Skymax 150 Pro & Eclipse 200 Maksutov

[OXO]

Personally i wouldnt let it put me off but if thats what you really want russ ya prob better off looking for something you really want might stop you upgrading this week too ..

James

[OXO]

Hi Guy's,

I was wondering do you think the EQ5 mount would take a Skymax 150 ok?

"I have a cunning plan MR B........"

James

[russ]

Hi James,

The EQ5 will have no trouble with the Skymax 150....well within its limits.

What are you up to now? And you say i'm a del boy!!

Russ

[OXO]

Hi Del,

I am thinking about tradeing in the ETX125 for a (New)Skymax 150 and Eq5 mount i have just got the ball rolling so nothing is for sure yet i will keep ya posted though

Thats good news Russ quite a cheap mount that will do until i get a HEQ5 sometime later this year.

Keep ya fingers crossed lol..

Rodney

[GazOC]

James,

I had a 150mm f5 refractor on an EQ5 and even with the crappy ally legs (my pet astro peeve in case you hadn't noticed! ) it handled it OK.

I got my 80mm refractor sold today so the money is going towards some steel legs for my new CG5 mount.

Even with just the 127 mak on it, the mount is rock solid but there is stil lateral movement at the top of the tripod legs :x

Gaz

[OXO]

Hi Gaz,

Thanks for your input matey, glad you sold ya scope those steel tripod legs are well worth the money and effort Gaz you will be very pleased i reakon

James

[russ]

Hi Rodders,

Hmm i knew that was it. I think that breaks my record...a scope for less than a week.

Gotta admit i working on schemes to get the 150. Will need to sell the EQ3 and a few other bits first though.

Thanks to Gaz for getting the ball rolling though....selling the 127 gets me part way there.

Del

[GazOC]

Nice little scope russ, I got it set up last night for the first time. I managed a quick look at the binary Alberio but then the clouds came in.

I want to give it a "head to head" against my 127 refractor on Mars, it should be an interesting matchup. Maybe tonight...

[OXO]

I was waiting for "you plonker" not sure about breaking your record yet it may take time i not sure yet

Anyone wanna by an Old gramma? good little runner makes fantastic brews and comes with bickkies too no batteries needed. (Only joking Gramma :oops: )

James

[FLO]

I have only just stumbled across this thread but, if it is still relavant:

The Skymax 150 will not take a 2" diagonal; the Eclipse will. 

There is a review on the 6" Eclipse in the December S@N magazine (#7).

Steve

[russ]

Hi Steve,

It was a nice surprise to see the Eclipse Mak review in S&N. Well it was more of a preview but at least we have some info on it now. And hopefully we'll see the full review soon. Sounds a very promising scope and that SCT thread, i think, is a must. Can't believe Synta still haven't taken up that option, especially with Celestron now on board.

That said, the Skymax works well with the 2" kit and a lot of the SCT accessories can then be used.

Russ

[Rob]

Hey, great news that. It is indeed nice to see some feedback on the eclipse. I still have not written one off myself!!

[FLO]

That said, the Skymax works well with the 2" kit and a lot of the SCT accessories can then be used.

2" kit?  I must have missed that!

Please explain.

Thanks,

Steve

[chuenmanc]

Hello

Looks like a bit of an abandoned thread, but if you're still interested, I have the SkyMax 150 Pro, and bought a 2" adaptor for £25 from Bernard at Modern Astronomy, as well as a 42mm 2" eyepiece. Not sure if this is the kit mentioned, but it does fit - it screws onto the back where the diagonal would normally go.

HTH

Chuen

[Naz]

Hi guys, there was a comparison revue on the Skymax 150 pro in the September issue of The sky at Magazine last year, scored 96% on optics, build 90%, mount and drives 92%, ease of use only 88%, It was up against Celestron 8" CPC XLT, Skywatcher Evostar 100ED / HEQ5 / and the Meade 8" LX90 LNT. The Celestron came out top overall, the Meade and SkyMax were joint 2nd with the Skywatcher bringing up the rear. The SkyMax was top for optics, all the rest you could say was down to the reviewers preferences.

Hope this is of some help. Just wish I could afford one at the moment, I would buy one like a shot.

