Comments on the Teeter Telescopes

Anyone using or looked thru a Teeter Telescope? What do you have to say?

Thanks
John

I've had a Teeter 16 inch for a couple years.
About as well-made as any of the premium Dobs.
Well-engineered with features like diagonal
heater and large fans installed and wired-in.
Wood work and finish are very nice -- not
quite fine furniture quality, but very pleasing
nonetheless. Scope frame (upper tube, truss
assembly, mirror box) are well-designed and
very rigid -- more so that some other makers.

The scope arrived in relatively good collimation.
I've seen some other makers where proper collimation
was somewhere outside the available adjustment
range -- requiring some mods to fix. Rob seems to
have paid attention to proper optical alignment.

Mine did have a couple "warts" like it would
not quite reach the horizon -- elevation bearing
placement was a little off. On the other hand,
I almost never observe that low.

Also primary mirror cell was a little loose --
did not have a positive lock-down like some
others -- Rob's cell bolted-in from the sides
rather than from the bottom.

Rob used a tilt-out mirror cell
on mine -- you tilt out the rear cell and pull
out the mirror for transport. Some scopes
I've used were designed so that the mirror+cell
were removable, and I think I like that design
a little better -- less chance of touching the
mirror front surface. But its a relatively
minor point.

Virtually all premium Dobs I've used had some sort
of minor issues as delivered from the factory. Or
needed some sort of mods, like adding fans to the
mirror box, wiring, etc. Or needed mods to the
truss structure to make it more rigid.
In this respect Rob's scope was very solidly
engineered and relatively "complete" as delivered.

I can't really comment on Rob's optics, as I had
already bought the optics before I approached
Rob about building the scope. But his mirror
providers do have good reputations.