We used it between the terrible weather we had this weekend (snow, torrential rain, windy like you wouldnt believe... yes, it was a star party!) so didnt realy get a long time to use it or to look at it in great detail.
Struts - Aluminum I think (not 100% sure). Each of the three struts are primarily secured with wingnut type nuts where the wing bit is a bar that can be pushed through from one side to the other (hard to explain), and they also have the a friction type screw on each strut to stop the whole secondary housing come crashing down accidently if the primary screws come loose for any reason.
Pre-production - No, it was the first 12" retail version in the UK (as far as I am aware).
No light shroud, and none available at the moment that I know of (although it really does need one). Might be interesting fitting one, to be honest. The Meade LBs have the V section bars round the outside, so a shroud will fit around the outside of any light path, but with only three vertical struts on the Flextube, a shroud will need to fit the upper and lower ends and will need to be self supporting for its tubular shape.
Collimation in Alt - no idea to be honest. Other than the 15 minute abuse session, and the "quick, its stopped snowing and the sky is clear" 3 hour push-to session, the unit sat in the tent the whole time. M13 very low on the horizon looked great, but what do I know, I`m just an imager
Other things:
- The side panels have support wings at 90 degrees to prevent them flexing
- The Az bearings are roller bearings, located between 2 metal sheets (very smooth!)
- The Alt tension can be adjusted with one hand, using only one of the handles.
- Unlike the LB, there are no white lips on the inside of the secondary housing.
- When collapsed, there is a ~1" gap between the secondary housing and the top lip of the base, which will let dust in. It really requires two lens caps, one to cover the base and one to cover the top of the secondary housing.
I was looking for a visual scope to keep me busy whilst my main kit is imaging. I was going to go for a NexStar 6SE as a grab and go, but after looking through the 12" FT, I am reconsidering my options.
Oh, and lastly, if ever a Dob requied a set of Star Wars R2D2 decals, this is the one.
Previous
Index
Next
Flat
Re: New Sky-Watcher Flextube Dobs
Edit
Reply
Quote
