Here's my Dobsonian Telescope saga...

We’re probably a lot alike, if you own a Dobsonian telescope.  I’ve owned a Meade 12.5” for years and I love it… and hate it at the same time.  I absolutely love the views but my biggest frustration has always been its lack of a drive system.  I bought the scope for it’s deep sky capability but the trade off was no drive system.  Even lugging this big thing around seemed like a small price to pay.  

I always wanted a large scope that would let me view the “faint fuzzies” as well as the solar system objects.  I also wanted to spend my time viewing… not adjusting the position of the tube.  Pushing the tube around to keep the objects centered in the eyepiece isn’t tough to do at lower magnifications, but it does get to be annoying after a while.  Higher magnification is a different matter altogether… it nearly impossible!  My higher magnification viewing sessions really turned into a hand / eye coordination exercise. 

After using my Dob for a while, I was getting more and more aggravated with the constant tube pushing required to keep the object in the eyepiece field of view.  I also wanted to start doing some limited astrophotography, which was just about out of the question with my non-driven Dob.  (Yes, I know that there are already millions of astrophotos out there, but I really do want to take some photos of my own.)  Somehow my Dob went from being my favorite “ultimate scope” to an “ok scope”.

To solve all of this (I thought), I bought a smaller refractor with a goto system.  Don’t get me wrong, it tracked well and the goto worked great but the views were nothing like I was used to in my big Dob.  I went back to my Dob.  Now I was really frustrated because I missed the tracking capability of the small refractor.  Building a tracking platform seemed like the perfect solution.  The platform worked well but there were now more issues to contend with.  I didn’t like having even more equipment to haul around and set up for every observing session.  This was turning an enjoyable observing session into real work… not fun.  Also, accurately setting the polar alignment was just about impossible and way to fiddly for me.  You know the story… poor polar align = drift.  So… I had constructed a system that only sort of solved the problem.

I reached the conclusion that installing a drive system on my Dob was the only REAL solution that I’d be truly happy with.  I imagine you and I are a lot alike.  Guarding my “hobby dollars” is very important to me and I always want to make sure that my money isn’t wasted.  That’s why I ruled out building a system.  I’m actually quite good with electronics and mechanical design but my biggest fear was that I’d end up building a “so-so” system that didn’t have the accuracy or features that I wanted.  For me, that wasn’t a solution.  If I’m going to spend money on this stuff, it had better be a good investment.  Anyway… my search was on for a good Dob drive system. 

To make a really long story short, I did the typical searching through a number of forums and telescope user groups and finally landed on the Tech2000 Dob Driver II system.  This system has been around for a long time, gets great reviews and is really battle-hardened.  Being the skeptic that I am though, I wanted more feedback and proof about this system.  I was fortunate enough to find a number of Dob Driver II owners willing to share their knowledge and experiences with me. 

Luckily for me, one of these owners was a member of a nearby astronomy club… and he also happens to be an award winning astrophotographer.  He actually invited me to look at his system AND he even put the system through its paces under the night sky.  I was impressed!  The system design was straight-forward and the Dob Driver didn’t add any real complexity to the setup at all.  Alignment was simple and it tracked very well… even at very high power!  Plus, his system had goto and autoguiding capability.  All of these things were exactly what I was after.

Just to be sure, I did check with a couple of other Dob Driver II owners to get their impressions.  One actually sent me a video of this system that he had just installed on his new Lightbridge Dob.  Impressive!  He said it took less than 4 hours to install, start to finish!  All of the feedback I received about this system was the same.  Simple to install, easy to use and works great.

I went ahead and posted this Lightbridge video here at http://www.astronomycoe.com/flv/dobdrivervideo.htm , so you can look at it if you want.  (You can also look at some of the astrophotos some of these Dob Driver II owners sent.)  The page is sort of snarky because I set it up in a hurry but at least you can see what I found.  I figured that since I’m only sharing this info with a few people, I’m hoping there won’t be too much criticism about the general appearance. 

The research that I did was enough for me!  I checked with Tech2000 about the system, but I was a bit disappointed with some of the news, to be honest.  I found out that the price had increased to $995 and it was going to be increased again to $1,095.  To make matters somewhat worse, I found out that the autoguiding port and goto functionality were options NOT included in this price.  So… I found a great system, but the price was higher than I wanted to pay and this didn’t include all of the features than I wanted.

I’m not the least bit shy so I spoke with Dave Masters, the owner of Tech2000, about all of this.  Here was my two cents worth.  I felt that both the autoguiding port and the goto capability should be a part of the base system.  In other words… that these “optional” features should be included for free.  I also felt that the price should be lower (because I’m cheap).  They will be letting me know within a week whether any of this is possible or not… and I actually think we’re getting very, very close to an agreement on this.  I also told Mr. Masters that other Dob owners might be interested in this system, if the package were attractive enough.  He’s mulling it over… so I’ll let you know how it goes!

There are very few products I get excited about, but the Dob Driver II is one.  Since I was able to see and use one first hand, read good reviews and have gathered very positive user feedback about this system, there’s no doubt in my mind that this system will solve my frustrations with the basic Dob. 

I’m going to keep really close tabs on this as it progresses.  I’m also setting up a priority email notification list to keep you informed if a “special deal” DOES happen.  If you would like your name added to the priority notification list, just fill in the simple form below.  If you'd prefer to send a message, you can email me at  dobinfo "at" astronomycoe.com.  Just put “Add my name to the priority notification list” (or something equivalent) in the subject or body of the message.  Just let me know and I’ll keep you up to date.  I’ve set up this list so I’m not bothering you with unwanted email.  We all get enough unwanted email these days and I don’t want to add to the pile.   

Clear Skies!

Steve