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Hello again, After a lot of you gave me some good suggestions for what my first scope should be someone had suggested the Skywatcher a heritage 130p. I just wanted to know if anyone has had this scope and would to share your opinion/experience with it. I was looking something portable and under £200 and this seems to fit. But when scopes are usually this cheap sometimes they don’t perform that well. Also I wanted to ask is having a open tube a problem for dew etc. Many Thanks, Ps (here is the original post if you have anymore suggestions) someone had mentioned

I recently got my telescope (130p) the views are amazing, but I ran into a problem, my 3x barlow lens wont focus and it seems others have similar issue and I need short barlow lens for this telescope. Can anyone with this telescope recommend me some barlow lens that will work on the 130p? Thanks.

Hello.. First of all would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped me narrow down and help me decide what scope I should get has been a long month trying to decide The scope I’ve decided to go for is the AZ Pronto and 130p as it’s the best one I can afford which suite my needs..( could’ve gone bigger but had to lower my budget ) im going to mainly be using this scope for hunting faint fuzzies ( Clusters and Galaxies). My skies are reasonably good, I don’t suffer badly from light pollution. As I have not used a proper telescope before as I have mentioned I wanted to know what is possible with this scope as I don’t want to set my expectations too high ( not expecting Hubble images). Would I be able to make out some of the ngc galaxies near Triangulum for example? Even if they appear to small and faint? Even if they don’t have any detail I just find it fascinating that we can see objects that are so far away.Would also hope you could give me some targets for me that I should look for when I get it which will hopefully be very soon I have turn left at Orion which I’ll have another read through but wanted some of you to tell me your experiences if you’ve had the 130p again thanks for all the help in the previous posts and of course in this.

Hi all, after the long wait and many questions needed answering, my new scope from flo should be arriving tomorrow . However there is one thing I am concerned about and that’s the tripod for the az pronto . I haven’t seen any reviews on this mount apart from the first impressions thread on here that one of the mods posted. The max weight stated on FLO for this is 3.8kg which isn’t a lot at all. And I don’t know how much the 130ps weighs as I can’t seem to find a weight for it and I’m sure with the finder scope and eyepieces on top I’m probably near the limit or over it. Do you think I should get a better tripod for this mount ? And if you do what would you recommend I would like to keep the tripod light weight still like the one it comes with but obviously with a bit more payload capacity as I’m worried the vibrations maybe too much. Many Thanks Edit: the actual payload capacity is 3kg and the overal weight with scope is 6.8kg..

Since getting my first scope (130p on a az pronto mount) last Tuesday I haven’t had much luck with clear skies as it seems to be a curse when you get new astro equipment. I kept checking the weather forecast and today they said that it was going to be cloudy for tonight ( again ) . But when I looked out my window at around 7pm I could see Orion in all its glory. So as quickly as I could I grabbed my scope and mount in one hand and the eyepieces in another. Wasn’t that cold out for once so didn’t need my bobble hat or gloves! As this was an unplanned session I didn’t read up on what targets I should be looking for and also I forgot my torch which is never a good thing. However as Orion was very clear and detailed tonight I thought I would look at the Orion Nebula. Managed to locate it through the red dot finder that came equipped with the scope, the finder was roughly aligned slightly out of place but good enough and then I used the slo mo controls which are very easy to use to center it in the eyepice. I’ve never seen Nebulae through a scope before and was worried I would be disappointed after seeing all those Hubble pictures with incredible detail and colour.However I was very wrong. I would never have thought a grey smudge would be so amazing to look at. Through the 25mm eyepice it looked liked grey wings covering the FOV of the eyepice with three stars in the middle of it. So after spending about 10 minutes looking through the 25mm I thought I would swap it for the supplied 10mm. Again the view was very good though not as sharp of view that i had with the 25mm and I think I may need to buy a better replacement. Anyway after being in awe with Orion I’d thought I would have a quick look at The seven sisters. I’ve seen m45 before with my binoculars but wanted to have a look with the scope. The view was much better in the scope I could see more starts in the cluster then I could with the binoculars after spending about 10 minutes looking at the cluster I saw a satalite quickly move across the FOV which seemed to have an orange light ( would of liked to know what it was) . So after taking my eye off the eyepice I could see that the clouds were starting to role in and was starting to rain so called it a night. I have to say Astronomy is probably one of the most relaxing and most fascinating hobbies that I’ve gotten into. so far I’m very impressed with this scope it’s extremely portable which I wanted for reasons like tonight it’s a perfect grab and go scope and easy to use however the supplied 10mm could be better but I can upgrade that. Has been a very good purchase for £200. Thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far and hopefully many more enjoyable nights and reports to come

