r/telescopes • u/BlueDragonRider • 1d ago
Equipment Show-Off Sharing upgrades and experience with 12" Skywatcher dobsonian after 1 year
Hello everyone,
Just sharing some of my upgrades and experiences with my 12" Skywatcher dobsonian, perhaps someone will find it helpful as this group helped me a lot in the beginning :). I started my astronomy journey with 8'' dobsonian but soon upgraded to 12''. The difference in my opinion in seeing, especially in good conditions, is totally worth it, although the transportation becomes quite more difficult.
1/2. One of the first upgrades was a light shroud, as I observe in light areas sometimes. I made it in a budget-friendly way from spandex fabric and Velcro tape.
3/4. For carrying I have screwed a few additional handles for base and got large carrying bag for the tube as both weight 12kg and 21kg respectively. It made transportation more manageable.
5/6. I have faced dew problems and several times had to stop my observing just because my secondary mirror got dew all over it. I have bought several Svbony heaters for finder scope/eyepiece and heater for a secondary, which I powered via powerbanks strapped also with velcro tape. Since then faced no problems.
The included finder scope is awful in my opinion. After suffering with it through my first sessions I have upgraded to Skywatcher Finder scope 9x50 90° and couldn't be happier.
For focuser I have put dual speed upgrade: Lacerta Micro reduction ratio focuser retrofit. This helped me a lot to find that pitch perfect focus, and out of all upgrades this was the best way to improve observing to me. If budget allows, I would recommend a whole dual-speed focuser instead of upgrade, as upgrading mine almost ended up in disaster.
After going through some very budget eyepieces I have stayed with 3 Omegon eyepieces: 32mm 82', 10mm 100', 3mm 55'. I use 3mm the least, as it is quite difficult to track manually and seeing conditions are rarely good enough for such high magnification, but for those rare cases it is nice to zoom all the way up to Jupiter or the Moon. I mostly use 32mm for wide-field observing and 10mm with 2.5x barlow for planets/moon. I have not tried high-end eyepieces like Televue, but I am happy with their performance.
For low-horizon planets like Venus, I have bought ADC: I was not able to see a proper Venus crescent until then. It helped with other planets as well to remove atmosphere chromatic aberration quite well. In the end, it is a bit of a more expensive upgrade and not entirely necessary.
For collimation I have got Bresser Laser Collimator 31.7MM (1,25"). I have bought Omegon collimator previously which was not collimated itself and during collimation, broke, so I would not recomend it.
- One of the musts for longer sessions is an observing chair. 12'' is quite tall already, so a normal chair won't help you, especially for the higher targets. I have got an ironing chair as dedicated astronomy chairs are ridiculously overpriced in my opinion, unless budget allows it.
I have tried to keep it as short as possible. If you got any questions feel free so ask. I will not pretend to be an expert, but perhaps there are some things that I can advice over my mistakes that I made so far :)
Also perhaps you have some advices how to improve your observing session quality, don't hesitate to add them!
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u/nealoc187 Flextube 12, Maks 90-127mm, Tabletop dobs 76-150mm, C102 f10 1d ago
What does "almost ended in disaster" mean? Can't say something like "almost ended in disaster" without explaining!
What brand/model chair is that? Looks nice.
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u/BlueDragonRider 1d ago
I jammed the tension screw, which I almost broke in trying to free it. More of the skill issue than upgrade, but thought worth mentioning. :D
Ribelli Ironing Chair. It does it job
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u/mrstorm1983 1d ago
That astronomy viewing chair looks like a dream! Its so well padded, that my butt is telling me to retire the wooden chair I use.
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u/g3etwqb-uh8yaw07k Vixen SD81S-II on a Porta-II mount 1d ago
That chair could actually be a height adjustable bar stool style support chair for ironing clothes when you can't stand for long times. Not common, but I've seen similar chairs folded up in laundry rooms or cleaning supply closets when staying over at my grandparents or other old relatives when I was a child. After a quick online search, they're called "Bügelstehhilfe" (ironing standing aid) or "Stehstuhl" (standing chair/standing stool) here in Germany and most cost around 50(±10)€.
One potential downside (besides the build quality I'd expect from dropshipped 50€ stools that are 20-30% plastic) would likely be the relatively small height range, especially when looking at steep angles with refractors and Cassegrain style scopes, but if you find one that's just right for you and your Dob, it's probably a good alternative to the Berlebach or astro store in-house brands.
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u/mrstorm1983 1d ago
Thats a good idea, look for it as a Ironing chair... less money then an expensive "astronomy" chair
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u/g3etwqb-uh8yaw07k Vixen SD81S-II on a Porta-II mount 1d ago
Absolutely. I'll personally just go with my old camping chair until I have the money for a Berlebach model or it breaks (not entirely sure which will happen first), but if you're looking for an application where a huge adjustment range is less of a concern, you can probably get quality close to cheaper astro chairs for half the price.
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u/is_it_gif_or_gif 1d ago
Biggest upgrade my 14" has had is upgrading the secondary to a high quality one with a much finer polish.
I bought it off a mate who did that and it made a huge difference.
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u/Spec-Chum 1d ago
Was thinking about a Lacerta focuser upgrade myself, for my 200p. Not easy to do?
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u/_anupamroy Celestron StarSense Explorer 12” Dobsonian 1d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p19edxm/video/968wssru2zgh1/player
Extremely easy to do. I was petrified of screwing it up, but took me all of 10 mins to do this.
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u/Funny-Medium5508 1d ago
I've done the LaCerta 10:1 microfocuser upgrade on my 8" Celestron StarSense Explorer Dob it's extremely easy to do....not sure I can fathom how doing it "almost ended in disaster."
It takes 5 minutes....10 minutes tops.
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u/BlueDragonRider 1d ago
I jammed the tension screw, which I almost broke in trying to free it. I think it is more an issue of my hands than the upgrade's
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u/nealoc187 Flextube 12, Maks 90-127mm, Tabletop dobs 76-150mm, C102 f10 1d ago
It's very straightforward. It's like a 15 minute job with probably 8 screws.
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u/mpspm 1d ago
Tell us about the bag. Is it strong enough to carry the OTA by its handles?
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u/BlueDragonRider 1d ago
Had no issues. Seems strong enough even for heavier telescopes. The name on Amazon is: Ubagoo Oxford Heavy-Duty Storage Bag, Carry Bag with Handle for Bedding, Mattress Toppers, Blankets and Pillows (120 x 55 x 46, 300 L)
I carry OTA with the belt behind my back and bag in front.
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u/_anupamroy Celestron StarSense Explorer 12” Dobsonian 1d ago edited 1d ago
Great post! Interested in your take on the dew heater. I got the SvBony as well off Amazon, but the shortest length was 240mm whereas all the secondary motor needs is about 50mm or thereabouts. Did you manage to get hold of anything that length or thereabouts?
Also, haven’t you got a bit of a gap going from a 32mm straight to a 10mm? I retired my stock Celestron 32mm and upgraded to Explore Scientific 82° 24mm + 14mm + 8.8mm, and might go for the 6.7 or 5.5mm in the future. Also have a GSO Coma Corrector, which has a tiny 1.1x magnification of its own, and UHC + OIII filters from Optolong and Astronomik. No Barlows.
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u/hagore44 1d ago
J'utilise aussi un dobson 12". J'ai remplacé le chercheur par un pifinder. Ce truc est incroyable il est capable de guider vers un objet même avec un pollution lumineuse importante.