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Skywatcher Evostar 150, 1200 focal length


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Hi all.

Not posted on here for a very long time.

Can anybody give me any advice on how the above scope performs?

I am thinking of buying one and upgrading the focuser too.

I already own the 6in star travel version, and it has surprised me just how good this scope is. Yes, there is the is the false colour fringing present, as per a fast achromat, but it is not not as bad as I expected it to be on this scope. Will the longer focal length version be slightly better here?

The 150 Startravel really has surpassed my expectations.

It would be great if any Evostar 150 users could advise me of their experience of using this scope?

Thank you for any advice.

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Go for the 150 f8. It's a wonderful scope for deep sky and planetary/ lunar views. Any generic copy, Celestron , Helios or old blue tube will do. It's about 20lbs unloaded. The stock r&p focuser is not really fit for purpose. A SW Crayford will help with evening up the ota on the dovetail.

Ca is no really an issue, I found that a Baader semi apo 2" filter down the diagonal to all but eliminate it. You might need an extension pillar on the mount . This'll help avoiding observing on your knees and the ota hitting the tripod.

Following my enthusiasm for refractors, my mate Patbloke picked up an ota on Friday for £200 complete with dual speed focuser and a 2" diagonal. The guy had scratched the ota terribly. There were rough bits of metal on the rings and the felt had worn thin. A bit of flocking on the dew shield and a wipe over and it's lovely. The objective was just dusty. A clean with optical fluid on optical cloths soon got it sparkling. We found the collimation spot on.

Testing it that night at the club, we found 100% cloud cover.

From the edge of town , it gives comparable views to my 8" Newt.it's also very kind to eps and a generic 8-21mm zoom works a treat,

Nick.post-6974-0-95192300-1440933585_thumb.jppost-6974-0-39874300-1440933657_thumb.jp

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Hi all.

Thank you for all your advice. I will be using an Heq5, but I also have a large heavy duty upswing alt az mount, similar to the Televue Gibraltar, but much bigger. I use this mount for all my visual observing, it is heavy, but quick to set up. I will have to consider a pillar extension to accomodate the extra length.

I was considering the APM 152, 1200 focal length, at one point. At over £3000, is this scope going to show me any more than the Evostar 150? I very much doubt the APM is going to give me £2500 worth of difference over the Evostar, especially in our light polluted skies? Obviously the APM is going to be built much better and the ed optics will give me views free of false colour.

I can live with the fringing on the Evostar, after all the startravel is better than I expected and what false colour there is, isn't visible on the fainter objects, is a great for wide field viewing, it performs well.

Thanks again for all the great advice and pictures, it is much appreciated.

Cheers.

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And oh yes , it shows deep sky as good as a mates 8inch Meade SCT , with a larger field of view with any given eyepiece and takes 300x plus on the moon and planets on a good night , did I mention I love mine ???

Usable on a EQ5 but much better on the HEQ5 like mine , sweet for visual .

Brian.

post-18525-12257_thumb.jpg

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Hi Brian.

That's a great looking setup you have there. It's great to get so much information, especially when it is international too, that's brilliant.

I notice you have your Heq5 set up on a surveyors tripod. Did you need a special adaptor to fit the eq head to it? It really look brilliant mounted on a wood tripod.

Thanks.

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Ha ha brilliant I noticed this thread and scrolled up suddenly realised a couple of photos looked familiar... Yes, is my new 150mm beast! Nick under plays the cleaning and slight mods we did with this beautiful find... I prefer to say it was £199 with a £1 tip... A few pence on new dovetail bolts, some of Nicks left over flocking.

At the moment the beast has been striped down and the tube and dew shield are now at the spray shop... I will put some pictures of the fully pimped up scope when ready! Needles to say I am so excited about my latest acquisition :-)

One thing I am unsure on is can I get a pillar for a Celestron AVX mount?

No telling the colour Nick until the unveiling !!

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Hi Brian.

That's a great looking setup you have there. It's great to get so much information, especially when it is international too, that's brilliant.

I notice you have your Heq5 set up on a surveyors tripod. Did you need a special adaptor to fit the eq head to it? It really look brilliant mounted on a wood tripod.

