Awesome telescope, not great packaging or instructions
By Stephen
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2024-12-05
So, first, this is an awesome scope. Buy it.
The instructions mention things that aren't there and don't mention other things. For example, it comes with a dust cover for the bottom half of the optical tube assembly that has a small hole in it that's covered with a removable cap. After a lot of research, I learned this cap can be removed to let a little bit of light in if you're looking at the bright moon to cut down on the brightness. There is no mention that this thing is even included with the scope, and it looks exactly identical to some solar filters for sale elsewhere, so for a split second I was tempted to try it out as such -- that likely would have blinded me. The scope does come with lots of warnings not to look at the sun, but it would be cool if they'd explain the reason for the dust cover also being a device to greatly decrease the aperture for viewing the moon.
There are also two different stops for the three poles that the secondary mirror slides forward on. The instructions do not mention this at all. The implication is that there is only one single stop. There is an extension that you can add to the focuser if you have the telescope in it's shorter position. You need to remove that extension if you have the scope in it's longer position. If you don't have the right combination, you'll never get anything into focus and this is not mentioned anywhere in the instructions. I figured that out due to a rudimentary understanding of optics, but other newbies would probably get frustrated by this.
There are no instructions for how to collimate the scope. You can read online instructions on how to collimate a newtonian telescope and it mostly works OK, but the secondary mirror is too close to the primary mirror (slightly off-center when viewed through the focuser), which means not all the light is making it to my eyepiece. There are no instructions on how to adjust this, but other scopes are adjusted by loosening the central screw above the secondary mirror. Well, that screw WON'T budge and I actually stripped it trying to unscrew it with a screwdriver that seemed to be the correct size, so now my scope is kind of messed up. I've since read that you sometimes have to unscrew the three other screws a little before the central one will budge and I've also seen other people say that you're supposed to unscrew the central screw before the other three screws will move and I've also heard some people say that this manufacturer over-tightens that screw and they advise you to just leave it alone -- except my mirror isn't in the right place. I'm not brave enough to fully strip the screw by trying again, so I guess I'm just going to live with a little bit of light loss, which isn't ideal. Someone else mentioned that this particular scope is frequently shipped with the secondary mirror too close to the primary, like mine is, and the only way to fix that is to flip the spiders around so that they attach farther from the primary. I haven't tried that yet, but probably will in the near future. Supposedly all the screws are fairly standard, so replacing them isn't that hard if you strip them (assuming you can still get them out), but I'm not sure what kind of metal they're made out of and definitely don't want to have to deal with galvanic corrosion to the screws or the mount for the secondary, if I pick the wrong metal.
There are weird instructions in the box for installing the primary mirror, which you don't actually have to do because it comes already installed. I realize some people remove the mirror and replace it, so instructions on how to change it out might help some, but the instructions definitely make it seem like the mirror comes un-installed and you have to install it. There are also instructions for inserting the doohickeys on the side that allow the OTA to be moved around by the GoTo system, but that's actually already installed when the thing comes, also.
The scope comes with a cell phone mount, which wasn't mentioned in the listing, so I purchased a second one before this telescope arrived. It would have been nice to know that was included.
So its a very weird combination of having instructions for doing things you don't actually have to do and missing instructions on how to do things you do need to do and there is stuff included that is not mentioned anywhere as being included and is not explained in the instructions. So, I'm docking one star for all of that.
Then there was the packaging. The scope arrived on a thick plastic CocaCola pallet (a wooden one would have been great to break down for scrap wood, but a solid, heavy plastic one just requires a large vehicle to take to the dump). This thing is still sitting in my garage a week later and is something I have to deal with -- minor annoyance. The two boxes were wrapped together in plastic wrap like stuff on a pallet usually is. My wife signed for the delivery and sent me a picture of it all wrapped up on the pallet. it looked fine. I got home and took off the plastic wrap and saw a huge hole in the side of the box holding the OTA. There was also a 1 foot x 1 foot hole in the corner of the box where someone had cut a whole new piece of cardboard and tapped it over this hole to conceal it beneath the plastic wrap. It was only visible once the plastic wrap was removed. Turns out, everything seems like it's OK and the scope didn't seem to have been damaged, but it's kind of lame (I'm being censored by BH and can't use the word I want to) that someone taped new cardboard over a hole in the box. I won't remove any stars for this, because it turned out OK. My heart definitely skipped a few beats when I saw the condition of the box, though.
Otherwise, when the OTA and stand are separated, the thing is just the right weight and size to fit through doorways and for me to lift and carry around. I was considering a larger version of the scope and I'm glad I didn't do it. This thing is right at the threshold where if it was heavier, I probably wouldn't ever use it. It also happens to perfectly fit between the two seats in the center row of my SUV and a larger OTA wouldn't have fit. So I'm very happy with the size. The GoTo system seems cool. You have to level the base perfectly and point it to true north when you plug it in and then align it with one or more stars/planets and then it seems to do a pretty good job of tracking stuff. I've used it with Stellarium and it's slightly finnicky getting it to send the coordinates, but 80% of the time, it works every time. The native SynScan app and the attached control work fine, but it's not as easy to find what you want to look at. The provided eyepieces are fine. I ordered a bunch of Televue eyepices as well. I've only tested it out in my suburban back yard and it's the largest telescope I've ever had, so to me it is amazing, but I don't have experience with similar scopes for comparison. As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy with my purchase, but wanted to give others a heads up about the things mentioned above.
One Foot Light Bucket!
By Stephen
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2021-05-25
This is my second Skywatcher Collapsible GoTo Dobsonian, the first being the 14 version of this scope. Long story short, I sold that scope since it was way too big and heavy for one person to handle easily. This one is perfect, and moving the base as one whole unit and then the OTA outdoors is easily manageable. GoTo function works great and enables you to track down DSOs and the ice giants Uranus and Neptune with ease. Can hardly wait to get this scope to some nice dark sky site for some serious viewing. Well worth the cost, much more manageable than the 14 or 16 and is quite the astronomy workhorse.
