Review
Subject: Sky-Watcher
12" Collapsible Truss-tube Dobsonian
Reviewer: Greg
Wieczerza Date: 12/29/08
I recently
purchased the new Sky-Watcher 12" Collapsible Truss-tube Dobsonian
from
Astronomics. As many of us do, I
did my research on this, which was a bit challenging since Sky-Watcher
only
recently began to sell scopes of any kind in the U.S. The one review I
found online was helpful but, brief. Hopefully the information in this
review will help others.
I should
add that I currently own an 8" Meade LightBridge. I wanted to move up
to a 12" dob. My candidates were the 12" LightBridge, the new 12"
Orion
SkyQuest XX12.
I will
begin first with the construction, then portability, and finally
optics. And a word about customer service.
Construction:
This is the
first area where I noticed what I feel is better fit/finish and
material
selection than the LightBridge. To
begin with, the 2" Crayford focuser Sky-Watcher is cast aluminum as
is the
mount for the 8x50 focuser.
They also
include eyepiece adapter covers for the focuser. Nice touch.
I was
initially a little leery of the 3-tube truss design. But, the tubes are
just shy of being 1" in diameter. They are aluminum and quite sturdy.
The picture
on the left shows the locking device used when collapsing/expanding the
OTA. The picture on the right
shows the tube attachment to the upper part of the OTA and one of the
two knobs
used to raise/lower the upper tube and position the scope while
viewing.
The next
picture is a view of the assembled scope. It took me only about 30
minutes to assemble the scope as the upper and
lower OTA are shipped attached to each other as the tubes are integral.
Notice the
covers for both the upper and lower OTA. These are hard plastic
comparable to a trash can lid. Much more durable than the plastic
cover for the primary mirror on my 8" LightBridge.
All of the
inside surfaces of the scope are black. This includes the inside of the
cast white cast aluminum"lip"-type
pieces top and bottom.
The
particle board base again has a better quality material than does my
LightBridge. The edge banding is
smoother as well. I like the extra"wings" on the side of the base. I
think it makes it a little more stable.
The bearing
set-up is, I think superior to the Meade. The OTA bearings ride on two
smaller
nylon bearings on both sides of the scope. Very smooth. Please don't
get me wrong here. The Meade is a fine unit capable of giving good
service and much
enjoyment. I just think that
overall, Sky-Watcher gives a little more for the buck.
Portability:
The photo
below shows the scope in the collapsed position.
In this
position, the scope is approximately 42" tall. It has a circular
footprint of approximately 25-1/2".
The OTA
ships just as you see it here, but w/o the finder attached. When you
pull the upper unit into
place, it locks with a distinct "snap". The same is true when
collapsing the unit. You still need to tighten the small vise-like
screws for
security. I have not transported
with my vehicle yet, but when I do, I will take off the two side
handles. They simply unscrew. The one on the viewing side has a large
tension washer which acts as a brake. Movements in both alt/az are very
smooth. Even with a 2" 32mm eyepiece the unit was not top
heavy. I saved the packing foam
from the OTA for as I plan to build a cradle for the OTA when I
transport the
scope to dark sites.
Optics:
As soon as
I put the scope together, I got out my Meade laser collimator and
turned it
on. I was pleasantly surprised to
find both mirrors dead-on. I then
collapsed the unit, picked it up, and moved it and collimated it again.
Again, dead-on.
Living in
suburban Detroit has its challenges from a light pollution standpoint.
Also, over the last few days, we have
not had any decent nights for viewing. Last night was the first
opportunity to take it outside and test it
out. The seeing was not great, but
nonetheless, I wanted to see how it would perform. We had just got
through two days of a major temperature swing
and fog. Also there were some
scattered high clouds.
I used 32,
26, and 20 Astro-Tech Wide-Field eyepieces with an O-III filter. To say
that I was impressed with the
performance of the scope would be an understatement. Although my
viewing was limited to the Pleiades and M42 in
Orion, due to conditions, I was extremely happy with my purchase.
Customer
service: I believe that as
consumers, we should take note of how a manufacturer responds to our
inquiries
and concerns. That had a big part
in my decision making on choosing the Sky-Watcher.
I'm looking
forward to many years of enjoyment with this scope.
