The mount weighs 6lbs and collapses to 28.5″ long. I use it on a Bogen 3011 tripod with a UA DwarfStar head. The telescope’s standard Vixen-style dovetail allows it to be used on a variety of astronomical mounts without modification. The OneSky’s provided base is too bulky for me to travel with so a mount that packs smaller is needed. When a collimation touch up is required the scope’s length makes it extremely easy as I can look through the collimation eyepiece and simultaneously reach the adjustment screws for the primary mirror cell located on the back of the OTA.Ī simple travel eyepiece set of consisting of a 32mm Plossl, 8-24mm zoom, and 2.25x Barlow covers the scope’s capabilities pretty well with a max TFOV of 2.5º at 20x and high power of 180x. The scope seems to maintain collimation relatively well over several sessions. Compared to a solid tube reflector the OneSky requires maybe an extra 10 seconds to extend the OTA. These are impressive designs but they prioritize aperture over ease of setup, which is not what I am looking for right now. There are custom built travel Dobsonians that provide 8″ of aperture in a package not much bigger than the OneSky. A Celestron C5 provides similar aperture in even less volume and weight but the OneSky has the advantage of going over 1º wider with a 32mm Plossl. The OneSky’s collapsible tube packs 5″ of aperture into a 16″ long package and the helical focuser has a very low profile. The OneSky appealed to me for its packed aperture to volume ratio and ease of setup. Every one has their own circumstances and priorities and so travelscopes can look quite different from observer to observer.Īs I mentioned in the general review of the AWB OneSky Telescope, my intent when buying the OneSky was to use it primarily as a travelscope. To my thinking a travelscope can be any telescope setup that prioritizes volume and/or weight over other concerns such as aperture or mount stability.
AWB ONESKY REFLECTOR TELESCOPE PORTABLE
Thus begins the search for a more portable telescope or travelscope. Of course trying to fit a telescope into a car already packed with the whole family and all the associated cargo can be a challenge. The darkest skies I regularly encounter are on family trips to rural areas. Living in suburban Massachusetts I’d have to drive significant distances to get to skies much darker than the one available from my red zone backyard. The surest way to improve any telescope’s performance is to get it out under a darker sky. This photo was taken before adding the shroud described below.
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