Heritage 130p Help Please

[bombassa]

About the original post: Getting detail on Jupiter with the Heritage even with the supplied 10mm is possible. As will be observing the rings of Saturn. At 65x they will be bigger than only a dot when in focus.

Edit: after reading the entire thread I now realise the OP solved the problem! Hope you have lots of good nights with your scope.

About mirror quality: I only found the astrotreff review after purchasing my Heritage and was naturally concerned.

I've been looking for 8" dobs recently and all the doubt: Pyrex or not? Strehl ratios? GSO or Skywatcher? It's not easy. In reality the best option - and in my world a scope for life - would probably be a OO 8" f/8 with custom mirror but - money, money!

I've reached the conclusion that I really wont worry too much. When I pay for a 'cheap decent' scope I will get no more than a cheap decent scope. I only hope it will nevertheless give my hours of entertainment - as my Heritage has so far.

About magnification and barlows: On Moon and Jupiter I mainly use a cheap Vixen branded 8 mm plossl with a Talx2 Barlow. This translates to 162,5x which is no problem. I've tried a 5mm ortho with the Barlow which gives 260x. This has given a good night with Mars lately but has in general been useless. At least for me. On a site (I don't remember which sorry) a user writes that a 3,5 Nagler is good (about 186x) but I have no first hand experience with this (money!). But IMO max useful magnification is somewhere between a 2,5 and a 4 mm lens so 3,5 could be a good guess. But then one must start to consider the limitations of the mount.. but enough about that.

Completely off topic now: Collimation is important. We all know that. At first I collimated with a film cannister only but after purchasing a cheshire I realised how important collimation really is. Everytime I open the scope the optics are slightly out of collimation. If this it because of the slight knock it gets after extending the 'truss' or an effect from temperature changes I don't know. I only know it is out every time. So collimation is important.

But even bad collimation would show Jupiter as more than only a dot when in focus (slightly back on topic ).

[cotterless45]

Lovely scope, it's only 650mm focal length, don't expect great magnification.

It's superb for star clusters, galaxies and binaries.

I like mine so much, I bought an EQ3 tripod and it's now mounted on that with the focusser at eye height straight up.

If you put a few strips of pfte ( white plumbers tape) around the focusser thread it'll focus better.

For the money and grab and go factor , it's an ideal starter, nice.

[Pappy Nick]

I've also added the ptfe tape to the focusser as well as blackening the edge of the secondary mirror with a permanent marker. It certainly makes a difference.

Has anyone any experience of using better quality eyepieces on this 'scope BTW ? I'd be interested in hearing about it.

[kenmyers]

I have tried it with a 8mm plossl and a 5mm plossl and the views of jupiter were magic. Banding very clear and watched a moon appear from behind jupiter... it looked like it appeared from the ether!

The supplied eyepieces are very low quality it seems. Reccomend you buy good eyepieces for this scope to make it really work hard.

[Pappy Nick]

I have tried it with a 8mm plossl and a 5mm plossl and the views of jupiter were magic. Banding very clear and watched a moon appear from behind jupiter... it looked like it appeared from the ether!

The supplied eyepieces are very low quality it seems. Reccomend you buy good eyepieces for this scope to make it really work hard.

Much Cheersness !

[mr saddo]

I have found endless threads on a German astrosite about quality differences in the 130p heritage. One thing they said was that the scope was falsely sold as having a parabolic primary mirror. When measuring the curve of the mirror it looked more like the ripples in a pond. That would explain rubbish seeing. Stopped me from buying it as a gift actually!

oh dear that dont sound good, a few of us on here has one of theses, cant really fault mine, but......focuser is **** and it requires collimating regular. i suspect pulling the truss in and out dont help.

[mr saddo]

Lovely scope, it's only 650mm focal length, don't expect great magnification.

It's superb for star clusters, galaxies and binaries.

I like mine so much, I bought an EQ3 tripod and it's now mounted on that with the focusser at eye height straight up.

If you put a few strips of pfte ( white plumbers tape) around the focusser thread it'll focus better.

For the money and grab and go factor , it's an ideal starter, nice.

yeah i agree, i use mine for clusters, and use the mak 90mm for planets.

[mr saddo]

hi, i use the revelation ep kit, it has the x2 barlow which ramps up mag, good for saturn and jupiter. say 9mm with x2 barlow.

[Albenn]

I have just ordered one of these for my first scope but didn't see this thread before doing so. I am now beginning to have doubts as to my choice after reading the comments both in this thread and also those on the German forum (the Google translation was quite amusing and sometimes more difficult to interpret than if I'd have left it in German ) but I got the gist of it.

Now, if this is the same mirror that is in the other more expensive Skywatcher scopes, shouldn't it be perfectly suitable in the Heritage?

The user reviews and the opinions of other posters on this forum who already own this scope seem to be in favour it, but I am now concerned that I may only be able to use the lower magnification eyepiece. This would be disappointing as I already get this through my 25x70 Skywatcher bino.

Should I be concerned that I may have chosen the wrong scope?

[richbyers]

no you shouldnt - i was view saturn last night through a 6.3- thats pushing it to the limit, but it filled a decent proportion of the eyepiece

i think the point is that the LOWER MAG EP IS EXCELLENT but the higher mag one pales in comparison- that doesnt mean its rubbish- just not as good as the 25mm

in fact i had the 6.3 with a 2x barlow- whats that 3.15mm? that was pushing it too far, but it was a great up close of saturn albiet poor quality

i think the general idea is that this is a great scope, but has even greater potential with better eps- im stil waiting to upgrade

[Russe]

I've ordered one for my brotger's birthday and hope to hear a first light report soon. I found many people to be saying that it's a good scope for its money but you need to get a better Barlow and EP.

[richbyers]

mine didnt even come with a barlow- though i could imagine it would be pretty bad, the one i got free with a package was- as an extra to my post above i think you will find on here though the large majority would stand by their heritages no questions asked - and i fall into the catagory

[Albenn]

Re Richbyers post re the eyepieces.

Ahh I see....it's only comparatively poorer. Feel a little happier now Thanks for that

[chaineos]

Thanks for all the replies just realised this thread had a second page, bookmarked page one silly me, I think the scope is a great starter scope for price, not used for a while due to weather but will as soon as I get the opportunity. Still not got the hang of barlow yet but will I guess eventually. Regarding saturn I checked for it on my phone app but it seems to point really low down rather than in the sky, is that right?

Thanks

[richbyers]

hi

saturn is in virgo which is quite low down- i have trees on my horizon so i had to wait till about 1am till it was viewable last night, though i think it should be veiwable around 12- check stellarium if unsure

rich

[kenmyers]

I get mine next week! Cant wait, it will be great so me and the missus can view at the same time

[Groucho Ben]

Hi Chaineos, I'm getting this scope very soon, and have been trawling SGL like a loon for details. I've read on a few threads that you need a short barlow to fit the 130p - I've read the tak x2 and the short-focus barlow are both compatible - I've gone for the tak, but there's some pretty cheap meades that fit the bill currently on ebay here...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Meade-1-25-2x-Barlow-Lens-Telescopes-No-Reserve-/230794689031?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item35bc6f7a07

All the best with it, hope to join you in the ranks of 130pers soon

[Russe]

I've bought the heritage130p for my brother's birthday after he couldn't go out to buy the scope he wanted to and am happy to say, that he is well happy with the scope. He now even ordered a little webcam and is already on the slippery slope of the dark side...