Unboxing: Skywatcher 8" F/6 dobsonian GOTO telescope

[depardeuz]

Wah gary, you upsized my photo until I could see my yellow rubber band very clearly liao.. :p

[Gary]

Wah gary, you upsized my photo until I could see my yellow rubber band very clearly liao.. :p

Didn't notice it before. But now that you mention it...

No worries. It's a work-in-progress and this process should be fun and rewarding to you like your previous dob/newt DIYs.

[Gary]

Just saw this promo vid of this telescope:



Portable? Er...ok...I can understand it is subjective. But "extreme portability"? Sure that is an exaggeration!

Perhaps "has brought you" was included to make the promo vid factually accurate.

[depardeuz]

GC, in USA or England, they usually stay in landed property. Hence, there is ample space around their vehicle for them to load/unload the scope into their cars. This 8" dob can easily fit in, no issue. Larger aperture scopes, not quite sure. If I were to stay in a landed property with my own carpark space, I would tell you that it is very portable scope too. But then again, the big IF. Lol!

[bornfree]

Extreme portability = the extreme point where it is almost not portable?

[depardeuz]

That's why (I believe it was mentioned somewhere in this forum before), the so-call "portability" used in overseas does not really apply to us. The angle is very different. In Singapore, probably we are looking at a different level of portability? Can it be manpacked or ease of transporting (via public transportation). For manufacturers, the portability is a general term to describe how their scopes can be transported including dismantling into manageable size/weight for its owners. So buyers must do their research reasonably well to know what kind of weight they would be dealing with and so how are they going to manage their expectations/wants. Hence, there is no absolute wrong for manufacturers to use "portable" rather loosely. It is a matter of where you are and knowing what your situation allow which in turn defines the "portability" in your own context.

[cloud_cover]

Marketing is just that - marketing.
One suggestion: When I load my larger scope, I usually move the car to the loading bay where there's ample space to open the doors wide. You might try that to reduce the contortions you need to perform when you load your scope
In the US of course most people do own cars unlike here.
One small thought about your scope: You may want to get a shroud, if you haven't already got one. This reduces the scatter of light to the mirror which in turn increases contrast and makes fine details, particularly planets, more visible

[depardeuz]

Hi cloud_cover,

Indeed, I had the same realisation that using the unloading bay would be a safer venue for such an operation. As long as the over-zealous carpark attendent don't fine my vehicle while I am upstairs! Will seriously consider that option! Thanks! Btw, I have bought an Astrozap shroud for the scope but have forgotten to bring it out these two occasions. Personally, stray lights do come into the scope but the scope looks cooler without the shroud...hee hee..

But as of 20/09/2013: My opus operandi was still to push the darn scope up the MCP avoiding incoming vehicles (luckily no vehicle when I was going up the ramp) and limited space:



So I found out for drivers like me who prefers reverse parking: It would be better for the base to take up the front sit and the scope with the trolley and foldable chair to take the rear sit. It would give more space to move about.




Thanks to gary, I had the opportunity to use the loading bay for the unloading of the scope this morning while he helped to jaga my stuff..

Here's an unedited photo of the moon taken with a Samsung S3 on 20/09/2013 evening @ BSP:



And the deployment site:



Also, found out that the holder of the controller rather difficult to use especially when I decided to wrapped it up! So I have used 3M adhesive to adhere the velcro strips on the sides of the base to catch the controller. 3M adhesive strips would make it easier to replace the velcro and ,by right, not supposed to leave marks!

For collimation-wise, the collimation of the secondary only need fine-tuning of one of the cap screws. The primary mirror did not require collimation at all. Noted that the ground leading to the deployment site was pretty bumpy.








For storage:

With help from Mystiq, I managed to get some Shoelace Tightening balls which we used to have during NS, to tighten my self-DIY storage cover for the dob:




OK, that's all for now! Have a great weekend!

[Gary]

The same Moon pic shot last night through this dobsonian with Samsung Galaxy S3. Slightly enhanced in Photoshop:

[depardeuz]

Wow! And with your very steady pair of hands!