Discovery DHQ 10

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I have a 10" f5.6 Discovery Telescopes Dob. I think they call these "DHQ" now. Mine has a Pyrex mirror and a 2" focuser. I substituted a Telrad (at some cost) for the 8x 50mm finder. Total cost was about $600 2 years ago. It came with two good quality Plossl's and a moon filter. They were accommodating and allowed me to get different focal length Plossl's then their usual stock set so that I would not duplicate my collection. they responded fairly rapidly (48 hours) to e-mails and were nice on the phone. They had no problems with my customizing the scope. (At that time the stock 10" was a f4.5, but they were doing a run of f5.6 mirrors so ...)

The scope is a cardboard tube dob. There is not too much metal behind the mirror.  There is room to mount a fan. The base is laminate on particle board. I only had to re-drill one hole. I used a router to fix the screw holes underneath the top half of the lazy susan (ground board) so that i could recess them below the surface, before that they rubbed which added to friction in azimuth.  Other than that the mount is ok.

The tube is well "blacked" in the inside with matte flat black paint. The spider has 4 arms and adjusts with supplied allen wrenches.  It has adjustable trunions on the bearings to allow you to accommodate heavier eyepieces. This is usually not a problem.

The 2 inch focuser is unusual. The 1.25" adapter screws into the 2" part. So changing to a 2" EP involves unscrewing the 1.25" adapter and then screwing in a 2" adapter ring. The 1.25" adapter has a 1 and 1/2" long adapter. There is no similar adapter for the 2' ring. I had to buy a tube extender from Lumicon to get my 2" EP to have enough "out travel" to focus.

Instructions were Spartan.

After all this. its been an "ok" scope. Until I got a new Dob (20") it has been my primary observing scope. The mirror seems to be pretty good.  Collimation on the primary is tool less. Performance on planets and moon is limited by the atmosphere, not the scope. The aperture opens up a whole range of deep space targets. Coma has not been a problem. Once I got through the intial things commented on above, this scope had been a tough and reliable work horse. It stands up to cub scouts and public outings and gives great views. Isn't that what its all about.

Initially quirky, but a good performer in the long run.

Submitted by Rodger Blake - rabradman@aol.com - Huntington, West Virginia