Helios Newtonian Telescope 8 inch to buy or not to buy.

[steelfixer]

Any one know anything about these.

Apreciate some honest opinions.

thanks

graham

[Madhatter]

Steer well clear, it wouldent be the black one on ebay would it?

Similar to seben, junk and probably best for spare parts.

Honestly its not worth messing around on ebay unless you know exactly what you want.

Save up for if you need to and get the 200p skywatcher, you will be much more happy with it!.

[haitch]

Any one know anything about these.

Apreciate some honest opinions.

thanks

graham

Helios scopes are now Sky-Watcher. Helios still make reputable binoculars.

Just try to avoid one of the "short tube" ones. I.e. with a focal twice the length of it's tube. Whilst they don't suffer from the incredibly poor optical quality of the cheap chinese ebay scopes, and they are nice and portable for aperture, they are difficult to collimate with a laser due to a corrector lens in front of the secondary (I've got one - it was my 1st scope). I don't actually think they made short tube 8"ers but thought I'd mention it to be on the safe side.

[steelfixer]

Thats what I needed to know.

The skywatcher it is going to be.

Thank you folks minds made up now off to visit the shops.

[haitch]

No not like Seben - Seben have a (very poor) barlow in the focuser tube. Helios (and Celestron produced near enough the same one) use a field corrector securely mounted in front of the secondary. I've seen through a Seben and one of these and I have seen the difference.

The above only applied to the short tube versions in any case.

[Madhatter]

Sorry, i wont try and give advice when im oviously not ready too then..iv read in several places that there useless but for parts. but have no personal exsperiance with them.

You have to ask yourself about price though, most decent telescope seem to bring back at least 2 thirds of there original price, sometimes over three quaters-is it really likely to get a 8" on an eq mount for that price?

[haitch]

Also point out the one with the broken tripod bracket I've just looked up on Ebay (if that's the one you are looking at) is on an EQ5 with polar scope. You can even see it has a skywatcher focuser with the exchangeable "hat" adaptors for 1.25" and 2" (with the faded anodising on the 1.25" unscrewable T thread bit).

Look at the specs here - it is essentially the same scope as the skywatcher Helios Newtonian Reflectors

Not everyone knows that they're the same as Skywatcher so bargains can be had - people like brands they know.

[Madhatter]

Well dont i feel stupid, sorry steelfixer, dont listen to me.

"walks away with tail beetwen legs and sits quietly in the corner until i have learnt enough to help others"

From now on i wont aunser questions, just ask them, safer. lol.

[John]

It can be confusing because the brandname "Helios" has recently started to be used for poor quality scopes on e.bay - similar to the Seben ones.

The older Helios scopes (black tube, white brand name) are what has now become the Skywatcher brand and there are some bargains to be had there. This one looks OK for example (I think this is the one already mentioned):

Helios Newtonian Telescope 8 inch (D=200mm) | eBay UK

I think this illustrates why E.Bay can be such a minefield unless you know exactly what you are looking for.

I don't think Madhatter needs to feel embarrassed at all - it's much better to be cautious than rash. "Act in haste, repent at leisure" as the saying goes

[haitch]

Well dont i feel stupid, sorry steelfixer, dont listen to me.

"walks away with tail beetwen legs and sits quietly in the corner until i have learnt enough to help others"

From now on i wont aunser questions, just ask them, safer. lol.

Don't worry - it's better to err on the side of caution. There's not a lot of knowledge about these scopes and, because of short tube ones, do tend to get mixed up with the Seben ones - I just happen to have owned (and still own) one so know the difference. My father-in-law bought a Seben while back so I have been able to put them side by side.

[haitch]

Yep, that's the one I saw.

And their refractors are none too bad either (same as the Star Travel and Evostar I believe).

[Naz]

Along with others on here, I have owned a Helios 102 refractor and can vouch for the build quality. They were in black and made in Tiawan IIRC, and of the same build quaility as the similiar Skywatcher scopes,(some think they were better ) which replaced them. They are not anything like Seben, they are far superior.

They are the same as the Skywatcher replacements, the name was changed around 5 or 6 years ago to Skywatcher.

I would happly buy another Helios, knowing it is the same scope as the Skywatcher, just a few years older.

[Madhatter]

How much of a bargin is this scope?, i hate the idea of someone losing out on a deal because of my bad advice. and now steelfixer is down the shops, is it likely to still be around in a few hours?.