I have just realised that I haven't checked last nights lottery,

see you

nabban

[FLO]

... if you're still interested, I have the SkyMax 150 Pro, and bought a 2" adaptor for £25 from Bernard at Modern Astronomy, as well as a 42mm 2" eyepiece. Not sure if this is the kit mentioned, but it does fit - it screws onto the back where the diagonal would normally go.

Don't think I have ever waited so long for a response

Thanks Chuen; very useful.

Steve

[GazOC]

Hi Chuen,

Welcome to the forum. I nearly bought a 150 Skymax last summer but ended up getting a secondhand Intes 150mm mak instead, mainly because I could n't find any reviews or opinions on the Skywatcher (it was still quite a new product then). How do you like your scope? Any chance of a mini-review?

Gaz

[paulestar]

Warehouse Express are doing it for £445. But you can pick and choose the retailer because they are all promising to match the best price.

Of course a major bonus of Warehouse Express is there choice of interest free credit or 9 months buy now pay later.

Russ

I've just noticed that they have on in the mail order return section for £399

Paul

[chuenmanc]

Hi Gaz

I don't really have any experience with telescopes so this isn't a review - more my experience:

After reading up, I decided on the 150 Pro as wanted something with as large an aperture as possible whilst still easily thrown in the car to get to darker skies occasionally. The 127 had good, if not better reviews, but the HEQ5 mount offered more scope for upgrade, and I knew I'd wish I'd got the extra inch of mirror if I'd got the smaller one. It was a hell of a lot of money, and I should have joined a society and tried out a range of scopes, but in the end I just ordered it. It arrived in four boxes *gulp*. Two of them very heavy! I put it together and realised that I wasn't going to be able to just take off the OTA and move the rest of the mount in one go! The scope doesn't quite balance with only one of the counterweights either.

It all seems very solid, and I've read it's good value for money, but I couldn't help but think it could have been better here and there. The main dust cap doesn't clip on securely, and there seems to be a bit of dust inside the tube. Also nothing to keep the eyepieces in - being a bit hopeful there perhaps!

Anyway I got lucky with the weather that night. I set it up outside with a quickly cobbled together dew shield made of bubble wrap and aligned it roughly north. I took aim at M42, which wasn't too easy - I'd never used an equatorial mount before. I could make out the shape of the nebula and the trapezium, but it didn't seem to be *much* better than through binoculars, certainly not for the cost anyway. I couldn't get the RA tracking or slewing working either, though dec slewing worked fine. All new batteries, and I found the the gears were moving, when I took the cover off, so couldn't understand what was going wrong. Spoilt the first night somewhat!

I next had a look at Mars, which was a slightly fuzzy orange disc with no markings. Next up the Andromeda galaxy, which was very disappointing, just an indistinct oval smudge. There's a fair bit of light pollution here in Worthing though, I have to admit.

Final target was Saturn, which made it worth it! I couldn't see the Cassini division, but it was still really impressive. I called my wife out, who loved it!

The next night was clear too, and what do you know? The RA tracking/slewing worked fine. User error I guess - I probably didn't lock the RA clamp enough. I did a more accurate alignment with the polar scope, which was pretty easy with the alt az adjustment, and centred it again on M42. I got called inside, and went outside again about 45mins later and the nebula was still bang in the centre of the field.

And last night I had a quick (10 or 15 minutes to move it outside and set it up) go. It wasn't as clear as the other nights. I tried to find the Crab nebula but failed completely, but Saturn was higher up, and this time I could make out bands and the division with the 9mm eyepiece. I'm definitely going to have to get a 6 or 7mm eyepiece to see if i can get any more detail. And after a quick look in Turn Left at Orion I finished with a look at the double Algieba.

So what do I think? I'm a bit of a gadget person, so I hankered after the GoTo version, but I don't mind now, as I can see I've a lot to learn about the sky. The mount is heavier than I would have liked, but I suppose that's the point! The finderscope is nice and easy to use. The focus doesn't 'snap' in, or hasn't done in the conditions I've had so far. There is noticeable mirror movement when focussing with higher power. I tried to get around the lack of deep sky ability by getting a 2" adaptor and a 42mm 2" eyepiece, which does help a bit. I haven't noticed any improvement as it cools yet - I'll look out for it. I bought the silver carry case, which is nice, but has no extra space for anything other than the scope, finder and the two eyepieces.

