Sky-Watcher Evostar 120ED DS-PRO APO

[leemanley]

Thinking about a refractor, as an addition to my signature contents.

how much visual/imaging difference do you think ill see compared to my 200 pds ? for over a grand .....

[kirkster501]

I am interested in that scope as well. Watching with interest.....

[scoobee]

I can only dream?!

[jam1e1]

The features I like about this scope are the sharpness overall of image and colours of stars that are brought out by this, really can see and contrast the difference eg like stars around Cassiopeia and Cepheus also Cygnus, some really deep red, orange , yellow and blue. Whilst for dso not the greatest, most objects can still be made out but to lesser degree. Either way you can't go wrong with it note I mostly use for visual

[leemanley]

could do for loaning one on a nice long clear weekend !!!

Believe like you say that the sharpness is unreal from what I've read

[Chris]

I'll be watching this thread also as I'm trying to figure out which scope I should buy for the obsy, not sure if I should go for a bigger Apo or a bigger and faster Newt?

[swag72]

I am going to buck the trend here - I had a 120ED and didn't get on with it at all. I used it soley for imaging. The focuser was woeful, so on went a Moonlite. This quality focuser is held in by a mere 3 screws, and that's it. I never really got anything to sit straight, perhaps I had a lemon. People did look at the images I took with it and were surprised at the lack of quality overall it was producing. Perhaps as it was my first imaging scope it was just too much for a beginner - Who knows!

Thankfully this scope was moved on and a visual guy bought it. He is happy with it I'd like to add!!!

I've since got a small refractor, a far more quality affair, a decent focuser for starters and an alround fantastic little scope. I wouldn't ever buy another Skywatcher scope, let alone another 120ED.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, so don't listen to me!!

[kirkster501]

I am going to buck the trend here - I had a 120ED and didn't get on with it at all. I used it soley for imaging. The focuser was woeful, so on went a Moonlite. This quality focuser is held in by a mere 3 screws, and that's it. I never really got anything to sit straight, perhaps I had a lemon. People did look at the images I took with it and were surprised at the lack of quality overall it was producing. Perhaps as it was my first imaging scope it was just too much for a beginner - Who knows!

Thankfully this scope was moved on and a visual guy bought it. He is happy with it I'd like to add!!!

I've since got a small refractor, a far more quality affair, a decent focuser for starters and an alround fantastic little scope. I wouldn't ever buy another Skywatcher scope, let alone another 120ED.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, so don't listen to me!!

Everyone has different experiences and has their own opinions Sara which are 100% valid in their own eyes. Maybe you had a lemon or a Friday afternoon scope perhaps? Or maybe they are no good! What a great forum this is for finding out Hence me following this thread closely - thanks for your perspective.

[Chris]

My two pence worth in answering your question about what difference you can expect for imaging (at least) between your 200PDS and a 120ED? I would say that the newt is a lot! faster optically f/5 compared to f/7.5, the newt also has quite a bit more light grasp, thus those two things together mean the Newt will hoover in the photons compared to the Apo. On the other hand the Apo is plug and play with no collimating prior to imaging (although it doesn't take long does it) and its less of a wind sail, less tube flexure issues when hanging heavy kit of the focuser I should imagine, and no diffraction spikes which more poeple seem to dislike than like (I'm neutral on this one). The focal lenths of both are similar so they should quide about the same, not sure about the weight differences that might be something to consider.

My heart is with Apo's but my brain and wallet are with newts. I drool over nice apo's I really do appreciate the quality of them, I absolutley love my little WO66 for example, on the other hand I think newts make a lot of sense in my mind at least. Living in cloudy britain its pretty important to grab as many photons as possible whilst time allows, so one way of putting it is how long would the a newt take to setup and grab x-amount of photons compared to an apo? I suspect over a couple of hours the newt will grab a lot more, setup time included? Apo's rule though, I don't think I'm helping much:D

[John]

I have one of the older ED120 Pros - the gold / cream ones. I just use it for visual observing and find it superb in that capacity. I've been observing Jupiter with it this evening and I've had just about the best views of the planet that I've ever had. Loads of detail around the Red Spot and the pale vortexes that are currently following it around the Jovian disk, at 225x - lovely stuff

The ED120 replaced an Intes 150mm maksutov-newtonian, which was itself an excellent scope. The ED120 just edges it for planetary contrast I feel and the cool down time is a lot faster.

For deep sky the ED120 does as well as a 4.7" scope can but aperture really is king for most deep sky objects though - I tend to use my newtonian for serious deep sky viewing.

PS: My ED120 has a dual-speed Moonlite focuser fitted.

[Luke]

We have the Equinox 120, which has the same optics as the Evostar. I'm very happy with it, both for visual and for imaging.

The only moan I have about it is that we did replace the focuser (which I think is meant to be an upgraded one compared to the Evostar). I wasn't happy with the focuser for imaging, though I think some people get on fine with it. We replaced the focuser with a Baader Steeltrack, which we're very happy with.

Visually, I think your 200 PDS will be much better on faint DSOs thanks to its much bigger aperture. On the moon, planets and bright DSO's, I would think you'd find the 120ED would be very sharp.

I do think a 120mm is limited on the fainter DSOs, unless perhaps you get it to very dark skies.

Imaging-wise, I'm not sure how it compares as I haven't had much experience imaging using Newtonians. My best guess would be that it wouldn't make that much difference, based on that I've seen plenty of very nice images done with Newtonians and I've been impressed with the mirrors in my Skywatcher dobs from a visual point of view.

The thing I really like about refractors for imaging is I find them convenient. I've had my ED80 out imaging in winds of over 40mph. They are compact, don't need collimating usually, I like the camera position along the central axis. And there are some very nice targets at the shorter focal lengths covered well by refactors.