Im thinking about buying this on my ebay account, using the buy it now, and then letting steelfixer collect if he wants or try and arrange a corrier myself if he dosent want it.

[GazOC]

Its decent enough. Skywatcher OTAs only go for around £120-£150 secondhand so the buyer is pretty much getting the mount for free.

[Madhatter]

Ok iv just bought it, Steelfixer i hope you dont mind me doing this i just dont want you too lose a deal, and it sounds like a good one. please let me know when your back from the shops. and If you want this scope.

If you dont want it no worries and no pressure, i will reimburse the seller there fees and they can relist it.

[steelfixer]

Things have been moving fast and furious on here in such a short space of time.

Madhatter you have just restored my faith in people.

What a generous thing to do.

I think I have answered your email but if you do not get my reply let me know and I will try again.

Thank you.

Graham

[steelfixer]

Madhatter I have just emailed the seller to explain what is going on.

I have requested they refund your payment and I will pay them cash on collection.

They should contact you to confirm this.

thank you once again.

graham

[Madhatter]

Hi graham, i hadent payed for the item just yet so no refund from the seller needed:) i just wanted to secure this scope for you so it didnt sell to anyone else, it would appear to be quite the bargin. il let you know when i hear from the seller.

sorry once again.

Enjoy your new scope:).

[haitch]

I've just looked again at the listing and realised the seller is In Walsall which is just up the road from me. If you have any problems or want someone to go with you when collecting let me know and I'll try to avail.

[John]

Good outcome folks

You will enjoy that scope Graham

[spaceboy]

I had an 8" Helios and it's an absolutely cracking scope easily on a par as my new SW Explorer 200P. The only reason why I bought a new SW was because I'd made such a hash of cleaning the mirrors on the Helios. The only fault I would pick was with the Helios and older Blue tube SW's was that instead of spring load adjusters on the primary they relied on rubber compression washers and this meant I was forever having to collimate. I'm sure this was not so much an issue when the washers were new. Another thing with the Helios that goes against it is the R&P focuser. Although you can smooth the action with PTFE and adjustment it is at the end of the day a R&P and so prone to backlash. This said in it's favor I found that with a SPC900 webcam all the planets came to focus with no need for adapters etc. This is not possible with a crayford fitted as I was unfortunate to find out after adding one to my Helios. Mine came with the same EQ mount & Tripod and TBH the aluminum legs even filled with concrete was a total waste of time and made getting a sharp focus near impossible due to vibrations. The EQ4/5 mount could be easily upgraded with 2" SS tripod legs from a CG-5 and this drastically limits the amount of vibration. If you do decide to go for it make sure you keep the polar scope in a safe place as this will be an earlier EQ4/5 mount head. The PA bore is not as wide as the newer EQ5 mounts and these original PS are becoming difficult to come by.

For the price and if you plan to build a pier/ sturdy tripod you would be hard pushed to find a better scope for the money but be aware that at some point SW took over from Helios and SW started making 6-8" newts way back in 1996 so this scope could well be a few years old so make sure you give the mirrors a good once over before you part with your hard earned cash .

[haitch]

I notice it hasn't got the longer f/l ep with it (usually 20 or 25mm) so you might want to look out for a longer f/l ep if you haven't got any already. The 10mm ep included isn't the best (usual for EPs included with Helios or Skywatcherscopes) but if the Meade 9mm is ok you might be alright at that end.

If you are collecting in the day this week I am working from home so could come along. I could even bring my laser collimator and give it a quick alignment for you to get you going as the seller says it needs it.

[steelfixer]

many thanks for the info.

I already have a pier set up and waiting.

I will let you know how it goes in the near future.

thanks to all for the advice.

graham

[delsix]

Hi, I actually own one of these scopes. I was very pleased with it but had nothing really to compare it to. Just recently I had a chance to compare it directly with a Celestron 125 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain. It was no comparison really, the Helios was better in every respect and as long as the price is good I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them (this only applies to the 8" Helios that appears to be the same as the Skywatcher 200p, I have no knowledge of any other Helios produts). I hope you get as much enjoyment out of your new scope as I have from mine.

[steelfixer]

thanks for that i dare say i will get more enjoyment from this than i have from my seban.

I am begining to think maybe seban means 'great frustration' in german. lol