finally the mak is here!!

[Sunshine]

Its about time!! i made the 3hr round trip to my scope shop (after a tough days work) but all well worth it, i could not wait till the weekend when i'd have plenty of time to go early and avoid rush hour traffic, be well rested and awake, that makes no sense at all lol.

I was far too giddy to wait for the weekend, anyway she's here and she's beautiful!, i will no doubt be tossing that horrible 28mm eyepiece it comes with and replacing the finder scope with a spare telrad i have.

Now i just need a clear night and a couple of hours for equilibrium and we'll see what this little gem can do! it sure feels and looks like a quality piece of gear i must say, that beautiful corrector just screams "i mean business".

[John]

The scope looks great on the Vixen GP mount as well !

Hope you get some wonderful high resolution views through it 

[orion25]

Beautiful! Welcome to the "Mak Pak"! I have the analogous little brother, the Orion StarMax 127. I absolutely love it! My number one grab'n'go! I took it with me it on my journey to the path of totality for the Great American Eclipse:

 

[Sunshine]

Any pointers on collimation checking? this is my first mak, i can collimate my 12' dob easily enough but it does require it more often after transport, i understand these smaller maks rarely require any collimation, i always collimate via star test 

anything in particular i should look for in a mak?

[orion25]

7 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Any pointers on collimation checking? this is my first mak, i can collimate my 12' dob easily enough but it does require it more often after transport, i understand these smaller maks rarely require any collimation, i always collimate via star test 

anything in particular i should look for in a mak?

The beauty of the Mak is that you don't have to collimate it...ever. It does require some cool down time in cold conditions; I'd give it at least 30 minutes or so to adjust. A dew shield is also a must if you plan on a long night of observing on winter or humid nights. You'll love "reach out and touch" views of the moon, the planets, multiple star systems (Albireo is GORGEOUS in a Mak) and the brighter DSOs like M42, M57, M13, just to name a few. Tack sharp stars with no CA. The long focal length defeats coma. The compactness begs for road trips. Need I say more?

[Dave In Vermont]

Maksutovs are noted for holding collimation through having an artillery-round explode next to it! All I've done is put it through a star-test. All was fine as long as the upper-atmosphere was being civil. What aperture is yours, Sunshine? I've done some work on mine (150mm) by way of dropping in a GSO dual-focus 10:1 Crayford. Scalpel-sharp views!

Here's my beast -

 

 

 

I can't wait for your 'First Light!'

Dave - to your South.

[orion25]

14 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Maksutovs are noted for holding collimation through having an artillery-round explode next to it! All I've done is put it through a star-test. All was fine as long as the upper-atmosphere was being civil. What aperture is yours, Sunshine? I've done some work on mine (150mm) by way of dropping in a GSO dual-focus 10:1 Crayford. Scalpel-sharp views!

Here's my beast -

 

 

 

I can't wait for your 'First Light!'

Dave - to your South.

That is a beautiful beast! Mak lust in full force! 

[Sunshine]

Thanks for the tips everyone! 

Reggie: you're charging me up here and its going to be cloudy for several days, i'm going to implode!

Little Green Man: my mak is a 150mm, and i walked out of the store with your exact same celestron dew shield, i will definitely be doing a first light post once the clouds clear up!

[Dave In Vermont]

Sounds like we've got the same weather. Where in Ontario are you? I'm in Burlington, Vermont here. It's currently 54°F. here, that's about 12°C.

Dave - not really a Little Green Man.

[Sunshine]

Hello Dave, my name is Eddie, i live in a small town just 45 min outside of Toronto, the weather here is now is windy as all hell, cloudy and according to my local weather app exactly zero degrees C but feels like minus 6 with the wind sheer, sound great eh!!

Ask me what the weather is like in Feb when it gets to about minus 25 but feels like minus 40 with wind! and yet we roast in temps of 40C during worst summer days, land of extremes in this part of canada.

[alan potts]

Congratulation on your new scope. I have one too and as a scope it is great, very good optically but sadly well let down by the quality of the 2 inch fittings at the rear, I threw more than the eyepiece away.

Alan

[Dave In Vermont]

Eddie - we had the high winds (50+ mph gusts) earlier. Now the 'big freeze' is descending here shortly. This sudden reversal can cause a rare phenomena that we had here earlier this season: "Thunder-Snow"- which is heavy thunder with high-arcing lightning bolts. Not too conducive to stargazing.

Alan - I heard the visual-back of the Mak's had problems. Unless it's one I haven't heard of, Synta fixed the ill-fitting issue. As well as the focuser having way bad mirror-flop. This was fixed after many complaints - led by Skywatcher. I hear the other companies (Orion, Celestron) that sell these Maks fell in line and had Synta follow suit for theirs as well. So 'Happy-Dance!' all around for Mak users!

Have Fun -

Dave

p.s. - If you learn to enjoy meteorology as well as astronomy, you'll never be bored.

[alan potts]

1 hour ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Eddie - we had the high winds (50+ mph gusts) earlier. Now the 'big freeze' is descending here shortly. This sudden reversal can cause a rare phenomena that we had here earlier this season: "Thunder-Snow"- which is heavy thunder with high-arcing lightning bolts. Not too conducive to stargazing.

Alan - I heard the visual-back of the Mak's had problems. Unless it's one I haven't heard of, Synta fixed the ill-fitting issue. As well as the focuser having way bad mirror-flop. This was fixed after many complaints - led by Skywatcher. I hear the other companies (Orion, Celestron) that sell these Maks fell in line and had Synta follow suit for theirs as well. So 'Happy-Dance!' all around for Mak users!

Have Fun -

Dave

p.s. - If you learn to enjoy meteorology as well as astronomy, you'll never be bored.

