Reviews & Ratings for Sky Watcher 12in. Flextube 300P Collapsible Dobsonian Telescope S11740 — 2 reviews — Page 1

I started out with a 4" MAK go-to electronics. The go-to feature was nice, but I could never see DSO. After long debate between the SW and Meade 12" dob collapsible, I went with SW. Transportation is a breeze with this SW. The 3-pole truss design is stronger than I imagined. The scope holds culmination for the night, longest was 6 hours so far. I threw away the factory eye pieces as I have a complete set of Explore Scientific 82* which I highly recommend. The primary mirror isn't a Zambuto it works quite well for my needs. There are a few phone/tablet apps that assist with star hopping on your way to the DSO's. I also added a Telrad finder and kept the original finder. Both work really well in unison. I added a 12v fan to the bottom of the main mirror and also a light shroud to the open truss. Only downside was the focuser, changed the SW out with a Moonlite focuser and this telescope is a dream to use now. With the tube collapsed, it will fit in the back seat while the base goes in the bed of my truck.

This is a seriously big and bulky scope. Not so much the OTA, but the base is really wide and bulky. If I had more money, I'd gone for an obsession telescope, but hey it's 4 times the price. In the end, I'll move it around with my car, is not that I have to carry it for miles on my back, and a foldable trolley costs just $25. I am not sure a SCT would be less heavier: once you are in the 12", everything is heavy, a SCT will have a very heavy fork and very heavy tripod, and good luck lifting the OTA and fork to place it on the tripod!

As a cloudynight user has reviewed, the focuser requires an adapter for the 2" eyepieces, which is weird but I'm sure there's a good reason for it. I didn't like the finder scope, not useful for me, I replaced it with a $40 telrad and I couldn't be happier: it's simple, you just need to align it once; if you remove it and put it back on it is still aligned, I love it!! Finding stuff is easy if you have charts at hand, and you don't need special Telrad charts.

The eyepieces the scope comes with are cheappy, but it's always the case. I bought a ES 82 30mm for now which gives 50x, then later I'll check for a 14/15mm and something between 9-7mm.

The movement of the scope is smooth and well balanced. I was very worried that with a manual scope I wouldn't be able to find the objects, but I'm happy I haven't settled for a smaller but computerized scope. Let alone the cost, with a manual scope I really have the fun of *doing* stargazing and I get to l...
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