Skywatcher heritage 100p

[Zauriel]

Hi SGL, turns out my wife thinks the 200p dob that we borrowed is too big for our house and in fairness to her she' probably correct after a bit of talk with my son and doing a little looking on FLO he said he liked the look of the heritage 100p, good points are it' small and compact perfect to keep the wife happy and due to its size it could be a grab and go, having never seen one or know anyone who owns one can anyone tell me what sort of views I'd expect to see compared to the 200p dob my son seems content with the moon for the time being giving me a little breathing space to work on the wife for a bigger scope any feedback would be great.

Z

[PeterCPC]

This is using the resources tab and FOV calculator assuming a 10mm EP.

Peter

[Zauriel]

Thanks that helps a bunch  if anyone else has any comments to add feel free to, as this will be an xmas gift for our son want to make sure it's what will help him see stuff

[Jimmy Rocket]

How about the Skywatcher Heritage 130P ? compact, good price, and a lot more light gathering power for a small extra outlay !!! Do a search and have a read up about it, best bang for buck out there !!!

[Stu]

Having acquired one recently for my children, I agree that the Heritage 130P is a very good little scope. If folds away into a small package, yet performs very nicely. The focuser takes some getting used to and can be improved with some plumbers tape but actually it is perfectly functional.

You would need something to put it on to get it to the right height, I think you may also be able to mount the base on a photo tripod but I'm not totally sure of this; I bought mine as just the OTA and use it on a different mount.

[Girders]

I'd been looking for my first scope in this kind of range - my thread is here - 

I'd started off looking at the 100P but came to the conclusion that it wouldn't provide the views of Saturn and Jupiter I was hoping for (and my 4 year old daughter hopes to see).  After lots of good advice I was pretty much heading for the 130P for it's larger size, but I didn't like the whole flextube aspect (as many people seem to add DIY shrouds).  I've since come across a couple of Bresser Messier 5" and 6" Dobsons that are short tube lengths - 130/650 and 150/750.  I reckon this could be a useful size for my wee girl to use as well as storage/transport benefits.

I'd happily go for a Skyliner 150P or 200P but the tube length is the dealbreaker for me as the plan would be to have my little girl in the back seat of the car so strapping a 1.2m tube across the back seats isn't an option.  There's a definite price premium for the Bressers (around £175 and £260) but the few reviews I came across praised the build quality and components.  I've not 'pulled the trigger' yet as I'm hoping to find some more info on them (and in case some amazing Black Friday deal turns up).   

https://www.bresseruk.com/astronomy/telescopes/bresser-telescopes/bresser-messier-5-dobsonian-telescope.html 

https://www.bresseruk.com/bresser-messier-6-dobsonian-telescope.html

Sorry if that complicates rather than simplifies your decision!

David

[John]

I think Jimmy's and Stu's suggestion on of the Heritage 130P is a good one. They take up little more room than the Heritage 100P and won't be such a drop in performance. Your current 200mm scope collects 4x as much light as a 100mm can so thats going to have quite an impact on deep sky objects. The 130 will be less of a drop and the difference on higher resolution targets such as the moon and planets might be quite close to what the 200 can achieve.

The Heritage 130 is pretty compact when in it's "collapsed" position for transport and storage:

 

[happy-kat]

The heritage 130p telescope can be removed from the base and fitted to a stable photo tripod using an eq clamp as the heritage has a standard dove bar. I use mine with it sat on an upturned bucket and I sit on a garden chair.

[alanjgreen]

Zauriel,

pleased to see you have had some benefits from your rental , it's best to discover its too big before you buy it.

i think the 130p mentioned above is a much better choice to use with a small child too - great photo above showing how a child can really take ownership of this great little scope - you can play the "guide" rather than doing it all for them.

you should find the collapsible aspect an advantage for storage.

creating and adding a shroud to the scope is another "project" that you can do together with your child as part of a learning "why" we need it - they love to ask why?  You just need to be ready with an answer...

good luck,

Alan

[JOC]

45 minutes ago, Girders said:

but I didn't like the whole flextube aspect (as many people seem to add DIY shrouds). 

@Girders The addition of a shroud probably comes from those of us that either have huge light pollution (when they might offer a small advantage) or want to use the same scope for solar viewing (with a flex-tube you'd be silly not to add a shroud to them for solar for safety reasons - that's why I put one on mine, and since I have had it I tend to now leave it on - it stops it getting lost and keeps in good condition).  At night in my back garden my flex tube performs more than adequately without the shroud on and to be honest my eye can't tell the difference between it being on the tube and not.  Having owned a flex-tube I am amazed at how steady the whole set-up is - no lost collimation following an initial check and adjust from being new and the tube design seems bomb-proof.  To be honest, given the huge size and transport advantages, if I went through the buying process again I wouldn't consider any telescope that wasn't a flex-tube design.

That's a great picture of the young lady with her 130P - they really do seem to be the ideal first 'proper' telescope for youngsters and far better for the cash than any of these shiny 'department store telescope offerings in fancy boxes full of unachievable pictures' from what I read of their huge success on SGL.  

[Charic]

4 hours ago, Zauriel said:

.........my wife thinks the 200p dob that we borrowed is too big for our house and in fairness to her she' probably correct after a bit of talk with my son and doing a little looking on FLO he said he liked the look of the heritage 100p

Did you manage to see anything through the 200P Dob ? If you did, then expect less from the 100 by virtue that the 200P has the larger aperture, perfect for visual observations.

