I Finally Quit and Bought an Observatory! Nexdome Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- After a few years of setting up and tearing down my astrophotography gear, I finally took the plunge and bought a Nexdome observatory. I was excited to make the leap to a permanent setup, but things didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped.
In this video, I’ll give you an honest review of the Nexdome. While it has some great features, I encountered quite a few issues getting everything to work properly. From setup headaches to operational failures, it wasn’t the seamless transition I expected.
Join me as I walk you through my experience with the Nexdome-what went wrong, what I fixed, and whether I’d still recommend it to others. This is the reality of setting up an observatory!
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Nexdome shoud be ashamed of themselves for such poor fabrication, and quality control. You for sure made it known to them, and hopfully going forward, they will improve. Hats off to you, for been so patient with them. To have a Dome is awesome. Enjoy.
OMG ! I’ll be crossing Nexdome off my list . I’m too old for that level of DYI anymore . Hats off to you and your determination .
You have done a sterling job in fixing all the issues with your new dome. Just send them your invoice for all the additional manhours and sundries used to correct all the problems. $150 an hour should cover it ☺️. Your patience is infinitely greater than mine. I'm sure your video will be of great help to others who are considering using this observatory brand. Cheers
You are absolutely right! There is nothing like having an observatory. I do more observing now than ever before. I bought a Skyshed pod and have enjoyed it. No more setting up. This was really important since I am now over 70 years old.
Congrats on the OBS project completion Rich! Nice work getting through the NexDome morass! It is beautiful and I hope it continues to work good for you for many years! Great vid, I think it is a service to viewers to let them know how it really went.
Cheers!
Doug
Thanks Doug!
as a mech. engineer, I'm pretty shocked...kudos for your direct approach in fixing things others havent thought about
Wow what a slap in the face for customers. Thanks for the vid !
Really stunning that there would be so many issues. I can imagine that variability in installation can cause lots of support problems, but the QA is obviously lacking on their end. Hope it eventually makes things easier for you.
Hey Rich....I just finished setting up my used !st gen Nexdome, I Love it! But like you it came with it's own issues. You will probably be tinkering for ever! I Love it because I have done more Imaging since I bought it, than the previous 2-3 years combined! I'm already set up to image tonight, just have to hit start in the Sequencer from my couch.Enjoy
That is a clean looking unit. I hate the look of the ones that have stars and moons moulded in making it look like a kids backyard toy
Awesome, Rich. Good for you!
Great video ! Nexdome should certainly fire their design and QC staff. But hats off to you for your patience and for being able to fix all the issues by yourself. Looking forward to seeing DSO images from this setup !
Wow, nice video. i want an observatory too, but not with the need of being a craftsman to get it assembled. Look forward seeing the great shots you surely are going to get from there. Congrats !!
Congrats on the observatory and I'm very sorry to hear of the troubles you had with it, it's a good thing you figured a lot out on your own. It's a shame that a company is putting out product like that and then blaming the customers for their issues. Looks like I will stay away from this company
Thanks Bill! As someone else perfectly put it, it's my beautiful nightmare! lol
Thanks so much for your review. You've offered a great service to those of us considering this product. I know now to look elseware.
Great, honest review! I'm glad they at least gave you a refund. It's disappointing they tried to make you feel like the problems with the observatory were your fault.
Thanks Mark!
Congrats!!! 👏👏👏
Wow, what a shocker from Nexdome. Still, you beat it into submission! Enjoy the lack of setup, I know I do even with my manual diy observatory.
Great video and one of the most honest I have seen, but wow. Just wow. The whole point of the observatory kits is to be relatively easy to put together and just get going out of the box. I had been thinking about going with one of these but after this review I will not be. Not even because of the issues you had with the dome itself, but I just can't support a company with such poor customer service.
Dammmm!!! For sure Jealous!!! Super deserved!!! Congratulations brother! Shutter switch sounds like a space ship! I would have done the same thing. I just looked them up! SHEESH! For you to have all those problems is simply unacceptable! You are better than me. I might have packed that thing back up, slapped a label on it and sent it back!
