Skymax 127 or Heritage 130p or...?!

[robbymain]

Hi All

Having been bitten by the night sky bug again, I’m looking for a simple, versatile, affordable grab–and-go scope. Currently I live in suburban North Bristol with typical big city LP (though I did find M13 in 10x50s last night from the back garden) so I’m looking for something easily transportable for getting out of the city and hiking to middle of a field somewhere, as well on camping trips (Lucksall in October plus going to the Dordogne by car this September during new moon!)

I’m sure the majority of its use will end up being on the moon, planets and brightest Messiers at home but I don’t want to limit myself in terms of brightness and FoV too much when I get the chance to go somewhere really dark! 

Back in the 00’s I owned an Explorer 130P for a short while, then upgraded to an Orion Optics UK 200mm Newt on a RA driven Vixen GPE (wishing I’d kept that now!!!) so I’ve some idea of what I’m doing and some experience of reflectors.

SO I’ve been considering a Skymax 127 or a Heritage 130P, mounted on a Porta 2. Happy to invest in a 32mm EP to get some wider views out of the mak; would prefer a proper focusser on the Heritage but from what I read on here, the screw-type one is ok.

Ladies and gentlemen, your thoughts please!

Rob

[happy-kat]

That is an interesting one. You've got the mount sorted. 

Both tubes weigh about the same I think so the only portability differences are length and whether one would hold colimation better than the other but your aren't phased by that anyway.

I can think of one member who has both telescopes @Geoff Lister.

 

 

[Geoff Lister]

10 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I can think of one member who has both telescopes @Geoff Lister.

Yes. They are both good. On paper, the Heritage 130P is the simpler, in terms of off-grid portability, but the mount is an odd shape for packing. For portability, I have found the Skymax 127 with Synscan mount is very robust. A Porta 2 will give you a manual mount, but I have found the Synscan GoTo a pleasure to use, and the planet tracking works well at high magnification.

The whole setup, below, with a few eyepieces and 2 sets of batteries, weighs under 11kg.

I liked mine so much, that I bought a second one for my holiday home in southern France (OTA in hand-luggage, the rest in a wheeled suitcase). I have not had to adjust the collimation on either Mak. OTA, but I did with the 130P Newt. These are my power sources. For portable use, I tend to prefer the pair of the 6V NiMH packs, borrowed from my radio-controlled model yachts. They give me a good evening's observing before needing a re-charge.

I tend to use my 32mm Plossl for initial GoTo alignment, and for viewing the wider DSOs. The 130P OTA will fit on the Skymax mount if I want a wider view. The 127mm Mak is excellent for planets.

I, too, was concerned about the 130P's helical focuser, but, because the focus tube is at the top, the weight of the eyepiece keeps the thread nicely engaged. I tried PTFE plumbing tape, to make it a bit stiffer, but the tape is designed for a one-time-only compression fit, and I found that it was being slowly shredded as I used the focuser, so I took the resulting little bits out. It works with zoom EPs, provided that you grip the focuser whilst adjusting the zoom.

Geoff

[happy-kat]

FOV using GSO 32mm eyepiece. Inner blue circle is skymax 27mm outer circle is heritage 130p.

[robbymain]

Many thanks to those who responded with advice - ordered a Heritage 130P last night ?

[RobertI]

59 minutes ago, robbymain said:

Many thanks to those who responded with advice - ordered a Heritage 130P last night ?

You can't really go wrong with one of those, especially considering the price!

[Nyctimene]

On 24/07/2018 at 13:33, Geoff Lister said:

I, too, was concerned about the 130P's helical focuser, but, because the focus tube is at the top, the weight of the eyepiece keeps the thread nicely engaged. I tried PTFE plumbing tape, to make it a bit stiffer, but the tape is designed for a one-time-only compression fit, and I found that it was being slowly shredded as I used the focuser

When I bought my Heritage 130 P Flextube one year ago, I did the focuser fix with a 5x1cm plumber's PTFE strip. Up to now, I never had any problems with it. The threads are always engaged, independent of temperature and moisture, and the focuser works, IME, fine with all my eyepieces/ep-Barlow combinations.

