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Skywatcher Heritage 130p


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Hello again,

After a lot of you gave me some good suggestions for what my first scope should be someone had suggested the Skywatcher a heritage 130p. I just wanted to know if anyone has had this scope and would to share your opinion/experience with it. I was looking something portable and under £200 and this seems to fit. But when scopes are usually this cheap sometimes they don’t perform that well. Also I wanted to ask is having a open tube a problem for dew etc. 

Many Thanks,

 

Ps (here is the original post if you have anymore suggestions) 

someone had mentioned

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The mirror is good, I have one. It is not cheap telescope it is a good telescope cleverly packaged.

I have seen the Jupiter moon transit shadow, very small black dot but I saw it with this telescope though I would have been using one of the eyepieces I have bought since buying the telescope.

I use it either with it on the floor or on an upturned empty fat ball tub. I sit on a garden chair.

The telescope uses a standard mount so can be put on other tripods, even a decent photo tripod with an EQ clamp adaptor so very versatile and expandable.

You can make a light shroud if you have a lot of street lights.

You will need at least a collimation cap.

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3 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

The mirror is good, I have one. It is not cheap telescope it is a good telescope cleverly packaged.

I have seen the Jupiter moon transit shadow, very small black dot but I saw it with this telescope though I would have been using one of the eyepieces I have bought since buying the telescope.

I use it either with it on the floor or on an upturned empty fat ball tub. I sit on a garden chair.

The telescope uses a standard mount so can be put on other tripods, even a decent photo tripod with an EQ clamp adaptor so very versatile and expandable.

You can make a light shroud if you have a lot of street lights.

You will need at least a collimation cap.

Thanks Happy-Kat, I have read a lot of reviews and all seem positive but wanted to hear from someone who actually uses it, have seen pictures on tripods but I think I’ll keep it how it is. Are the original eyepieces good enough to use for a while or should upgrading them be a priority. Thanks for the help :) 

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Was my first scope. I eventually sold it, which I regret. Really nice optics (I have a couple of scopes in the £300-£500 range that are not better) and incredibly good value. The focuser, while primitive, does the job well.

Can't go wrong with this one.

Billy.

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I used the supplied eyepieces for a while, I have only added in dribs and drabs. I usually wait for offers or second hand to buy a good eyepiece but cheaper then full price.

I am also a fan of this telescope link here as also very within your budget and portable I suspect by having the whole lot over shoulder and walking. The heritage 130p telescope is very versatile it shows DSO (remember they are grey fuzzy patches) and planets but with no chromatic aberration. The ST80 will show CA on very bright objects and is smaller so can't show as much detail on Moon etc. but star fields look awesome in a refractor.

You do not clarify what portable to you means, and if you take the heritage away from home you may then be challenged on where to put it to observe. You may find a park bench to sit it on and sit next to it or a picnic table, or maybe you mean to walk from a flat down to a communal garden that has a table/bucket/seat etc. But in time you may get a tripod for the telescope so it is expandable and can grow with you.

 

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9 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I used the supplied eyepieces for a while, I have only added in dribs and drabs. I usually wait for offers or second hand to buy a good eyepiece but cheaper then full price.

I am also a fan of this telescope link here as also very within your budget and portable I suspect by having the whole lot over shoulder and walking. The heritage 130p telescope is very versatile it shows DSO (remember they are grey fuzzy patches) and planets but with no chromatic aberration. The ST80 will show CA on very bright objects and is smaller so can't show as much detail on Moon etc. but star fields look awesome in a refractor.

You do not clarify what portable to you means, and if you take the heritage away from home you may then be challenged on where to put it to observe. You may find a park bench to sit it on and sit next to it or a picnic table, or maybe you mean to walk from a flat down to a communal garden that has a table/bucket/seat etc. But in time you may get a tripod for the telescope so it is expandable and can grow with you.

 

In terms of portability I’m just looking for something lightweight and easy to carry as I’ll have to get down stairs ( main stairs in house) or if I leave it in the garage I have to go up stairs on decking for maybe better views  And something that is quick to set up. There is a field opposite me which I might use as I have a fair amount of trees in my garden restricting my view. But that may not be all the time. 

