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Our tests with our 12" Skywatcher have yet to be successful. I will be picking up my Astrid tomorrow, Saturday, so maybe that will help.

One issue we've had is that the scope gets out of collimation when travelling. Two questions:

(1) How do you keep the vibrations low when in transit so the mirrors stay aligned?
(2) Is there a preferred collimator? I clearly need to get one.

Kevin:

Not sure what model you have and what you mean by "tests", but I have a 12-inch Sky-Watcher 300P GoTo, WiFi controllable scope. It gets transported A LOT - in the back of a pickup, and I rarely, if ever, run into collimation issues.

I transport the OTA laying on its side in the original large cardboard box it was shipped in (see attached). I put 5-inches of soft foam in the box, under the OTA to absorb any sudden jolts.

After you collimate the primary, there are "lock-down" knobs next to the collimation knobs that you tighten down. This "locks the collimation in place". After I lock down my collimation, I seem to have little to no collimation issues. Are your mirror clips loose?
My 2ndary has never needed re-collimation in the several years I've had it.

I do my collimation with just a standard laser collimator - see attached.

Also....
If yours is a GoTo and WiFi capable, forget the bulky SynScan hand controller and use the SynScan app for Android phones - and control the scope via the WiFi app (it's MUCH easier).

After a "north level", and 2 star alignment, I just type in the RA & DEC of my Target Star and the scope almost always slews itself to within 1 camera FOV of the Target.

Other "mods" I did....
* I designed my own motorized focuser (via a gear motor)
* I added a 2nd place to put the finder - on the metal tube that also holds the mirror
* Added resistors to the back of the 2ndary as an anti-dew unit
* Stuck a bubble level to the base
* Built a 3-wheel dolly to move it around the yard, and out to my truck (rough weight of the scope is about 100lbs - 50 for the OTA, 50 for the base). The dolly saves my back!

George

George covered this… but to add my two cents, I have used multiple dobs up to a 20 inch obsession (Westchester Amateur Astronomers) that I added digital ‘Push To’ setting circles to… and the best method is with a laser.