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Is the extra £80 worth it? (sw heritage 130p and 150p)


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Hi,

Im sorry to be asking another 'what scope shall i buy' type question as these seem to pop up all the time. I've narrowed my choice down to the fact im getting a dobsonian since its going to be my first ever scope and after contemplating getting a goto or not have decided to keep it simple (i like simple, lol) and learn the stars the old fashioned way.

Anyway, i've narrowed my choice down to either getting the skywatcher heritage 130p or the skyliner 150p but there are a couple of things im hoping people who have had hands on experience with both scopes may be able to shed some light on (no pun intended).

Firstly, the 150 is around £80 more than the 130, i know in this hobby £80 is neither here nor there but its a lot of money to me so will the 20mm more aperture and longer focal length of the 150 (i think the 150 is an f7 scope compared to the f5 of the 130) give better views to the untrained eye of planets (my main observing interest at the moment) and some of the brighter/easier to find messier objects (hunting down these with the aid of star charts etc looks like fun) or would a complete telescope virgin such as myself not really notice much of a difference in the optical quality of each scope ?

The reason i ask is basically, i've allocated myself a budget of about £180 - £200 at a push, plus i have limited storage space (got room for a 6" dob - just) so im thinking i can get the heritage and have change left over to get a tripod and a light pollution filter (if needed and if it will actually make that much of a difference), a collimator and half decent eyepiece further down the road where if i get the 150p and a collimator then thats all im going to be able to get for the foreseeable future.

Looking long-term (and if the so called 'aperture fever' gets a grip of me) the chances are ill be in a position to get the 200p or similar in a year or so, so im basically asking anyone who has experience with both scopes, would you say to get the 130p use the change left to get some 'essential' accessories or would you just go out and get the 150p from the start?

Thanks to anyone taking the time to read and answer :)

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Hi,

Well I have to say that more aperture is almost always better. The more aperture you have, the better the resolution of your telescope. The 150P has a longer focal length so will get you "closer" to your target. For DSOs, this is not necessarily essential (focal ratio is probably more important imho) however for planets (your seemingly preferred target) I'd say you want more aperture (and the typically longer native focal length that comes with it) because planets are tiny!

Hope this helps (rather than just encourages you to spend money!)

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The FOV (field of view) with the Heritage will often be larger (as it has a smaller focal length), so it will usually be easier to find deep sky objects, but they will often be smaller and not as bright (planets however are bright in any scope). Having said that, the 150P will be easier on eyepieces at F/7, and will show less aberrations than F/5, which the Heritage is.

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The 150P dobsonain is an F/8 (well F/7.9 !) so easier to get and keep collimated and will work well with most eyepieces. It's light grasp and resolution will exceed the 130 by a noticeable amount which will mean better views of both deep sky objects and the planets / moon. Definitely worth £80 extra in my view - you will only be thinking "what if ..." all the time if you don't !

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I really should've noticed it was F/8....

Another advantage with the 150P is that you will not need to shroud the tube as it is not flex-tube, but solid. This matters if you were to view the Sun with it (through the appropriate Solar Film of course).

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I think they are both good choices for a starter visual scope, Quite often if the bug bites aperture fever sets in and people quite quickly move on upto 200p or larger. So taking this into account I recken the heritage 130 would be a keeper because it folds down really small with it being a flexitube, therefore it would always make a good second scope or travel scope for taking to dark sites etc. On the other hand if the scope you want to buy has to be the one scope for the forseable future then get as much aperture as you can affored:)

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Kevin, why don't you wait until the next meet with the s Wales group, matt is organising one for the bank holiday weekend. I know there will be some large scopes there but also a lot of others as well.might be an idea to take a look through some to get an idea what you may be buying before you spend your hard earned cash.

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The 150P is by far the better scope for both planetary/Lunar as it has the longer focal length and for DSO's as it has much greater mirror area (With small scopes a small increase in aparture makes a significant increase in mirror area - both also have a similarly sized secondary blocking some of the light). Additionally the 130P is tiny and will need to be mounted on a table of some sort - which will add to the wobblyness (nice word!) of the whole set-up. The 150P can be put on the ground and used comfortably from a chair - much better for a long session!

The only downside that I can see is you will want to upgrade to a 250mm or 300mm rather than a 200mm when the time comes :eek:

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Simple answer: Yes.

Just a bit bigger but the 130 needs a table to use it on,

The 150 is f/7.9 so more stable and is easier on eyepieces and hence your pocket.

Both will require you to collimate them but the 150 is a bit less critical, maybe a collimation cap will be adaquate and you con make one of them.

You will not need to upgrade for a year or two with the 150.

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I'd go for the 150 as a starter,especially if you like planets and the Moon. The 1200mm tube is nearly double the 130 tube.You'll be happy with both choices.Later, you can mount the150 ota on an eq mount for easier or even ra tracking, nice.

Nick.

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This keeps coming up... the Heritage can be mounted on a chair for a far more comfortable viewing position than a table. A table is often at an awkward height for standing, and certainly gives me back ache (I'm 6'0") as I have to bend quite far to be at the eyepiece.

