12 replies to this topic

[asaint]

Telegizmo

[Jaxdialation]

Excellent, long-term review. Well done!

Makes me feel lucky (again) for being able to roll my gear out of my garage.

[Phil Jones]

I really like my TeleGizmo 365 cover. Bob Pitney of TG custom made it for me based on my dimension requirements. I'll post a photo of it later.

[rmcpb]

Great article. Its really good to see an article on something that is often recommended without what appears to be evidence of performance. This is the evidence for the Telegizmo covers that was needed

[Scott in NC]

Great review, Tim! And I agree that Bob Pitney is a great person to do business with--for those of you that don't know him, he's not only a good businessman with excellent customer service skills, but he's also a fellow amateur astronomer.

[dvb]

Probably helpful that the scope is on a pier instead of a tripod - makes it easier to get a "seal" underneath the mount.

[Mr. Bill]

Got one...probably outlive me.

[bill w]

great review and story
i've been very happy with mine
tom has been quite helpfull.
fwiw i take the scope inside and leave the mount out
with no loss of alignment.
here's a satillite's view of my two covers


biggest scare: found a brown widow with egg sac attached to the inside of the cover. check your covers and clean your tripod feet if you live in spider country.

[JimP]

Excellent review. I kept my 8" apo outside the entire summer last year under a Telegizmos 365 cover (I did keep a 40 watt light bulb on under the cover). No Problems at all. I will do the same thing again this summer!

best,

Jim Phillips

[WarrenS]

I've had mixed results with my Telegizomo 365. I bought mine last year to protect my pedestal mounted Atlas mount, the pedestal sitting on three patio blocks on my lawn. One week after getting it, we had a two inch rainfall event, lo and behold, I took the cover off the next day and the mount was somewhere between damp and wet.

I called Telegizmo, spoke with Bob and one idea he gave me was to place an astroturf matt under the mount. He also said I should test the cover with a hose and if it leaked he'd exchange it. Of course after about 7 minutes of blasting a hose on the cover, not a drop leaked through.

Well, I kept the cover, bought an astro turf mat, and now place a towel and a heavy duty contractors trash bag under the Telegizmo cover over the mount. All seems well now. And yes Bob knows his product and was a pleasure to speak with.

[JimP]

Warren, that sounds like dew formong under the cover to me. That is why I have the 40 watt (25 would be even better) which I keep on at night under the 365. It provides just enough heat to keep the moisture away.

Jim

[WarrenS]

Hi Jim, Dew is a definite possibilty. It just seemed to be real wet underneath right after a heavy rainstorm. Since I began using the towel draped over the mount and the plastic bag under the 365, I haven't had any noticeable reoccurence. I've also been loosley closing off the bottom with the drawstring and clamp.
I'll use your idea of a low watt bulb if the problem does arise again.
Thanks

[quantumac]

I purchased a 365 Series cover for 12”-14” SCT and Ritchey-Chrétien scopes two years ago from astronomics, and I intentionally oversized it for my 10" SCT. I figured if I had a little more cover, I could tie the bottom of the bag around the pier where my scope is permanently mounted, thereby sealing out moisture. That idea has worked well.

My scope is in a roll-off roof observatory, so the observatory itself provides protection. But since the observatory is not sealed or insulated (for thermal equilibrium), the bag provides some additional protection for the scope.