I'm afraid my lack of experience means I can't offer much more, but I'll answer any questions if I can! I have a question about 2" vs 1.25" for this scope, but I'll post another thread for that.

Sorry for the ramble!

[MartinB]

Thanks for the report Cheunmanc. It's not a ramble and makes good reading. Your scope should be great on planets but the long focal length means it may struggle on deep sky objects. One way to help this is to get a focal reducer - check out this link http://www.modernastronomy.com/ and have a word with Bernard.

Don't expect to see what is shown in the images that get posted here and elsewhere. The techniques used allow far more light information to be gathered than the eye can manage directly through a scope. This is especially true of deep sky but also applies to planets. Andromeda appears little more than a cloudy smudge and many of the galaxies look like little more than fuzzy stars. This is why many people get into imaging. However you start to be able to see a lot more if your eyes are properly dark adapted. Go into as dark an area as you can and only use a red light. It takes about an hour for your eyes to properly adjust to the dark. Spend some time just looking at the object, gradually you may be able to start making out more detail. It is a subtle business. A lot of people find it helps to draw what they are seeing.

you should be able to see the Cassini division pretty easily with your scope on higher powers provided the seeing is reasonable. You have to make sure your scope has cooled down for at least 1 hour though or it just won't perform. If the seeing is bad - caused by air turbulence you will struggle.

Dust inside the scope doesn't sound good at all and requires a prompt call back to your dealer.

Good luck with your observing and keep us up to date with more reports. There is lots of help and advice here and the more you report the more help you will get

Martin

[FLO]

Very interesting report Chuenmanc,

Martins response contains good advice.

Fantastic setup you have there; I fancy one myself!

Steve

[chuenmanc]

Hi there

Thanks for the advice - very informative. And Bernard is in fact who i bought the telescope from! We discussed the DSO abiity (or lack of), and I decided to start off by trying a 42mm 2" eyepiece with a 2" adaptor, as it was a bit cheaper than the focal reducer. In hindsight perhaps i should have gone down the focal reducer route, as 2" accessories/eyepieces are much more expensive!

And i thought I wouldn't get into imaging, but as you say, the images i see posted here vs what I see at the eyepiece are nudging me down that road. I'll hold off from that though, and get more practice just viewing.

Driving out to a darker site is what I hoped to do. I did have a spot planned, but it's a quarter mile up a slope from the carpark, and now that I've felt the weight of the HEQ5 I won't want to be lugging it that far! Tricky finding the time too, as we have an 8month old baby who we're trying to train into sleeping through the evening/night - tough work!

Oh and the dust inside the tube isn't bad at all - I think it was the torch making things look worse.

Chuen

[MartinB]

Have you had better views of Saturn. Tonight and Friday should be good. The view improves as the evening goes on, Saturn gets higher and the atmospheric turbulence settles. Cassini should really stand out with your scope.

I am getting very itchy about getting a 2" star diagonal and some 2" EPs - There is a very well received Moonfish 20mm which I have my eye on.

Good luck with those DSOs

Martin

[chuenmanc]

Hi Martin

I did get a slightly better view a while ago when I went out late and caught Saturn higher up, as you said. I could see the Cassini Division, but it didn't really stand out. I'm wondering if the eyepieces are letting the scope down. I think the scope had colled down fairly well by then. I'm thinking about getting a better/and also shorter eyepiece to see if that helps, something like a 6 or 7mm, but i can't decide which - everything I read says buy expensive ones!

Tonight does look good, fingers crossed that the neighbours don't all go mad with their 'security' garden lights. I think I'll try leaving the scope out in its case for an hour or so to cool it a bit, before mounting it.

[MartinB]

Don't really know enough to help any more but I saw your new thread. There are people on the forum who will give you a knowledgeable reply. You did well getting your scope from Bernard and he is a very good source of advice. As for DSOs although it has a long focal length it still has 6" of aperture and should perform well on many DSOs esp those requiring some decent magnification - planetary nebulae and some galaxies.

Martin