Edited by Dinoco
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You can carry the heritage 130p fully assembled as the mount has a carry handle though if carrying it a long time I would put some padding on the handle bit. The whole thing is a bit over 6 kilos. Plus a bag with your gubbins, red light torch, hat, eyepieces. and I guess at least something for you to sit on a camping stool as they are nice and low and a plastic bag just to sit the base on as water/damp is not good for particle board. Depending on the angle and height using the red dot finder may prove quite hard to position your head where it needs to be.

The 130PS on the other thread you could stand to observe and it is the same mirror I think just in a different housing and overall it weighs the same as the heritage looking at specs.

Edited by happy-kat
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56 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

But when scopes are usually this cheap sometimes they don’t perform that well.

Be reassured that the scope by all accounts is adequate optically, though an eyepiece upgrade may improve things.  The cost savings come in the mount. The mount in your case costs almost nothing to manufacture, wheras other outfits may come with an all-metal mount head and tripod, with various 'bells and whistles' adding hundreds of pounds to the cost.

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16 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

You can carry the heritage 130p fully assembled as the mount has a carry handle though if carrying it a long time I would put some padding on the handle bit. The whole thing is a bit over 6 kilos. Plus a bag with your gubbins, red light torch, hat, eyepieces. and I guess at least something for you to sit on a camping stool as they are nice and low and a plastic bag just to sit the base on as water/damp is not good for particle board. Depending on the angle and height using the red dot finder may prove quite hard to position your head where it needs to be.

The 130PS on the other thread you could stand to observe and it is the same mirror I think just in a different housing and overall it weighs the same as the heritage looking at specs.

There was this one I was looking at  ( think the same one you’re talking about) https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-pronto/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-pronto.html also  I was looking at the 6” dob in this range but the awkwardness and weight of it all slightly put me off.

Edited by Dinoco
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I personally would not get the 6" dob when you are going to be going up and down stairs. If you are going to bother to observe it needs to be easy to carry or you may likely not bother.

Tripods can be a bit wobbly but they give height. Only you know how tall you are and how comfortable or not bending over when seated is for you.

Edited by happy-kat
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Have you seen Mark's thread on his Heritage 130P? Mark knows his onions and is very pleased with the scope and mount.

There is currently an OTA without the dob mount on AstroBoot for £54. You would need to add a finder plus the shipping but, but could then look at an AZ5 mount on a decent tripod like Mark's perhaps?

Plenty of shroud threads on the forum, here are a few...

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/303479-heritage-130p-shroud/?tab=comments#comment-3319337

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/286532-made-a-shroud-for-my-heritage-130p/?tab=comments#comment-3139656

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/305224-observing-session-with-15x70-binos-and-heritage-130p/?tab=comments#comment-3337555

IMG_6501.PNG

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36 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

There was this one I was looking at  ( think the same one you’re talking about) https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-pronto/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-pronto.html also  I was looking at the 6” dob in this range but the awkwardness and weight of it all slightly put me off.

I have a Skywatcher Heritage 130P and I think it is a great scope for the money. I have posted a review and some observations with the scope you may want to look at. My only issues with the scope are that you may have problems if there you are observing somewhere with lights around you - if you are in a dark site then no problems. A light shroud will help (easy to make) but there can also be ingress of light from the front of the tube into the focuser draw tube, mainly because the focuser is so near the end of the tube - it's possible you could get the same problem with many newtonians though.

Because of the nice optics and practical aperture of the Hertiage 130P I have been seriously considering the 130PDS which gets round the light ingress issues (closed tube and the focusser is further down the tube). It's a different proposition though as you will need a modest mount for it so probably above budget,

As far as the 130PS pronto goes, it looks like a very nice package and I'd probably favour it over the Heritage if you have £200 budget. Note it does not have the 130PDS tube as described on the FLO website.

Edited by RobertI
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1 hour ago, Dinoco said:

There was this one I was looking at  ( think the same one you’re talking about) https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-pronto/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-pronto.html also  I was looking at the 6” dob in this range but the awkwardness and weight of it all slightly put me off.

Dobs are awkward and heavy to move, but tripod mounted tubes are awkward to use compared to Dobs in my experience.  Balancing heavy eyepieces is a pain with alt-az mounted telescopes on a tripod, but not a problem with a Dob with large trunnions.  The former are also more prone to vibrations than the latter.  There's a thread on SGL about someone struggling with eyepiece balancing on an ED80 mounted on a SkyTee 2.  These issues largely go away with a well designed Dob.

