on collimation etc. I really just wanted to see if I could do this, achieve focus, and take a photo. Worked fine.
The finder scope doesn't grip very well in the clamp. I need to fix this. It's probably a simple thing, but I need time to look at it and decide what to do. A few more days with the scope and I'm sure I'll fix it. At the moment, adjustments are awkward and it tends to slip as I tighten the screws. I may just have it seated wrong so hopefully this is a quick fix.
Ok this got really long really fast. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to fire away and I'll answer what I can.
To sum up though - it seems like a great scope. I can't wait to get it out under a dark sky, at new moon, 300ks away from city lights. When I do, I'll report back.
Andrews has this scope advertised for $2799. I think it's a steal for this price. I bought mine locally and paid more, but I didn't want to wait more
than a month for it to arrive, and I wanted to buy locally this time.
One more thing: the base is huge. I can't get it through my main doors, I have to take it around the side and through the garage. It's heavy and awkward. I'm 6' tall and not slightly built, but I still find it difficult to move around. I see a few mobility mods in my future!
Cheers,
hope this helps anyone who might be interested in this scope
