SKYMAX 180

[XTlegend]

Hello (new member)!

Today I took delivery of a new Skymax 180 which I will use on my HEQ5 Pro. WOW, what a sight! Hopefully I will be able to test it on the Moon this weekend as looking at the forecast I think some high pressure may be on the scene then.

Was wondering how many other members have one as I would be interested in sharing views/experiences?

Cheers.

[jambouk]

It's a lovely scope. I got rid of the dovetail and mounted mine in rings to give it additional stability and to allow me to correct for come error. I also got a crayford style focuser to make life a bit easier when undertaking planetary and lunar imaging. Dew band and/or dew shield strongly recommended.

Make sure you do a star test to check the collimation is bang on. If it's not, you'll need to talk to the retailer as I'm not sure who can collimate these things. But i suspect it is sufficiently collimated.

Enjoy.

James

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

That scope has a very good rep. Killer planetary scope, but no slouch on smaller DSOs either.

[John]

Excellent scope

The main issues you need to watch for are:

- it needs plenty of cool down time if taken from a warmish place to the outside. 60-90 minutes perhaps ?

- dewing is an issue, as it is with all "glass at the top end" scopes. You will need a dew shield and maybe a heated dew strip as well ?

If you have the above under control then just enjoy it !

[laudropb]

I have been lucky enough to borrow one of these scopes. It gives wonderful planetary and lunar images, but dew can be a real problem. I had a dew shield, but think it needs heater band as well. Certainly in the West of Scotland.

[nightfisher]

A dew shield is a must and makes a huge difference, also stops stray light across the corrector plate, but very good scope, point it at neptune if your horizon is good for it

[Mike73]

I had a 180 and it was an awesome scope for planets and lunar observing. 

I can only echo what others have said about cooling it down, put it outside for a min of 45 minutes, aim the scope so its horizontal and then take the diagonal out of the back (just to aid airflow to the inside.

The cool down times are the biggest downside to the 180 but don't let that put you off, by the time you have set your mount up then gone and had your tea and a cup of coffee it will be all ready to give you some great views!

[stevepeverall]

Had my first ever view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot with this scope. Detail on the moon was mind blowing and great on smaller star clusters.

I bought a black camping mat as a cheaper alternative to dew shield and haven't experienced any problems with dew.

[Steve Ward]

Great bit of glass ... 

As stated before ... leave plenty of time to cool down ... good long dewshield ... and an after-market SCT focuser on the back .

[Michael36]

Basically the same as 6 inch Apo on planets great scope.

[jambouk]

Is it the same as a 6" apo on planets, or better, or inferior? I'd always assumed it would be superior because of the intrinsic longer focal length.

James

[John]

Is it the same as a 6" apo on planets, or better, or inferior? I'd always assumed it would be superior because of the intrinsic longer focal length.

James

Here is a fairly in depth review comparing the Orion 180 mak-cass (which is the same as the Skywatcher 180) and 130mm and 152mm apochromats plus some other scopes:

http://www.astromart.com/reviews/article.asp?article_id=643

I only had one for a short while but felt it was at least as good as my ED120, once it had fully cooled, which took some time. The working aperture of the mak 180 is 170mm of course.

[Astro_Baby]

I wrote a full review of mine which is at........

http://www.astro-baby.com/reviews/Skymax%20180/Skymax%20180%20Review.htm 

In a nutshell its an awesome piece of kit which will blow you away on planets but don't dismiss it only as a planetary too - mine has really blown me away with views of compact deep space stuff.  We have winter coming upso try the Orion Nebula with it.

It is a complete dew magnet so make sure you get a dewshield AND a heater band for it - I use a combo heater/dewshield.  Image shift when focusing is normally pretty good but I pout a Crayford on mine because good as it was the image shift drove me nuts after a while.

It doesn't take near as long to cool down in my own experience as some people suggest - I'd say about 40 minutes from a heated flat.  It may be a bit mushy to start with but its still usable - just keep the mag down a bit.

One of the massive upsides is the fact that thanks to its massive mag you can use very low power EPs to get monster magnification so no eye relief issues with Plossls.  Also because of its high F ratio almost any eyepiece works pretty well with it. 

Enjoy it - its a great bit if kit.

Mel

[timwetherell]

I wrote a full review of mine which is at........

http://www.astro-baby.com/reviews/Skymax%20180/Skymax%20180%20Review.htm 

In a nutshell its an awesome piece of kit which will blow you away on planets but don't dismiss it only as a planetary too - mine has really blown me away with views of compact deep space stuff.  We have winter coming upso try the Orion Nebula with it.

It is a complete dew magnet so make sure you get a dewshield AND a heater band for it - I use a combo heater/dewshield.  Image shift when focusing is normally pretty good but I pout a Crayford on mine because good as it was the image shift drove me nuts after a while.

It doesn't take near as long to cool down in my own experience as some people suggest - I'd say about 40 minutes from a heated flat.  It may be a bit mushy to start with but its still usable - just keep the mag down a bit.

One of the massive upsides is the fact that thanks to its massive mag you can use very low power EPs to get monster magnification so no eye relief issues with Plossls.  Also because of its high F ratio almost any eyepiece works pretty well with it. 

Enjoy it - its a great bit if kit.

Mel

That link isn't working for me Mel?

[coopman827]

Try this:

http://astro-baby.com/reviews/Skymax%20180/Skymax%20180%20Review.htm