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Thanks everyone, looks like aperture is king no matter how small an increase :)

@ stevetynant - sounds like a good idea, im wanting to get one sooner rather than later tho as i suck at saving and keep dipping into the 'scope' money i have put aside so its dwindling rapidly due to me biding my time (i know its my stupid fault and i should be more disclipined but lately there are more r/c plane related bargains popping up on the bay than astronomy ones :S )

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We have the Heritage 130P Flextube and find it great for bunging in the boot when we make trips to a dark sky site where we keep a caravan. I've been very disappointed with viewing at home after being spoilt by very dark skies. Depending on how much light pollution you have, you might find it quite difficult and frustrating as a beginner to find many DSOs when you simply can't see enough stars to accurately locate them coupled with the fact that the light pollution renders them even more difficult to spot. For example, I mananged to find the ring nebula in lyra the other night at home because it is very easy to locate exactly mid way between the two lower stars of Lyra's parallelogram. However, the dumbell nebula was impossible for me to signpost and spot because of its greater distance from obvious patterns of bright stars. When we next go away it will be on my hit list and I'm confident I will find it in darker skies. As stated above, I very much see our 130P as a keeper for trips away.

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"Better" has to be based on parameters that suit YOU.

The Heritage 130P is 'better' than the Skywatcher 150 because it's cheaper. By £80, I think you said.

The SW150 is 'better' because it's 150 rather than 130, so there's more light coming in and the image you get is better.

The Heritage 130P is 'better' because it takes up less space. And it's SO easy to set up on sudden impulse because of that superb clear sky you hadn't anticipated.

The SW150 is better because you're clever, and you get it set up in time to get the superb views anyway.

I've got a Heritage 130P. It's often 'better' than my SW200PDS.

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there are indeed pros and cons to boths scopes but the better focuser, aperture, stability of mount, slow focal ratio (it will give better images of planets without any doubt in my mind), smaller secondary ratio and general build quality of the 150 dob is well worth the £80 in the long run (less difference - or none - if you buy used). not sure how bad LP is where you are but in my garden (9 miles from Manchester) I can see lots of things with my 6" f11 dob and far more satisfactorily than in my old (now sold) 120mm refractor.

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Light pollution is an issue here sadly, there is one of them old yellow street lights about 50 metres away towards the west and im spitting distance from a theatre that has 3 big lights shining on it, and some of the newer street lights dotted around as well.

Should be able to get to the occasional observing session at a dark location which sounds like it will be awesome.

Sorry, should have asked in my original post as well, will the larger aperture exaggerate the light pollution as well or would it make things a little easier/better ?

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Yes the larger scope will show the light pollution more.. and conversely the smaller scope will show it less. Having used a 110mm aperture scope and larger scopes I'd suggest that light pollution filters are not much help on small scopes. So I'd rather go for aperture.

Filter wise my personal view is light pollution filters work excellently against low pressure sodium lights (the very orangy ones, where you can't tell the difference between yellow and white cars) But against any other sort of lighting are somewhat less impressive unless you're photographing, and are no use what so ever against the latest white lighting going in round the country.

If I were to look at filters for visual use, I might concider a UHC for picking up Nebula, then go unfiltered for stars, galaxies and planets.

Which all boils down to, go for the bigger scope and worry about filters later down the line.

Derek

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Hi ...

I own a Heritage 130p and also a 150pl (the same OTA as the Skyliner - but on an EQ mount rather than a Dobsonian)

FWIW - The 130p is a cracking little telescope. It sits unobtrusively in the corner of the room and can be set up in seconds if needed. You can set it up on a table, on a chair, you can even plonk it on the ground if you want to !!! And, should you ever get an EQ mount, it's got a compatible dovetail bar fitted as standard.

But - IMO it really needs shrouding if being used in a typical back garden situation. Light from my house or security lights from neighbouring houses can totally wipe out the view. It also usually needs a bit of PTFE tape around the Helical focusser's threads to stop it wobbling.

The 150pl, on the other hand, is in another league. The view through it, as you'd expect, far exceeds the 130p and extraneous light causes it no problem because of the tube length. But it is quite a bit "lumpier" with the OTA placement onto the mount being a two-handed operation. Also I couldn't keep it in the house as it just took up too much room (obviously your situation may vary).

Hope this helps ;)

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Both scopes have their virtues but the 150 edges it , its superb on planets and excelent on the moon, the 130 is a great grab and go scope but the 150 isnt heavy either.

The supplied eyepieces are ok, but second hand series 4000 meades work great with this scope an can be had for 20-25 each at a later date. Budget for a red dot or telrad finder it will make your life easier.

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Very good advice in the earlier posts.

Especially have a look at the Wales scopes on the bank holidays.

If you buy used, then I would suggest on this forum or Astrobuysell. most are genuine amateur astronomers who won't rip you off.

There is a lot of misrepresented rubbish on the bay.

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