The native focal length of the ED120 is 900mm. If you use the matched Skywatcher reducer, I think it's 765mm. Personally, I'd get something shorter first, probably an ED80. For me what the 120 does really over an ED80 imaging wise is simply give you a longer focal length, not better images, and there are some fantastic things that are great to image at shorter focal lengths like the Rosette Nebula, so I'd go the ED80 first myself.

And if you are going to be using your 200PDS for imaging as well, it would give you a substantially different focal length.

Hope the thoughts help.

[laser_jock99]

We have the Equinox 120, which has the same optics as the Evostar. I'm very happy with it, both for visual and for imaging.

The only moan I have about it is that we did replace the focuser (which I think is meant to be an upgraded one compared to the Evostar). I wasn't happy with the focuser for imaging, though I think some people get on fine with it. We replaced the focuser with a Baader Steeltrack, which we're very happy with.

Visually, I think your 200 PDS will be much better on faint DSOs thanks to its much bigger aperture. On the moon, planets and bright DSO's, I would think you'd find the 120ED would be very sharp.

I do think a 120mm is limited on the fainter DSOs, unless perhaps you get it to very dark skies.

Imaging-wise, I'm not sure how it compares as I haven't had much experience imaging using Newtonians. My best guess would be that it wouldn't make that much difference, based on that I've seen plenty of very nice images done with Newtonians and I've been impressed with the mirrors in my Skywatcher dobs from a visual point of view.

The thing I really like about refractors for imaging is I find them convenient. I've had my ED80 out imaging in winds of over 40mph. They are compact, don't need collimating usually, I like the camera position along the central axis. And there are some very nice targets at the shorter focal lengths covered well by refactors.

The native focal length of the ED120 is 900mm. If you use the matched Skywatcher reducer, I think it's 765mm. Personally, I'd get something shorter first, probably an ED80. For me what the 120 does really over an ED80 imaging wise is simply give you a longer focal length, not better images, and there are some fantastic things that are great to image at shorter focal lengths like the Rosette Nebula, so I'd go the ED80 first myself.

And if you are going to be using your 200PDS for imaging as well, it would give you a substantially different focal length.

Hope the thoughts help.

To echo some of the above coments- the focusser is fine for visual but can be frustrating for AP. ED80's are all very well but if if you want 900mm fl for a narrower FOV then a 120mm is the obvious way to go. For AP youl'll need to budget £180 for the dedicated SW field flattener/0.7x reducer as this improves edge of field stars a lot.

I'm going to upgrade my stock Equinox 120 focuser if my next round of fettling fails to fix the lock/image shift problem (although I think I know what causes this now).

[Luke]

I'm going to upgrade my stock Equinox 120 focuser if my next round of fettling fails to fix the lock/image shift problem (although I think I know what causes this now).

Is the lock/image shift problem with the stock Equinox focuser that when you turn the screw to lock the focuser, it shifts the focus quite a bit? That was one of the issues I had with it. I did get by with it for a while, having to guess how out of focus it had to be so that it would be in focus once I locked it. That did get annoying quickly, but maybe someone knows how to adjust that.

On the plus, I find the optics really good and do not for one moment regret buying it. We wanted something with longer focal length than our 80mm refractor for imaging and that would also be a cracking refractor to view brighter objects with, and it does the business for us. We've enjoyed some razor sharp views of planets and it was great fun seeing some bright wide clusters with a 35mm eyepiece the other night, and I like splitting doube stars with it as well. We can't get such a wide view with our dob - for one, the exit pupil with the 35mm is too big for us with our fast dob, never mind its longer focal length.

If the scope can double up this way for you, I think it's very nice indeed. I feel there's something special about the view through a refractor, though I'd never part with my dob for its light gathering power and performance on faint objects.

Re: the Evostar, one thing I do like about that over the Equinox is the lighter weight. I personally feel our Equinox 120mm is pushing it on our HEQ5 for imaging, though some people get on fine with it. As far as I know, the Evostar tube weight is about 1kg less than the Equinox, so I'd see that as a plus, though maybe the gap is a bit less than that if you replace the focuser if the Equinox stock focuser is heavier than the Evostar's to start with?

Although I use my ED80 more because it can cope well with wind and there are a lot of targets at that focal length for me with a DSLR, the ED120 is my favourite refractor.

[leemanley]

Really intersting reading all your views here, this is what this place is all about !

To throw a spanner in the works, Peter at opticstar has just suggested an Ascension triplet...............

[scoobee]

what about The William Optics Zenithstar 70 ED 2013 ?!

[laser_jock99]

Really intersting reading all your views here, this is what this place is all about !

To throw a spanner in the works, Peter at opticstar has just suggested an Ascension triplet...............

Looks like an interesting option

http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Telescopes-Ascension.asp?p=0_10_1_6_52

Certain comes with more accessories than my Equinox 120ED did. I wonder what the stock focuser is like as that seems to be the main bugbear with the SW offerings?

[foundaplanet]

I have been looking around for a refractor in the same price bracket and have been thinking I would buy second hand.

It took me months to decide on which newt to buy and I have no doubt I got the right one there with Orion Optics. I intend to take the same time and do my research on fracs. The ascension looks interesting and I see they also do a mighty 127 as well.

The Skywatcher ed pro seems to make many people happy so I am not ruling anything out for now. I think I need to make the effort to find some people around Lincolnshire to see if I can view some different ones. The new one that has caught my attention is this one by Altair Astro they also do a 102 both triplets and I know I need to get some experience for myself in the difference between a doublet and a triplet. If it is something that would mainly be for imaging and you are prepared to spend around a grand then I would only listen to what Olly has to say on that subject, 'You'd get a TV85 for a grand. Fabulous scope and built to last a lifetime - the lifetime of your great grandchildren'...