RobertI

I'm quite excited by this, looks like it has been designed as an ultra quick setup, portable goto mount. No wires needed. I think one of these with Skysense and a 6" SCT or small frac could be the business. Sensible price too.

Thanks Chris, well I wouldn't the Tal or the Megrez if you hung on to yours, so thanks! I would say it's definitely worth not resisting....if you see what I mean....

I have just acquired a Heritage 130P Flexitube for quick observing sessions in the garden (thanks @JonF) and amazingly I had a chance to test it on the very first night under a very transparent and steady sky. This is what I found..... Unboxing It’s a lovely little package! The dob base is very nicely finished, solid and surprisingly heavy although the carrying handle makes it very grab and go. The movements are smooth and there is no play once adjusted. The dovetail shoe is very sturdy with a chunky knob. The OTA is very lightweight and nicely finished. The various parts of the OTA (struts, single spider vane, focusser platform) seem like they should not be solid enough but that does not seem to be the case, although I understand that the use of heavy eyepieces can cause some minor flexing so I restricted myself to use of lightweight eyepieces. The helical focusser as has been mentioned numerous times by other owners is too wobbly, but the previous owner has added plumbers tape to make the threads fit tighter. I checked collimation with a homemade collimation cap, attached the OTA to my mini giro (my preferred mount) and proceeded to the garden to observe… In use I have a bit of stray light in the garden and the first thing I noted was that this interfered with the light path and the views if you are pointing in the wrong direction. A shroud is definitely required unless one is in a very dark place. I quickly made a shroud from a C8 dew shield and proceeded. Observing at the zenith was a real pleasure with a newtonian and much more convenient that a frac or SCT. Away from the zenith I found I had to lean over the tube to view as the eyepiece was not far enough to the side. Sadly this is not adjustable, but is probably fine when on the dob base on a table and you are leaning down to view. It was a bit tricky knowing where to grab the scope to move it, the struts dont seem like a good place to grab, so I ended up pushing the base of the OTA. Vibration was not a problem, but the scope did take a few seconds to calm down after moving, probably due to the light weight mini giro mount. A light breeze might cause vibration issues though. The focusser was just about ok, although refocussing was needed regularly. The red dot finder worked fantastically, no complaints at all. Optical Performance With a seben 8-24 zoom in I started to view some well known objects. M13 was very nice with plenty of outer stars resolved. Many more stars were visible than in my Tal100RS but much less than in the C8, as expected I suppose, but great performance for such a cheap lightweight scope. The double double was an easy split on both pairs, instantly visible. Stars were very tight with nice diffraction rings, so no issues optically. The ring nebula M57 was surprisingly good, with brightening of the outer ring visible and a clear milkiness to the central hole. Next time I'll try a higher magnification. Alberio was a beautiful sight with lovely colours and tight stars. Towards the end of the session I thought I would have a go at the Eastern Veil, not expecting to find it with all the ambient light around, but to my amazement, there it was looking like a curved mini milky way, just larger than the field of view. There was detail in there for sure, with mottling and hints if strands, and on a dark night with an OIII filter I reckon I could spend a long time observing that one. Summary After reading all the excellent reviews of the scope, I was not disappointed. It really is a cracking scope and just about as good as it gets for grab and go observing. Its 'back to basics' feel belies its optical capabilities, and strangely made me want to use simple cheap eyepieces to just to show what is possible with budget equipment. Next time I shall be using the supplied Kellner eyepieces and trying to resolve Einstein's Cross!

Looks like it's working very well indeed, the finder is picking up plenty at 1 second including M57

I wish them the best of luck, it looks like a great idea. I know EAA/video astronomers have been using image intensifiers for many years to (I believe) enhance the eyepiece view. This new product seems to be bringing together a number of technologies with some interesting twists namely, the head up display, the sharing of data and the direct comparison of the eyepiece view with the enhanced view. Personally I would not be that interested in paying to share data, and I think the head up display would not work for me, but I like the idea of the enhanced view and being able to compare this with the eyepice view.

I have a Skywatcher 130 Heritage on the way in the next few days, I am planning to use the OTA on my mini Giro so was not planning on using the altaz base. I think I'd like to just get it first and have a play before I commit to selling the base, but if you are still looking for something, say end of next week, then drop me a PM and we can have a chat.

Thanks! Will have a look now.

Scope now sourced, thanks @JonF.

PM sent

Yes chris I saw this myself and was intrigued, I guess there is a bit of a gap in the market for ultra portable imaging scopes of this size. I do like the electric blue colour scheme!

Lucky you! Look forward to seeing your results.

Hi all, I'm looking for a Skywatcher Heritage-130p Flextube. Planning to use on my mini-giro mount for for quick grab and go views, so not too worried about the the altaz mount that comes with the scope. Anyone got one that they would like to sell? I am based in north Essex. Thanks for looking Rob

That looks like a perfect combination for an electronic finder, wide enough FOV to get target even if gotos are not very good, sensitive to pick up fainter objects. Do you have a spare Lodestar for EAA on the main scope or do you need to switch the Lodestar out of the finder?

Fascinating post, I've learnt a lot from the discussion and links. Initially I would have said 100% a bird as it appears to be flapping at the beginning, but the close up seems to indicate a man made shape, and the flapping could be tumbling instead. It certainly does look cylindrical. I should have learned by now on this forum not to jump to conclusions!

Wonderful images, amazing 'marbling' effect.