From your text, I'll assume the borrowed Dob was used 'at home', and you have seen the scope in action, but state its too big for the house, or  is it just too big for handling and moving in the car, if so, then yes, maybe a smaller scope is required. I feel that your issue is one of transportation and handling, unless you really do have a small house and no space.

My scope  pictured below is ready to go, just gotta take the covers off, lift it outside, and with the longest focal length eyepiece, can start using the scope almost immediately, yet allowing  sufficient time to cool for when I need  higher magnification. The scope normally sits in the cupboard, but here, I've pulled it out to compare  the amount of floor space its consuming with regard to an average kitchen chair. The scope could easily sit in the corner where those spare kitchen rolls are visible.

In the previous car, sticking the tube across the seat was my option, but now only having a 3 door car, I put my tube in the boot, lengthways, folding down one of the rear seat back/s, this gives me space to store the tube and the base if carrying a front seat passenger, otherwise the base sits on the front seat.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have several telescopes sitting in my lounge, which highlights their differing weight and bulk. The 203mm Newtonian OTA dwarfs the 127mm Mak.  In fact, the weight and bulk go up according to the cube of the aperture. So the heritage 100 is one-eighth the weight and bulk of the 200mm Dob and has a quarter of the light gathering power.

Compared with the 200mm, a 100mm is going to be under-impressive, particularly on faint extended objects.

You may feel that you could go to a 130mm Newtonian (about a quarter the bulk) or even a 150mm (about half the bulk) and still have a more acceptable telescope.  

[JOC]

1 hour ago, Charic said:

I've pulled it out to compare  the amount of floor space its consuming with regard to an average kitchen chair.

The 200P flex tube does even better than that. Standing on no more space than yours, but with the flextube version I come in than less height than a standard dining chair (mine have lower backs than your one), in fact the entire setup collapses to less than 1m height, and within 30 seconds splits into two easy to carry sections - OTA and base - via a hand driven locking screw and re-assembles in a similar time.

NB.  mine lives in the unused space behind the porch door on the hinge side.

[Zauriel]

Thanks for all the responses I hadn't considered a flex tube as I wasn't sure what they were if I'm honest guess I'll be looking around a bit more and read up on a few reviews.

[JOC]

7 hours ago, Zauriel said:

I hadn't considered a flex tube as I wasn't sure what they were if I'm honest

Here you go this is what an 8" truss tube Dob looks like against a dining chair - closed it's wearing its solar shroud, but in it's open state it shows the truss tube - <15 seconds to extend it.  Apologies for the angle of pictures I continue to have difficulty getting things to post upright!

 

 

[Stu]

5 minutes ago, JOC said:

Apologies for the angle of pictures I continue to have difficulty getting things to post upright!

Pics sorted now hopefully!

[JOC]

Aww....that's smashing of you Stu, many thanks.

[Nyctimene]

Dining chair based size comparisons seem to become popular in this thread, so I'll add my pictures of the Skywatcher Heritage 130 P Flextube:

collapsed:

 

and extended (with someone pondering to turn the scope into a cat-adioptric):

As mentioned above, an excellent starter scope with very good optics and decent mechanics; aesthetically pleasing, might be well suited for hardening female family members for purchases of bigger scopes in the future...

Have a look at this:

http://neilenglish.net/a-newtonian-travel-scope/

Take yourself time with the decision; in the meantime, explore the autumn/winter skies with binos; the experiences will be useful later on when using a scope.

Clear Skies

Stephan

[JOC]

That cat had been through some long lasting mud hadn't it.  Just look at the paw-prints!

[Nyctimene]

2 hours ago, JOC said:

Just look at the paw-prints!

Doing this.... strange appearance  -----  looks, as if she had been hopping!? ---- ? ---?? --- Ministry of Silly Walks Online Course for Beginners ---????

Must check the Credit Card account !

Stephan

[Charic]

On 22/11/2017 at 13:18, JOC said:

The 200P flex tube does even better than that

Had quite an interesting day today? several issues to contend with,  all work related,  and much snow this morning,  some may say, quite a stressful day, however  all over now, and nice to finish with a smile on my face after reading JOC's message?

Cheers JOC, not everyday  someone declares there's is smaller than mine ? I'll leave it at that 

 

 

[Charic]

5 hours ago, Nyctimene said:

Dining chair based size comparisons seem to become popular

...and why not!  Ive also seen coke cans and/or  Heinz Beans  to scale alongside eyepieces.

I think many folk are genuinely surprised when a Skyliner first appears in two very large boxes, but to scale it against something in everyday use just makes sense. 

I've seen the 130 myself in a shop, on the  shelf, and it did seem quite small, but  because of what it is/does and its reference to the pioneers in astronomy, its something I have considered myself, more for decorative purposes on my display wall, and for when guests are around. I'd like to look though one first though, just incase!

 

[Jimmy Rocket]

My Heritage 130P Flex tube with Skywatcher Ultrawide Eyepieces 1.25" 20mm & 9mm, EP's not used yet due to those bloomin clouds !!

[DavidJM]

I have both the 100P and 200P, the 100 gets used massively, easy to use and set up. As the base has a screw fitting it can be mounted on a camera tripod, takes up hardly any room and if new to astronomy it is a great place to start. Now if this was my only scope and size and portability were major factors I would go for the 130, aperture does make a difference but because I have the 200P, quick grab and go, the tripod flexibility etc. Made the 100 a good choice for quick sessions as a second scope

[happy-kat]

Image is Rod's heritage and photo from thread.

For full details how a member did that here's the thread. Link here