6 replies to this topic

[Peter Besenbruch]

I was in the market for a 6" Dob, and it became a three way choice: GSO, Skywatcher, and Spectrum Optical. I couldn't find a GSO Dob of any branding in stock. That left Spectrum and Skywatcher. Yesterday, in the midst of pouring rain, I assembled the Skywatcher. What can I say? It focuses, and moves with a certain degree of smoothness. The 6x30 finder works. It arrived close to collimation. The single speed focuser could be better.

 

The Spectrum Optical 6" had some interesting features: Lower price, 8x50 finder, 2 speed focuser, curved spider, more cutouts (lighter weight?) on the mount, white paint job on the tube interior... wait, what?! That's what the pictures show for all three models (6, 8, and 10). They can't be that dumb. Who would do such a thing?

 

The tube color is why I chose Skywatcher.

[LuscombeFlyer]

I just looked at the photos of the Spectrum Optical scopes. I thought, surely, you were mistaken. But nope, the inside surface of those tubes sure looks white to me  !

[MeridianStarGazer]

White tube inside, for brighter images!

You could paint it black.

[kgb]

Does anyone on the forum have one? I think they were at NEAF. Although I had no interest in visiting them, someone on the forum might have seen one of their Dobs. Can anyone corroborate? Would seem like an odd feature.

[rgk901]

apparently the images on their website are renderings... neaf thread has a link to YouTube where someone shows them in the booth and they are in fact black on inside.

[Peter Besenbruch]

apparently the images on their website are renderings... neaf thread has a link to YouTube where someone shows them in the booth and they are in fact black on inside.

This is the URL: https://youtu.be/4wxHAcGxiKI?t=183

 

Spectrum needs to redo its renderings.

[Peter Besenbruch]

First light, finally. Mostly lunar viewing. No real star testing. Seeing was OK. Images snapped into focus with a BST 58 degree 4mm eyepiece. Magnification range went from 30-300x. It's good.