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2 hours ago, Dinoco said:

Hello again,

After a lot of you gave me some good suggestions for what my first scope should be someone had suggested the Skywatcher a heritage 130p. I just wanted to know if anyone has had this scope and would to share your opinion/experience with it. I was looking something portable and under £200 and this seems to fit. But when scopes are usually this cheap sometimes they don’t perform that well. Also I wanted to ask is having a open tube a problem for dew etc.

Don't be fooled by the price. I have heard loads of good reports of this scope.

I have the 'photographic' version of it, the 130P-DS which uses the same mirror and it is an outstanding bit of kit.

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1 hour ago, RobertI said:

I have a Skywatcher Heritage 130P and I think it is a great scope for the money. I have posted a review and some observations with the scope you may want to look at. My only issues with the scope are that you may have problems if there you are observing somewhere with lights around you - if you are in a dark site then no problems. A light shroud will help (easy to make) but there can also be ingress of light from the front of the tube into the focuser draw tube, mainly because the focuser is so near the end of the tube - it's possible you could get the same problem with many newtonians though.

Because of the nice optics and practical aperture of the Hertiage 130P I have been seriously considering the 130PDS which gets round the light ingress issues (closed tube and the focusser is further down the tube). It's a different proposition though as you will need a modest mount for it so probably above budget,

As far as the 130PS pronto goes, it looks like a very nice package and I'd probably favour it over the Heritage if you have £200 budget. Note it does not have the 130PDS tube as described on the FLO website.

Hi thanks for the advice, I don’t have any trouble with lights so shouldn’t be that bad but if I do I will consider that option, I think I’m going to buy one everyone has been saying good things about it condsidering the price. I did look at the 130pds and it’s more to do with AP which I’m not really looking to do at the moment. I’ll have a read of you review when I have enough time :) 

thanks for the help

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19 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I have the 'photographic' version of it, the 130P-DS which uses the same mirror and it is an outstanding bit of kit.

Only slightly off topic (apologies) Neil, but what's the 130P-DS as a visual scope, ie. with larger central obstruction?

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6 minutes ago, Alfian said:

Only slightly off topic (apologies) Neil, but what's the 130P-DS as a visual scope, ie. with larger central obstruction?

I’ve also wanted to know this :) 

Edited by Dinoco
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11 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

I’ve also wanted to know this :) 

I couldn't find the specs related to the secondary obstruction by diameter, so who knows what change was made there.  I can reach focus with my limited backfocus Dob using a GSO coma corrector, so I doubt a dedicated, short tube is necessary for photography.

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18 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

I’ll have a read of you review when I have enough time

Read first before ordering.....; you will want to make an "informed decision", to avoid disappointment.

Neil English's review (I linked you this before) is very informative (you can skip the paraboloid maths, as I did)

20 minutes ago, Dinoco said:

I don’t have any trouble with lights so shouldn’t be that bad but if I do I will consider that option, I think I’m going to buy one everyone has been saying good things about it condsidering the price.

If light pollution isn't an issue, I'd go for the Flextube version, because of it's compactness. The collimation, in my experience, stays spot on even after several extraction/retraction manoeuvres. And you can add a DIY light shroud anyway. The focuser slop can be cured easily with some PTFE plumber's tape. The Seben 8-24 mm zoom or one of it's clones (still within your budget) works well with the 130 P. Add (later on) a Baader 2,25x Barlow lens, and you can split double stars at 188x mag. You will  be very pleased with this scope, as I am (Dobsonaut since 1986....;-) )

Stephan

 

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3 hours ago, Stu said:

There is currently an OTA without the dob mount on AstroBoot for £54. You would need to add a finder plus the shipping but, but could then look at an AZ5 mount on a decent tripod like Mark's perhaps?

This would be a good plan. Before I sold it I used to use the OTA on an AZ4 and it was a great combination.

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1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

The 130p does not reach focus with a dslr hence the 130p-ds which then for visual you need a 2 inch extension tube before the eyepiece. 

Neither does my Dob without the CC.  I would imagine the 130p would reach focus with a GSO CC.  Who would use the 130p-ds without a coma corrector when taking astrophotos?  Thus my point, if you're using a CC anyway, it allows you to reach focus, so you might as well use the 130p.

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