Thanks Mike, I was up there recently to check out 135 Calabash….. decided against it……(actually my wife did)
Doh!...What a shame! Together we could have owned the whole of Mt Eagle, guaranteed each other dark skies for ever ...kings of the mountain, rulers of dark skies! Mu hu ha ha haaaa
I ordered 20” from local BinoCentral here in Perth. Keith matched the other shop price 👍🙏
Matt,
You should have told me earlier, maybe we could have come to agreement 🙏
Thank you all for very detailed valuable info!
I will keep you informed once I got the scope 👍
Cheers
Bob
G'day Bob. Wow congratulations on your purchase
I'm also about to purchase a large dob from Binocentral, mine won't be as large as yours, a 14 inch dob!
Keith is a great guy, and I'm sure the views through your 20" will be incredible. Enjoy
I've had my 20" Stargate GOTO for about 6 years now, and the views from it have been spectacular. I generally only use it after a decent drive to a dark site - there's a fair bit of faffing about to set it up if you're moving all the bits, and under Bortle 5 skies at home it's not really worth it in my opinion. They do take up a fair bit of space when dismantled, but another guy I know can fit his into the back of a medium sized hatchback, fully disassembled. I try to keep mine semi-assembled (poles at full length, mirror on the base) in the back of a trailer, and have detachable wheelbarrow handles with wheels bolted to the sides so it can be easily rolled off the back of the trailer. Lugging the base and mirror assembly separately gets a bit tiresome even for someone with a strong back, and being able to wheel it into place saves both time and vertebral wear and tear.
As Adrian mentioned, the eyepiece height at zenith is around 2m at least, and at 183cm high, I certainly need a small aluminium two-step ladder to see through it, although the finding/tracking for objects in the "dob hole" is a bit hit and miss, so I normally avoid anything this high. Even above 70° you'll often need at least the bottom step of a small stepladder, depending on how tall you are. I'm sure you'll be "wowed" by the views you get though, it's a great scope.
I wanted to get 16” SW GOTO but realised the base is too big to fit in my Corolla wagon. 14” apparently has the same base as 16”. Not sure why they couldn’t make mount like Orion used to do, easy to disassemble and fold so it can fit in small cars.
If you are with AGWA it would be interesting to compare views of our new scopes.
Patrick,
That’s great mate that you have this scope and happy with it. I watched some videos people having issues with drives and scared me a bit.
I wanted to get 16” SW GOTO but realised the base is too big to fit in my Corolla wagon. 14” apparently has the same base as 16”. Not sure why they couldn’t make mount like Orion used to do, easy to disassemble and fold so it can fit in small cars.
If you are with AGWA it would be interesting to compare views of our new scopes.
Patrick,
That’s great mate that you have this scope and happy with it. I watched some videos people having issues with drives and scared me a bit.
Cheers
Bob
I've had no issues at all with the drives, and once aligned I've found it tracks beautifully smoothly and accurately for hours. Like most GOTO scopes, the better your initial alignment, the better the rest of the evening's viewing will be.
I wanted to get 16” SW GOTO but realised the base is too big to fit in my Corolla wagon. 14” apparently has the same base as 16”. Not sure why they couldn’t make mount like Orion used to do, easy to disassemble and fold so it can fit in small cars.
If you are with AGWA it would be interesting to compare views of our new scopes.
Patrick,
That’s great mate that you have this scope and happy with it. I watched some videos people having issues with drives and scared me a bit.
Cheers
Bob
Hi Bob! Thanks for this information! I'm planning to pick up my Skywatcher 14 inch GoTo using my Mazda 3 sedan once I purchase it, it has a big boot but you mentioned the size of the base mmm..I might have to get it delivered or try to borrow a truck from work.
I'm not with AGWA but will definitely be joining soon. Would be great to catch up with you and compare views!
Will I get shroud with telescope? It’s a bit confusing, if I check USA SW website it mentions shroud from light material. But on Australian SW website it’s not mentioned under what’s in the box.
Will I get shroud with telescope? It’s a bit confusing, if I check USA SW website it mentions shroud from light material. But on Australian SW website it’s not mentioned under what’s in the box.
Thanks
Bob
I would imagine the shroud is extra, but I don't use a shroud with my 18" SW truss, as with one, anything over a variable light breeze and your views are highly frustrating, wobbly blurs.