I'm quite sure, Rob, that you will love the 130P; it holds collimation well, has a short cool-down time, and gives wonderful widefield views (2,5° with my ES 26mmf/62° LER eyepiece - or the highly praised 24mm/68 ES, the more expensive alternative). On the other hand, you can crank up the magnification up to more than 200x. Consistently, I am using 183x mag at the moon with excellent results (Seben 8-24 zoom + Baader 2,25x Barlow (a shorty one)).

Stephan

[Mark at Beaufort]

39 minutes ago, Nyctimene said:

When I bought my Heritage 130 P Flextube one year ago, I did the focuser fix with a 5x1cm plumber's PTFE strip. Up to now, I never had any problems with it. The threads are always engaged, independent of temperature and moisture, and the focuser works, IME, fine with all my eyepieces/ep-Barlow combinations.

 

Stephan did you ever post any photos of your focuser update?

[Nyctimene]

2 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Stephan did you ever post any photos of your focuser update?

No, but here you are, Mark!

Your question prompted me to check the situation:

The old 5x1 cm PTFE strip (right side of the picture) is wrinkled and a little bit tender, but still intact and does not crumble. I replaced it with a new tape, the length about half of the focuser's circumference. As you can see, there is enough spare material for the next decade ?

Stephan

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Thanks Stephan

[robbymain]

Thanks from me too Stephan!

[robbymain]

It's arrived - I'm once again a proud telescope owner! ?

Planning to go straight for a Baader 10mm and one of their 2.25x/1.3x Barlows...

The kit upgrade obsession begins anew lol

[Nyctimene]

Congrats, Rob, to your new acquisition, and Clear Skies for the First Light!

When I got my Heritage a year ago, I found that the Red Dot Finder's adjustment range in height ("up-down") was too low. Following a suggestion in the CloudyNights thread on the AWB scope, I did the "staple" fix, to get the rear end of the RDF higher and so was able to align finder and scope properly. It's very simple: just put one or two (ideally still adherent) staples (for paper) horizontally on the rear end of the findershoe, the open end pointing in line with the shoe's axis towards the front end:

after that, slide the RDF onto the findershoe and fasten it as usual- tada!

(just in case, you've got the same problem).

Looking forward to your First Light report!

Stephan

 

[robbymain]

On 25/07/2018 at 16:28, Nyctimene said:

No, but here you are, Mark!

Your question prompted me to check the situation:

The old 5x1 cm PTFE strip (right side of the picture) is wrinkled and a little bit tender, but still intact and does not crumble. I replaced it with a new tape, the length about half of the focuser's circumference. As you can see, there is enough spare material for the next decade ?

Stephan

 

Hi Stephan

I tried this the other day but the PTFE tape I have seems far too thin for the job at 0.075mm thick and just fell out =P

Do you know what the stuff you used is?!

Cheers,

Rob

[Nyctimene]

1 hour ago, robbymain said:

Do you know what the stuff you used is?!

Rob,

I'm afraid, not. I asked a local plumber for some tape, and he handed me this, but I don't know, what the thickness is (and can't measure it). You could try the fix with just a longer piece of tape, or ask your plumber for some thicker tape (don't know, whether there are different types, but I suppose).

Stephan

 

[happy-kat]

Oops no that tape (the one I removed from my post) wont work (edited post) as it sticks.

[robbymain]

A quick google revealed you can get 0.2mm thick PTFE which i suspect might be more the ticket - will get some and report back!

[Nyctimene]

55 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

that tape wont work (edited post) as it sticks.

Sorry, my mistake - of course, I was thinking of various PTFE tapes; but Rob seems to have solved this problem already!

Stephan

[robbymain]

First light on the 130P this week!

Carefully collimated it then had it out on the garden table several times - first time practicing with the RDF and focuser on Vega, Altair and  Megrez (plus a bonus tiny satellite zipping across the 10mm EP field), second time looking at Jupiter - was impressed to see 2 bands and (right on verge of seeing) The shadow of closest moon, all at only 65x mag?!

Pretty chuffed with this wee sub-£150 scope!

 

[happy-kat]

Saturn's rings are easy split from the planet too at x65 but no cassini division at that mag I've found. It's a great pick it up and use telescope.