So a few days ago I had my first light with my 130p and had a successful time with it I managed to view the Orion Nebula and also M45. The weather wasn’t great then but I still managed to get great views of both these objects. However tonight shall we say, was my first test on using the scope properly. Around sunset there were no clouds in sight and if there where any they were heading west but only a few and it stayed very clear from sunset till it got dark.During the sunset I looked out my window and the view was quite amazing I do like my sunsets but I saw something and I’m not 100% sure on exactly what it was. The object was extremely bright and on its own with nothing around it ( it wasn’t the sun )and was facing west and I had a look through my binoculars and I thought it was Venus but I’m not a 100% sure. I’m hoping that one of you can confirm what I saw during the sunset. If it was Venus or even mercury then it was my first time seeing either of them. Or I might be completely wrong As the weather forecast once again wasn’t acurate ( using BBC ) for the night I decided to risk it and leave my scope out half an hour before I went out they said there was supposed to be rain and some patches of cloud from about 7pm onwards. However i was quite please to see that there were no clouds in sight, whew. My main goal of the night was to see my first Galaxy. I’d thought I had seen Andromeda through my binoculars before but I was not sure that I saw it. I still need to get the hang of star hoping I still find it abit difficult but I guess the more I use the scope I’ll get used to it. Anyway I started with Orion as that’s my main starting point and thought I’d check out M42 again as the conditions were abit better then last time. I was pleasantly surprised that I could see more detail. I could even see the trapezium of stars within the nebula with the 10mm eyepiece as some of you suggested in my previous report that I should be able to see it. Then my next target was m45 again the view was really nice could see all the stars clearly. Now as stated before my main goal of the night was to find my first Galaxy. After looking at M45 I knew that the Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxy were close. I was using stellarium on my tablet ( with night vision mode) and also the sky and telescope pocket atlas which I bought from @JemC both worked quite well together as I still struggle with the atlas. I followed the Perseus constellation to find the Triangulum constellation which I think I managed to find. Near those constellations I saw to big yellow dots. Both of them were about arms length of each other. Looking at them with the naked eye they looked liked bright yellow stars with one slightly dimmer than the other. Now I’m again not sure if these were Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxy And I may be completely off and after looking at stellarium I noticed there are few galaxies around that area.First I aligned the finder scope so the “ yellow star on the left ” was in the field of view I then put in the 25mm eyepeice And could see a grey smudge which at first I thought it was a patch of cloud but then after double checking I realised it wasn’t. I am stil not sure which Galaxy I saw but it was absolutely incredible. I must confess I did get goosebumps. After carefully trying to get it in focus I could see a bright yellow light which was glowing straight through it kind of like a spike of light. And the out side was a grey smudge. However after spending about half an hour looking through the 10mm eyepice I could start to see some black inner circles which I was thinking might be the dust lanes? And also I could see a part that was slightly deformed. It looked like a small circle looked different from the rest and I thought that might be m32 but may be wrong. Finaly I wanted to see the Triangulum Galaxy. This was slight smaller then the one I had just looked at but looked similar. I could see a grey smudge with a bright core and a disc type shape. Like the Galaxy i described before. Again the center of the galaxy had a bright yellow light. And I could also see The same type of black inner circle after spending about half an hour or so observing.Even if it was smaller then the other one I was very impressed in what I saw and both of them gave me goosebumps. I’m certain these were galaxies I double checked by looking at the stars around it to make sure that they looked different and they did. I really hope that you can confirm in what I saw and also confirm on what I described in the beginning if it was Venus or not. Thanks very much for reading sorry for the extremely long report but wanted to share what i had seen today Thanks for reading and clear skies

Hey guys! Its me again... I know what you are thinking ? there is not such thing as a cheap mount for astrophotography...and i agree with you! I just want to know if there are any significantly cheap mounts (under 100 pounds) for my skywatcher heritage 130p that can give me maybe 15-30 sec exposure time max. Thanks Kronos