To slow down dew, a nice stiff black cardboard cylinder, that you can simply slip around the mirror, about 20" long and a hair dryer, will do the trick, without acting as a wind catcher.
Mike
Last edited by strongmanmike; 24-10-2024 at 04:49 PM.
Will I get shroud with telescope? It’s a bit confusing, if I check USA SW website it mentions shroud from light material. But on Australian SW website it’s not mentioned under what’s in the box.
Thanks
Bob
Hi Bob,
if memory serves, the shroud was included when I bought mine back in 2018, but as you say, the current websites don't mention the shroud, and it might be an extra. Mike is correct in saying that the shroud can certainly pick up the prevailing breezes and give you a bit of wobble, but I normally use my shroud and take it off only when it's too breezy. You'll need to check with the supplier to see if the shroud is included. It connects with three rather flimsy tie-up ribbons and a 2m long velcro strap along the edge, which is a bit awkward to make it sit nicely. I invested in a 2m long black zipper for about $20 off ebay, which my wife sewed over the velcro, and it's now very easy to put on. I normally only use my scope at dark sites, but still think it's worthwhile having a shroud.
I got the scope, it’s really big!
I have to say manuals are almost useless. Assembling instruction says: refer to figure 1.9 and there is no figure 1.9? It has 1.8 and 1.10
The cover to cover tensioning spring doesn’t fit on top 2 holes, might need to shave the shoulder a bit if I want to use it. Bottom holes fit though. It can be fit only one way so there is no mistake in assembling it. Not that I will need or use cover for spring but since they supply it, why not.
Also tensioning bolt that attaches to spring supposed to have limiting nut on it but it doesn’t! Will have to try and see if altitude doesn’t slip and how much to tension the wing nut. Instruction is saying to tension it to limiting nut and that it’s been tasted in factory that to be appropriate tension
Didn’t get Allen key for secondary mirror adjustment. It looks aligned though.
Now something I really don’t understand, I can not use laser collimator because it absorbs laser light to the point I can’t see it! Maybe need a new batteries, but if I put paper in front of both mirrors I can see laser light clearly.
Collimation screws, I asked my wife to turn each while I look through collimating eyepiece that came with scope and she turned two but third one she couldn’t. I checked it was was really, rally hard to undo and after a few tries it’s still very tight to turn, sprayed it with WD40 and it s a bit better now. The mirror is so heavy that Collimation screws can only freely be turned when scope is upright.
After collimating it turned it around, up and down and collimation is out! Will have to try again and make sure everything is tightened
So yea, a lot of fun so far, hopefully will try to use it tonight if I get around all those issues.
Shroud came with it and some other bits and pieces I have to check them out.
I found out that Cradle sits on two small pulleys that are used to tighten steel rope around Altitude pulley. I don't think Cradle should even touch those small pulleys because there are two Allen key 1.5mm screws on each one of them. Those screws are making Cradle to jump or even jamming it when I try to operate scope up and down.
Because of this, those small screws are loose and one even fell out (lucky I found it) but thread is damaged and it barely hold this tiny screw.
Hi Bob, I've sent you a PM too. Cradle should definitely not be sitting on those small wheels, and mine has a small gap between the cradle and the screws. I'd try tightening those screws a little bit.
Yes, I tried tightening those screws as well but they are still about 1-1.5mm proud. And as you can see from pic above cradle sits flat on the small wheel/pulley and every time that pulley turns and screw comes around it jammed cradle or motors slip and jump over it!
Will have to call Keith from BinoCentral tomorrow and see what to do. Because I noticed my alignment at altitude was always wrong, at least now I know why.
I just bought this scope, didn’t even have time to go under dark sky yet.
I don’t want to remove or replace things and void the warranty. Besides, where would I get such a tiny screws from, and to be right size, flash with pulley surface? Those screws are tiny with 1.5mm Allen key, very short, pointy tip so they sit inside and lock pulley sleeve to shaft.
Another thing is I don’t think cradle should sit on those small pulleys anyway. I think they are connected to digital circles so you can release clutch, move scope and scope still would know where it is.
Patrick already messaged me that there is a gap between cradle and small pulleys on his 20” scope.
Looks like it will take some time till I am able to use the scope because of this issue with mount.
Keith from BinoCentral sent the pics to Tasco yesterday morning. Someone from Tasco is supposed to call me to discuss about the issue with mount. But today is second day waiting and no call
good luck with it, Im sure you will love it ...and make me jealous 
