Skywatcher Heritage 130P

[ronnietucker]

DISCLAIMER: This is my first 'scope, so I've nothing to compare it to.

Skywatcher Heritage 130P

The Heritage 130P comes in a very nice and decorative box which celebrates several decades of astronomy. In the box is the scope itself, two eye pieces (I also got a 2x Barlow with mine) and two instruction books. One book is for general setup of the scope (which is pretty much nil) and the other is an interesting booklet about astronomy, types of tripods/mounts, eyepieces and other stuff.

OUT OF THE BOX

The Heritage comes pre-assembled. There's nothing for you to screw together. Pull it out of the box and pop and eyepiece in it. That's pretty much it.

Oh, wait. I tell a lie. There is one thing to set up, the sniper scope (as I call it). The idea is that you switch on the sniper scope, look through it, and point the red dot at the planet you want to look at. In theory when you look through the lens that's the thing you'll see in your telescope. Takes a bit of fiddling to get it aligned, but it is worth it. You need to get a bright star/object in the middle of the telescope lens then look through the sniper scope and adjust it until the star/object is in the middle of it. Once that's done. You're definitely good to go.

The scope itself is decorated with the names of those who've made a bit of a splash in astronomy over the past couple of hundred years. Nice. Takes away from the plain looks-like-a-washing-machine design that some scopes have.

The cheap biro pen gives you a sense of scale.

DARKNESS MY OLD FRIEND

Right, now that it's dark I can try the thing out. To extend the scope to its full length you lightly unscrew (by hand) two bolts which allow the rods to slide up and down. After loosening the bolts you slide the top up until it clicks into place. Tighten the screws, pop in an eye piece, take off the cover and you're ready to rock!

EYE SPY

I'm no expert on lenses (or scopes for that matter) so this'll be short. I got a 10mm and 25mm with my scope. From what I can gather thus far the 10mm zooms in more than the 25mm will.

Below I'm holding the 10mm lens and beside it is the 2X Barlow that I got for free:

I can only assume, at this stage, that the 2X Barlow will multiply the appropriate lens by two. Here's the 10mm lens in the Barlow:

MOONING

First target: the moon. I started with the 10mm (alone, no Barlow) and could easily see craters and what-have-you. Where the dark meets the light has more shadows and gives more detail. The 25mm lens lets you see the entire moon (still with details). Adding the 2X Barlow seems to get closer, but gives a smaller viewing area.

It was at this point I got a bit more adventurous and decided to try taking some photos of what I could see. Not as easy as it sounds! With my 12MP digital camera I got nothing. The field of view on the camera was much wider than the viewing area in the lens so I was left with a fuzzy photo which had a small vignette in the middle and an even smaller blurry moon in the middle of the vignette. Having watched a lot of Macguyver when I were a lad I decided to botch things and hold my mobile phone to the eyepiece. This worked perfectly. It has a 5MP camera and gave some excellent results for a first time botch.

25mm lens and taken with a mobile phone camera:

CONCLUSION

The scope with the three eyepieces cost around £150 from Scopes & Skies. I'm not sure if they're still doing the free Barlow, so check before you buy. But in my opinion it's worth every penny. I've still to explore the many areas outside of the moon and other planets in the solar system, but I'm looking forward to the adventure. So much so that I've set up a blog detailing my trials and tribulations of being an astro-n00b!

[assasincz]

It sure is a potent optical design, and nothing beats the clever simplicity touch of the scope's construction. Enjoy the scope

[EBU]

Nice review. Thank You for sharing.

[633_steve]

Excellent write up. Thanks for sharing

[cotterless45]

Yo, this is a lovely scope.For the money you get a superb parabolic mirror and vey portable bit of kit.If you find the helical focuser is a bit loose for focussing, get some plumbers tape and wrap a few strands around the thread. This'll firm it up.

Clear skies, Nick.

[Lyrated]

Hello Ronnietucker

This is just what i have been looking for as i am just about to buy the scope you have reviewed.

I am a complete novice and still using my 10x50 binos so this is perfect as this (was ) your first scope and review. How are you getting on now with the scope and the photography?

[LukeSkywatcher]

Great scope. The naff focuser is the only downside to it, but that is easily rectified.

[Cjg]

Great write up, and impressive images for your first go, congats.

Started with the 130 myself, it's been loaned out and at a good home now.

Probably the most portable 5 inch scope around.

Good luck with it.

Chris

[Cjg]

Great scope. The naff focuser is the only downside to it, but that is easily rectified.

Paul, you've called your 8 SE "Mick"? Ha ha, care to share why? Hadn't thought of naming my scope, but think "dances with clouds" quite apt!

Chris

[Lyrated]

I have just bought this scope and can't wait to get going.

[cantharis]

Lovely scope, and the eyepieces and Barlow look like they might be reasonable - shame it just comes tacked to a couple of bits of chipboard. Especially as you seem to want to use it for AP.