So guys after lots of advice reaserching and reading for the last 2 months i ve decided that i m going to either get a Skywatcher 200P(DOB) or a Skywatcher Heritage 130p(DOB) If i get the Dobsonian i ll be using it about once or twice a week (if i have clear skies that is) i ll be taking a taxi to a semi dark sky location(atleast darker than my light polluted neighborhood) about 1.5 km away so the transportation cost will be close to nothing.I ve heard lots of great reviews about this neat 8" telescope and am tempted to buy it !(its going to be for visual i am aware of the earth's rotation) On the other hand the Smaller more portable Version the Heritage 130p is a very neat telescope for its price(i ve heard) Its half the price of the 200p! I ll be taking this out almost every time i get out of the house(for walks or meetings with friends etc) I ve read part of the thread in cloudy nights and it seems like a great telescope! I ve even seen some very nice pictures with it (i know u need a mount). So what do you think guys? Should i go for the 200p or 130 p? I need the best value for money!

Hey guys. After many years of waiting, I've decided to finally go for my first telescope. Yet, today find myself stuck between two excellent entry-level options, so I'm looking for some help. Before I get straight to my questions, I'd like to share some information about what I'm expecting to do with the equipment (among other stuff). - Objectives: Deep Sky, and some planetary observation. No interest in astrophotography, GoTo, or any other device (maybe/eventually in the future). - Budget: Given complementary I'll be getting a 2x Barlow (SkyWatcher; achromatic), and a starguider laser collimator (1.25-2), these are my two best available options to fit on its range. - Light pollution: Low-Med. Being that said, here are my questions: - Mount: After days of heavy research, so far hardly found a review about it; What do you guys think about the AZEQ AVANT type of mount?; Could it beat Dobsonians?; Would it be a better option in my case? and if so, why? - Conventional Tube vs Heritage's Compact Flex Tube: What are the differences (pros-cons) I can expect from one and the other? (despite no difference between mirrors and diameter). - Explorer 130P AZEQ AVANT (newbie question): Would it be possible to transport the whole structure armed from one spot to the other in my yard? Any help/opinion welcomed. Happy 2019!

After deciding what eyepieces I’m going to get I’ve decided that I would like a filter for Nebulae to use with my 130p. However I’m a bit confused on what the difference is between the types of filters. For example when looking on FLO I see a UHC,UHC-E, UHC-S and a OIII filter. They also have a similar description apart from some saying that this is best using with a larger scope or smaller scope and it also states forbest using in light polluted areas. I have attached a screen shot from the clear outside app so you can see what my sky is like. Any help on this will be much appreciated Many Thanks