Dave, it was a few years back and had the old type Mak thread. It annoyed me that I had to spend to put right a basic extra few quid spend on their behalf, I was amazed what a thin piece of metal with two threads on could set one back, 40 quid I think, I put the 2 inch back from Meade SC onto it as I have a Moonlite on that, don't use it much in truth but planets are not in the evening sky at the moment.

I always wish for an extra payment why SW and other bigger producers don't do a de-luxe pack with better finder, visual back maybe even eyepieces. I am sure there are a few other things that could go in the box. The other option could be scope and only the scope, I already had a finder and many eyepieces.

Alan

[chiltonstar]

Congratulations on your new Mak! They really are great scopes for high power views, and very robust even when taken around in a vehicle quite often. I have to say, the quality of the 2" back on my 180 Mak is very good, the diagonal is good enough, just one of the two included EPs not up to much. However, Maks are wonderfully eyepiece tolerant, and you will get good views with even cheap EPs - even cheap zooms.

Chris

[Delboy_Hog]

Congratulations on the new scope!  These maks are excellent - I have the smaller 127, and it's a little beauty.  As Reggie mentioned, your views of the moon and planets in particular will be excellent, and on those rare but wonderful nights of good seeing, bump up the magnification and marvel at the view!

Enjoy, and we look forward to hearing how you get on!

Derek

[faulksy]

congrats @Sunshine i used to have the 150, but the older pro series, let it cool and put a good dew heater on

[Dave In Vermont]

2 hours ago, alan potts said:

Dave, it was a few years back and had the old type Mak thread. It annoyed me that I had to spend to put right a basic extra few quid spend on their behalf, I was amazed what a thin piece of metal with two threads on could set one back, 40 quid I think, I put the 2 inch back from Meade SC onto it as I have a Moonlite on that, don't use it much in truth but planets are not in the evening sky at the moment.

I always wish for an extra payment why SW and other bigger producers don't do a de-luxe pack with better finder, visual back maybe even eyepieces. I am sure there are a few other things that could go in the box. The other option could be scope and only the scope, I already had a finder and many eyepieces.

Alan

Yes, I know the adapters/fix you likely mean. Now it's a standard (and tight-fitting) thread on the VB. Skywatcher did something rarely heard of: Listening, and responding, to their customer complaints & suggestions. That was at least 50% of why I went for the Skywatcher over the Orion, Celestron - even though I like that orange-tube! As for the 8 X 50mm straight-thru finder, anyone want to buy one....? GSO RACI 8 X 50mm almost instantly - for me.

36 minutes ago, faulksy said:

congrats @Sunshine i used to have the 150, but the older pro series, let it cool and put a good dew heater on

Irony at it's best: 'Let it cool then heat it!'

Excelsior!

D.

[25585]

Be interested to read your findings, a 150 seems the ideal, not too long fl, compact & tough. 

[25585]

7 hours ago, alan potts said:

Congratulation on your new scope. I have one too and as a scope it is great, very good optically but sadly well let down by the quality of the 2 inch fittings at the rear, I threw more than the eyepiece away.

Alan

Alan what did you replace & with what?

[alan potts]

32 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Alan what did you replace & with what?

I replaced the thread at the rear of the scope that the visual back screws to. It was an odd size and bought a converter to an SC thread was 40 quid, I binned the visual back that it came with and used the one from my Meade SC, it is solid now. I also gave the eyepiece away to my Delear friend to gift to someone with a scope purchase. Sadly it doesn't get much use these days but all the planets are away on holiday.

Alan

[25585]

1 minute ago, alan potts said:

I replaced the thread at the rear of the scope that the visual back screws to. It was an odd size and bought a converter to an SC thread was 40 quid, I binned the visual back that it came with and used the one from my Meade SC, it is solid now. I also gave the eyepiece away to my Delear friend to gift to someone with a scope purchase. Sadly it doesn't get much use these days but all the planets are away on holiday.

Alan

Shame that good optics package spoiled with cheap quality. The reports of such decided me on getting a bigger refractor instead of the 150. 

 

[alan potts]

3 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Shame that good optics package spoiled with cheap quality. The reports of such decided me on getting a bigger refractor instead of the 150. 

 

Yes i put a review together on it and basically took that tack, very good optics and spoilt with the poor bolt ons. To a lesser degree the same is true of the M/N 190mm, though this is about my favourite scope, almost APO views and under 1000 pounds for 190mm, flat field too.

[25585]

19 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Yes i put a review together on it and basically took that tack, very good optics and spoilt with the poor bolt ons. To a lesser degree the same is true of the M/N 190mm, though this is about my favourite scope, almost APO views and under 1000 pounds for 190mm, flat field too.

What improvements did you make to your 190 Alan?

When I become more used to double stars, I may move to the 190. It did tempt me, but too high lowest magnification, narrow FoV & restricted 2 inch ep use + no guided mount overall added up to limited use. My C8 will do for now. 

Celestron & Meade have a good independent as well as own accessory catalogue for their SCTs. SW would be appreciated if they did the same. 

 

[JOC]

Whenever I read a title like the one in this thread, for some reason my mind goes here:

 

Hope you get some clear skies soon, maybe this is music to view by!

[alan potts]

58 minutes ago, 25585 said:

What improvements did you make to your 190 Alan?

When I become more used to double stars, I may move to the 190. It did tempt me, but too high lowest magnification, narrow FoV & restricted 2 inch ep use + no guided mount overall added up to limited use. My C8 will do for now. 

Celestron & Meade have a good independent as well as own accessory catalogue for their SCTs. SW would be appreciated if they did the same. 

 

I didn't make any, only dumped the eyepieces. Good scope, I like it. Suberb for imaging!