Thanks.

Hi Graphic , this is the William Optics hard wood heavy duty tripod , yes a surveyers tripod but optimised for astronomy with an accessory tray and it takes the 60mm diameter of the bases of Vixen GP/SP, Synta EQ4 / 5 and HEQ5 mounts and many other clones , I used the bolt from the stainless steel tripod .

There is nothing wrong with the s/s one just to short for he 1200mm fl of the big refractor , the WO tripod is 400mm taller and very solid , a nice bit of gear that allows seated viewing of the zenith with comfort , not sure if these are still for sale , last ones I seen was Telescope house , Germany under their own brand name .

Worth every cent for these awsome scopes .

Brian.

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Ha ha brilliant I noticed this thread and scrolled up suddenly realised a couple of photos looked familiar... Yes, is my new 150mm beast! Nick under plays the cleaning and slight mods we did with this beautiful find... I prefer to say it was £199 with a £1 tip... A few pence on new dovetail bolts, some of Nicks left over flocking.

At the moment the beast has been striped down and the tube and dew shield are now at the spray shop... I will put some pictures of the fully pimped up scope when ready! Needles to say I am so excited about my latest acquisition :-)

One thing I am unsure on is can I get a pillar for a Celestron AVX mount?

No telling the colour Nick until the unveiling !!

Looking forward to seeing the results ! if you don't already know ,,,, I love these scopes , often maligned by the APO police but these offer a taste of BIG !!! refractor heaven for little outlay as you found , man 199 quid ! , bargain .

You will enjoy this scope , congratulations .

Oh yes , grab an extention pillar , you wont be disappointed as this allows the tripod to be set lower ( sturdier ) and you wont get leg clash when the scope is pointing up a small price to pay for a way better setup , the AVX will hold the OTA easily as these are on par with the SW HEQ5  in strength a nice mount .

Brian.

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Derek (DRT) has recently got one I think so will have some views on its performance. I think he was pretty pleased with it.

Yes, I have the Helios branded version and I love using it. I have a Baader Semi-APO filter in it so no problem with CA and have upgraded the focuser to one of these and it completely transformed the use of the scope as the stock R&P focuser on the Helios was truly rubbish.

I'm not sure how important it would be to you but it is worth knowing that some of the Helios branded 150 f8s have collimatable objectives, as do all of the blue tube Skywatchers. All of the black diamond Skywatchers have fixed cells.

Best of luck, Paul and I am glad you are happy with the ST150 :wink:

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Looking forward to seeing the results ! if you don't already know ,,,, I love these scopes , often maligned by the APO police but these offer a taste of BIG !!! refractor heaven for little outlay as you found , man 199 quid ! , bargain .

You will enjoy this scope , congratulations .

Oh yes , grab an extention pillar , you wont be disappointed as this allows the tripod to be set lower ( sturdier ) and you wont get leg clash when the scope is pointing up a small price to pay for a way better setup , the AVX will hold the OTA easily as these are on par with the SW HEQ5 in strength a nice mount .

Brian.

Brian,

I only seem to be able to find a pillar for HeQ6 I need one for the AVX any ideas...(same fitting?) I've never looked at pillars before... Pillows? Yes plenty, in fact I've just lifted me head off one rather late for a Saturday :-(

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

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Ha ha ha , pillows , but seriously the AVX has the standard Vixen 60mm bottom , so any pillar designed for the Vixen GP/SP mounts Sky watcher eq4 , 5 and HEQ5 and the clones of these will do and yes the EQ6 is larger diameter about 70mm , just google skywatcher pillar extension , I had one a while ago and they are awesome , easy to fit and do a cracker job .

Brian.

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If the Celestron AVX uses the same base design that the earlier CG5 did then the HEQ5 / EQ5 pillars will fit. They have a 60mm circular projection from the mount base as Brian says and tend to use an M10 mounting bolt. The EQ6 actually uses a smaller projection (30mm I think) than the HEQ5/EQ5 so the EQ6 pillars won't fit the mount base or tripod top.

The north peg can usually be removed from the pillars if that gets in the way - it's bolted on rather than cast.

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