Thanks man! Believe me, it crossed my mind, but shipping was stupid expensive for this!
Congrats on the observatory! This is one of my dreams and I've already looked up specs on roll off roof sheds. Now all I need is a new house and a yard.
Also a shame about all the things that should have been manufactured properly. No reason for any customer to drill their own holes or 3D print their own parts.
Clear skies!
Thanks Naz!
Loved the intro, I quit... Setting up and packing away every night 🤣
This was not the video I expected for all those issues... She there were a lot :| glad you eventually got it setup!! Hope it doesn't cause you more problem!
Great video! I was the first to get the new shutter automation system in August '23 and had all of the problems you talked about. I e-mailed back and forth with Babak about the mounting brackets not fitting. I explained what was wrong and how to fix them but he said it was designed that way (not to fit I guess). I had no documentation, limit switches were wired backward, broken wires in the plastic power box and the software didn't work to control the shutter. I could never get it to calibrate or reliably run with intermittent power from the power block. I eventually got an Arduino board with wifi and wrote my own ASCOM diver and control software for the shutter. It works well with N.I.N.A. I did get the sprocket and guides to work fairly well with much work but would like to change to the system you have for the chain guides and the power connection to the slip rings. Thanks again for the information in your video.
Very nice! That is going to be awesome!
Congratulations on your decision to bite the bullet!
I'm jealous. I live on a steep hill with no flat area to place a dome. I know I can cantilever over the edge, but that would be so precarious and constantly eroding any foundation. Easier to just buy some flat land in a remote dark site. But I hate driving, so would rarely visit. I wish I had a 14" RASA in a dome.
I'll have to live with what I got. A twenty foot flat area in my driveway. Bortle 4, close enough for a light telescope rig to carry in one trip, and obtain images in under 10 minutes.
Congrats and clear skies, sorry they failed at customer service. Seems like the norm now a days, sadly.
Yep about everything you mentioned is what I've fought with. I don't have a shutter kit to worry about thankfully. My dome is only about 10' from my back door so I open and close it manually. My rotation is driving me nuts. Like your fixes and will give it a try. Thanks for the video.
Congrats! I need to get out of our Bortle 6 bordering on 7 and move to a 3 or 4 and then get a dome or roll off.
Jesus. I’ve seen guys cut a Dome from plywood and have better luck. I don’t know if I would have your patience, but once you’re several thousand into a project, it has to get done!
It's been 40/60 for and against nextdome from what I've seen I er the years. Sticking with my roll off
Bravo !!! 🤗🤗🤗
Well done and great mods. Sounds like I would have sent it all back and went with something else. Way too many issues. Glad you gave a real world review. I’d never buy one….
Very cool! I wish i had space to put a Dome but i have like no space 😔
Thanks for the detailed report, think I'll stick with telegizmo cover for a while.
It sounds like a horror story.
Should have put a concrete coloum for the mount and got rid of the stand. Would make the space so much better inside.
Agreed! I plan on doing that maybe next year.
Seems like the astro shop I purchase from also carries this brand, so I decided to check the price. Your setup appears to cost around €10k over here, not including shipping, so I guess it'll be rougly the same over there. For that price, I expect way better fit and finish, and less bullshit from their aftersales service dept. Thanks for letting us know which brand to avoid.
Dang, and I posted this before we got to the power block. That's utter jank! This feels like some cheap Chinese product assembled from whatever they had laying around. Those parts are utterly unsuitable for the task at hand.
And the nerve of that support guy, to refund the motor without discussing it with you first, just so they wouldn't have to support it anymore. That's not how it works! They can't unilaterally decide that, especially given that you bought that motor as part of a complete integrated setup. If would've been different if you purchased this separately later, but this was part of a $10k system. Imagine purchasing a convertible, and when the roof refuses to open, instead of fixing the problem, Chevy simply refunds what you paid extra for the roof. You would drive that car straight back into the dealership, and not even bother aiming for the door.
it is a first time when I saw your smile
WOW. What a HUGE pain in the ass! I would've been irate. I don't even know if there's a comparable alternative as competition, which is probably a big part of the problem!
that lip at the base of the dome is nothing but a rain collector and will most likely get nasty over time no? Best to keep that clean and dry as often as possible.
