Review and beginners guide to the SW Skymax Pronto

[Chris]

A certain FLO kindly loaned me a Skywatcher Skymax AZ Pronto to review, and this is wonderful for more than one reason! a) I'm not exactly in the position to have scopes of my very own at the moment so FLO are heroically treating my withdrawal symptoms! and b) it allows me to do something useful for beginners trying to figure out the whole scope buying and using business. 

Well I've had lots of fun tinkering with it over the last 7 weeks, but now it's time for it to go back I feel. Before I do though here's a little video I put together going over the basic functions, pros/cons, setup and suitability for beginners. 

Thanks FLO! and I'm really sorry I scratched the paint on the tripod legs 

(p.s. please excuse the video compression artefact, I'm trying to resolve this, but for now it's probably best viewed on a small screen)

 

[RobertI]

Great review Chris, nicely put together, good to see an honest and realistic assessment of the package. 🎖️ As you say it is a bit odd that Maks and SCTs don't come with dew shields when every refractor I have seen has one as standard! Overall it looks like a very neat and ligtweight package, with the tripod being the weak point, but not actually as bad as I had previously thought. 👍

[Chris]

34 minutes ago, RobertI said:

Great review Chris, nicely put together, good to see an honest and realistic assessment of the package. 🎖️ As you say it is a bit odd that Maks and SCTs don't come with dew shields when every refractor I have seen has one as standard! Overall it looks like a very neat and ligtweight package, with the tripod being the weak point, but not actually as bad as I had previously thought. 👍

Hi Rob, thanks The Mak dew shield thing honestly baffles me. It's not like it would cost a lot of money to add on this essential item. The scope surprised me how light it was in it's entirety, and once tightened up a bit the tripod is actually pretty decent....just not quite on par with the mount head and OTA. Fab package overall for 260 quid though  

[jock1958]

Hi Chris 

Thanks for that video. Looks to be an ideal starter package and or a light weight grab & go.

Ive never owned a Mak but now I know how it reaches focus and some excellent info on focal lengths which I thought I new about but obviously didn’t. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by jock1958

[Chris]

16 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Hi Chris 

Thanks for that video. Looks to be an ideal starter package and or a light weight grab & go.

Ive never owned a Mak but now I khow it reaches focus and some excellent info on focal lengths which I thought I new about but obviously didn’t. 

Cheers Jock. A Mak definitely wins for having the longest focal length in the smallest package