Finally had a clear night which coincided with not being too tired, not busy, plus my better half was out for much of the evening. Even the toddler went to bed with no problems. I wanted to try out two things mainly. The first was a Synscan handset I acquired from Astroboot, and the second, also an Astroboot purchase as a present for the children was a Heritage 130P. This was without the base and ideal to go on either the Giro-WR or AZGTi. Being on a tripod makes it easy to get the eyepiece at a sensible height for the children. Tonight though, no short people around, I just got the chance to play myself. I setup in the back garden, eyeballed a level for the tripod then powered up. I now use the Tracer battery rather than the internal AAs and the mount now seems to slew with a little more purpose, lasts a lot longer obviously. Alignment was trivial. Power on, set the time, two star align choosing Vega to manually slew to first, centred in the 24mm eyepiece, then chose Polaris as the second star. It got close but not in the fov so I centred it again, alignment succesful. Note that I did not bother going to higher power for more accuracy, but I still found that most objects were within the field of view on gotos. A couple were just outside but easily found. I find the AZGTi very impressive, simple to use, compact but very effective. The Freedom find clearly works too as the alignment remained accurate even after moving the scope manually a few times. When I first used the mount a while ago it had backlash in az, and during the first use developed quite severe movement in alt. I was a bit disappointed and hoped I would not have to return it. I got instructions from Skywatcher via FLO and sometime later found the time to try them out. After removing the cover it was very clear how to adjust the two worm gears. They were both loose, explaining why I was getting movement. After a bit of experimenting I found a good compromise in adjustment and the mount now performs as I would expect. I acquired the handset largely because the mount will not work with SkySafari on an iPhone (well it will but you need two devices, one for the Synscan app and one for SkySafari, too cumbersome for me). The handset worked well. I actually find it easier to use when centring objects because you can feel where the buttons are without having to look up. The database is bigger in the handset, particularly for SAO doubles which is something I found lacking in the app. If they ever do manage to fix the mount so it works properly with SS I believe I can still have the handset connected to have the best of both worlds. The Heritage was not supplied with a Finder which I found a little annoying, I guess I didn't read the description fully, but the SkySurfer V fits to the mounting point without too much trouble so this problem was overcome. I tried a few targets first just to get the hang of things, Double Cluster which looked surprisingly good in the 24mm Panoptic, M57 was a tiny bloated star in the 24mm but at higher power showed its ring shape nicely. A brief comment about the Heritage focuser at this point. I actually find it better than I expected. Yes, there is some slop which is a little annoying but it was quite possible to achieve a good focus by gentle adjustment. My eyepieces these days are a set of BGOs plus a 3 to 6 Nag zoom and 24mm Panoptic. The BGOs focus much further in, so what I learned to do was find the focus point for the BGOs and then leave the focuser there. When swapping back to the Pan or Nag, I simply pulled them back out so they were in focus and then tightened the locking screws, followed by a little tweak to focus. This saved the frustration of winding in and out constantly. I will try the plumbers tape mod to improve the slop as I think this will really help. I keep wondering if there is a possible mod to put a decent focuser on the scope but actually it would be a shame to lose the simplicity and lightweight of this scope. Next stop the Double Double. Whilst this split just about (if you squinted a bit and used your imagination), it showed the collimation needed a tweak. Back to Vega and defocused star test showed it was a little off. Not disastrous but worthwhile tweaking. This proved very simple too, loosen the locking screws, then adjust, recentreing after each tweak to check. The beauty of such a small scope is that you can be looking in the eyepiece whilst adjusting, it took me a couple of minutes to get it looking good. Refocusing and immediately Vega looked much better. Back to the DD and it was much improved, a clearer split with the Nag at x130. Compared with the Tak, which gives beautiful bullseye stars it was still a little messy, flaring a little and nowhere near as clean or aesthetically beautiful, but the splits were there. What can you expect for such an entry level scope, good stuff. I had expected much worse diffraction effects from the single stalk secondary mount but the reality was it was a lot less noticeable than some scopes I've used with 4 vane spiders. They were 10, 12" and 16" scopes so the additional aperture and brightness will have caused the larger spikes but either way, the Heritage was very good in this respect. The sky appeared very clear and stable, best I've seen it for a while although the dew was quite heavy. At one point the secondary dewed up so I had to use a hair dryer to clear it. I think a lightweight shroud is needed to prevent dew and also to cut down glare from the open Truss design. So, other targets? Back to the Double Cluster to enjoy the improved collimation. Lovely star colours showing through. NGC457, an old favourite looking amusing as always M27 was faintly visible without filter, but I added a Baader OIII filter and that brought it out much more. Not much detail but not bad. The Blue Snowball was tiny in the 24mm, better at higher power but no sign of blueness. Darker sky and better dark adaptation needed I think. M31, normal fuzzy oval but M32 picked out well. No sign of 110, skies too bright. M45 was really nice. Could do with a slightly wider fov (not possible in this scope) but it fitted in and Alcyone with its three companions look lovely. The collimation was looking great and the star shapes surprisingly good. Alberio, lovely star colours in the 24mm Mizar, another old favourite, always delivers Polaris I was quite surprised with, the primary was nicely controlled and the little pinpoint secondary showed very clearly. Nice Somewhat optimistically I typed NGC6992 into the handset, with the OIII in the 24mm. To my surprise I could see the arc of the Eastern Veil quite clearly. Not much detail visible under local LP but I reckon a dark site would be quite rewarding. Panning across to 52 Cygni I could again see the Western Veil as it passes by the star. Impressive to see this from home with such small aperture. I'll get this scope under a dark sky soon to try it out further. Uranus was my last success of the night, clearly non stellar but presenting only a tiny white disk even at x162. No sign of colour, I suspect the frac would bring out more colour but would need to try as I can't remember. I've certainly seen it as a greyish green before but can't recall which scope that was in. Neptune was a possible but not sure as my phone died and I could not match the star fields to be certain. I also tried for Caroline's Rose without success. It should have been in the eyepiece but nothing there, I do find this quite a subtle target with the LP round here, more aperture required most likely. M81 and M82 were poorly positioned in my 'Heathrow Glow' direction so I could not see them either. So, a very good little session with this mount and scope combo. Next time I will pop the Tak on although the AZGTi does enjoy the lighter weight of the Heritage I think. For nebulae I suspect the additional aperture will be worthwhile too. A long old report in the end, apologies, just nice to have something to talk about even though the objects seen are hardly exotic! Pleased with the little 130P, very good value and performance and a great match for the AZGTi