Rich, thank you for your unvarnished review.
@cryhavoc38 Yeah it's already dirty.
They should provide a service to deliver and install. I don't think I can install it by myself.
I have a 1 acre plus lot where I moved to off grid. Have been thinking about something like this. Thanks for the review. I'll stay away from this company for sure.
This tells me if we all work together we can help out each other much better 😊
I just assumed you lived on top of empire state building :)
🤣
Nice! ....uuum I see you still have your wedding ring on, does your wife know you bought this awesome unit??🤣
🤣 Shhh...I told her they gave it to me!
Pffff.... The moment I want an observatory to, I will make my one after seing this video.
Sorry you had to go through all those problems. What is your confidence level your observatory will survive a strong thunderstorm and get through a snowy winter? Did you have to get a building permit to put this one your property? Why did you choose this brand over other brands? I certainly wouldn’t choose them after this review. OK, I’ll be dragging my equipment out tonight to set up and tear down.
Very low. I've had maybe 20-25mph gusts and it was fine, although it would flex the top of the door. That's why I want to try and shore that up. I plan on bolting rings in the concrete pad, one in the front and one at the back. Then throw a strap over the shutter and connect it to those rings when I know a storm is coming, just in case. Other owners say it's survived high winds, but I'm just too scared to test that. We'll see what happens in the winter. I fear those shutter tracks will get packed with snow/ice, and I won't be able to open the shutter. One guy said he put used motor oil in them and the snow/ice never sticks. I really don't want to do that, but I'm gonna try WD-40 or something similar. I'll just have to figure it out as I go through the seasons. There's really no other brands with this form factor at this price that I'm aware of.
After watching this they should be ashamed to sell something like this!
Congratulations
Any issues with cooling down to Telescopes?
Would the dome track the sky ?
Nope. I usually open it up an hour before I start. Yes the dome tracks the mount
A $1250 refund? How much did that garbage cost? “Don’t expect it to be an out of the box solution”? For money which allows them to give you a $1250 refund, you’re damned right I’d want an out of the box solution. Where is this garbage made? A small chinese owned island off the coast of Tasmania? They should be bloody ashamed and that refund and their reason for it (ie to get you off their back) is disgusting. I’ve always said us astronomers get ripped off by the industry for ridiculous pricing for the simplest of parts and this proves it with an added bonus: Shoddy workmanship they don’t even seem to care about.
Rich, kudos to you. Nexdome really dropped the ball. Not good at all! They need to step up big time.
Remind me my sky-watcher 150mm newton, I had to change, remake many parts. So bad concept, poor quality. Only the focuser is ok ( last generation )
I'll never buy a Canadian brand anymore.
Wow... Any recommendations for an easier unit if you could start over?
Nothing in this form factor or price point.
wow... I looked hard at a nextdome... I am handy myself and I can tell just by your video that this is a POS... off the list but man... good job getting that working...
Wow. What a clown act. Sure seems like there's room in the market for a real engineer to design a good dome solution in this price range and crush NexDome. Thanks for putting this video out.
No NexDome for me!
Deserves a pier
Yep! I'm thinking I'll do that next year!
soooooooooo youre saying buy a SkyShed POD-S instead..... got it.
Wow, what a beautiful nightmare.
Perfectly put!
Very poor engineering.
Awfull construction, awfull support!
This way of editing videos where you cut out every single space between sentences is incredibly annoying. It’s very fatiguing to listen to more than a few minutes.
For Shorts it’s fine, but for a whole video I simply had to stop after 8 minutes and didn’t want to come back and watch the rest.
Congratulations Rich!
I would drill a hole or two in the door and fill it with expanding foam to make it more rigid.
That would be a good idea if it was hollow. It's just thin ABS.
I think that anyone buying something like this should expect a bit of a project... But holy cow man! You wouldn't expect all that, and have CS wash their hands of you. I'm gobsmacked.