Celestron NexStar Evolution

[bernsel]

Just bought and broughtt home my NexStar Evolution, 8 inch, and have been unpacking it tonight. It feels like a great scope and mount, especially the mount I would say - high quality throughout. The only negative is the included visual back, and diagonal and eyepieces that does not seem to be of the same quality as the rest, and I am very happy I got a 2 inch visual back + diagonal + eyepieces - the difference between them and the included ones is big. I have so far only been able to look at buildings around me (from my bedroom window), but hope for clearer skies on another day for proper watching. 

I got the three eyepieces to start with, the Televue Panoptic 41, Televue Ethos 17 and Televue Delos 8. It feels like they are all of very high quality, and so far the Ethos is my favourite. The image is very clear in all of them, but Ethos has the best eye relief of the three for me. Now I am going to sudy the manual, and try to learn how to operate the telescope. 

I got all my things from Widescreen Centre in London, and Simon there has been super helpful and most kind. Can really recommend the shop.

Will try to share some more observations here as I go along, and maybe get advice from other Evolution owners as well?

/F

[Digger1895]

You say the mount is good, are there any of the vibration issues the 8se suffered from?

[bernsel]

I never had an 8SE so I can't compare. But just looking at the mount it seems much sturdier - it feels high quality. The tripod is different though, while the mount feels very good, I would say the tripod is average quality. It is not exactly bad, but it lacks that feeling of very high quality. Any vibrations created I think come from the tripod rather than the mount. I will definitely be getting the vibration suppression pads from Celestron later on, to put the tripod feet on.

[Mr. Bill]

Like you I haven't had much of an oportunity to use my Nexstar Evo8, that thing about a new telescope becomming a cloud magnet the day you unpack it,however I have not noticed much vibration. I star testyed it on Antares, collimation was spot on and with a 9mm eye piece there was no noticeable vibration even when focusing. All in all I believe I am going to really like this SCT.

Clear skies and of course, "Keep looking up!"

Bill

[bernsel]

I think that the vibration I experience might be because I have the scope/tripod on the floor of my apartment, and since I live in central London, the floor will vibrate just so ever slightly when for example cars pass by outside. Not much, but still noticeable in 254x magnification with the Delos :-) So I guess and hope it will become much better once I take the telescope out and put it on proper ground. Might do that later tonight, as it is clear skies here today! Not sure where to go though - perhaps Primrose Hill could be a good place(?)

[bernsel]

Just want to report that I got to see a few nice stars yesterday night, from home. Not great seeing in any way, but it was still exciting to try the telescope out. The Televues are amazing as far as I can tell, and the telescope is really easy to manoeuvre and control with the build in handset. I have still to try the Sky Portal app.