hello all just got back from an extended holiday through France , Italy and Greece. We took a VW van , camped in France and Italy and then stayed in an apartment in Greece. I took the Heritage 130p flex tube along and as some others have asked about a portable setup I thought I should report back. The scope was packed in a plastic gardening trug , the OTA wrapped in a towel and laid on the dobs base in the trug ,and then assembled at each location and either stored in the corner of the tent or the apartment. I needed to collimate at each outing as the scope was rattled around over 3000 miles of road, but just a 5 minute job with a Cheshire. In truth , in Italy and in France the lights on the campsites made viewing not great ,but in Greece the view over the sea was good. Highlights were , sitting behind the van , to avoid the lights, at 2pm in the morning on a French campsite listening to a Dutch guy snoring in the nearby tent and the mossies buzzing but seeing the Whirlpool Galaxy for the first time. In Italy viewing the Moon , Mars and Saturn over the Umbrian hills. (see Pic below) In Greece , most of the time we had the Moon above but for a few days we had moonless skies. My wife , myself and son lying on the sunloungers on the beach in the dark while I pointed out the various constellations and then spotting shooting stars . then on the way back to the apartment crossing a particular dark part of the beach and noticing the milky way ( dont see that at home) When we got back to the apartment ,I set up the scope on the balcony and we scanned across the milky way , I saw a large nebula ( no idea which one, the Mythos was flowing) It was deemed as awesome by my teenage son and his mate. On another night we introduced the folks in the bar to the ISS spotter app and we all clocked it skimming over the Greek mountains. Interestingly as Greece is at 39 degrees latitude (home is 53 degrees) I could see the Sagittarius "teapot" over the sea. A carepoint. I stored the scope , in the setup you can see below, with the light shroud around the trusses , however now I notice that the mirror is filthy. I should have closed it when not in use. I will be washing the mirror when I receive my distilled water The scope was great and I would highly recommend it to any travellers. As a separate post I will be asking where to upgrade from the 130p , but I will not be getting rid of this little gem. Additional note: The Sky and Telescopes Pocket Sky Atlas was very useful but my new all time fave book is Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders by Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, in my opinion even better than Turn Left at Orion. Its clear directions and great illustrations lead me to the Whirlpool Galaxy..very recommended.

This topic has probably been started hundreds of times .... but, I'm a newbie to this so going to ask anyway. Is there any means of attaching some sort of Mount for a smartphone to the aforementioned Skywatcher Heritage 130p scope, if so do any of you knowledgeable guys know where I can purchase one or maybe even make a contraption that will do the job ? Looking forward to your replies stewspark.

I have made a light shroud for my 130p out of a sleeping mat. Very easy , three holes, one for the focuser and one for each strut stud. Then a slot for the dovetaill bar. I tried self adhesive velcro on the mat and on the body of the scope but it kept peeling off. So I use two bungies , one on top of the front aperture ring and one on the body of the tube. The mat extends beyond the scope tube so hopefully will help against glare and dew. I will be flocking the inside of the mat and the tube. Even if it doesnt work its well hippy cool.

I wanted to be able to level my 130p and I want to be able to sit down to observe. So I butchered a tripod for a EQ2 mount ( bought for £20 from Astroboot) and added a plywood circle to form a table for the 130p. I now have a small robust table which can be leveled like a tripod. While I was at it I also added nut inserts to the bottom of the plywood board and some speaker spikes I had in my "dont throw anything away" box. M6 bolts would also fit. The board can be used as a leveling table separate to the tripod . Many thanks to Happy-kat for the setting circle patterns which I will be adding to the top board of the 130p.