Sky-Watcher Evostar 150ED DS-Pro - A busted flush?

[Rusted]

The Berry Offset Counterbalanced Fork Mount is your refractor's sturdy friend provided you don't want an RA drive.
You can buy an awful lot of pier pipe and welding to support some quality woodwork for the price of any undersized and wobbly GEM.
Add an equatorial platform on top of your pier and you can equatorially drive anything short of an aerial telescope.
Not "posh" enough for you? Not "real" enough to be taken seriously by your fellow enthusiasts?
Well, there are some very tasty, big APOs, out there, all resting comfortably in their "sofa" trunnions. It's called "Plop and Go."
Itching to fire up some real drives under your "yard cannon?" Then seek out an oversized, vintage, Eq. mounting.
Paint it white and nobody will ever know it is 50 years old and 50 lbs heavier and a thousand pounds/dollars lighter than today's commercial offerings.

[Stu]

I used to have a Vixen 150ED which is a heavy beast, and although it did give lovely views was probably just that bit too much to be setting up and taking down each time. If I had an observatory then I would be tempted by one, and would likely choose an AZEQ6 for it to go on, with a sturdy pillar. They are excellent mounts and up to the job of one of these big fracs. AZ mode much better for visual too.

[John]

The conclusion that I've come to is that the ideal mounts, for me, for these big refractors are:

- The APM Maxload Alt-az on a Berlebach Planet tripod

- The TTS Panther mount

- The T-Rex mount

The last is sadly out of production and as rare as hens teeth on the used market. The others can still be obtained although they are not inexpensive - at least as much as the Skywatcher ED150 costs and upwards.

 

[johninderby]

I think that while many would like to own a 150ED the realities of mounting it and lugging such a big lump around is just too much trouble.  

[JeremyS]

10 minutes ago, John said:

The conclusion that I've come to is that the ideal mounts, for me, for these big refractors are:

- The APM Maxload Alt-az on a Berlebach Planet tripod

- The TTS Panther mount

- The T-Rex mount

The last is sadly out of production and as rare as hens teeth on the used market. The others can still be obtained although they are not inexpensive - at least as much as the Skywatcher ED150 costs and upwards.

 

Excellent choices, John.

I was also wondering about the AZEQ6 that @Stu mentioned. I am assuming this could be used manually at times when you don't want to be bothered with electronics etc. Or one could use the GOTO when required (in either AZ or EQ mode).

[paulastro]

It would probably be ok on my Ercole mount as I'm purely a visual observer apart from taking a snap or two of the Moon.  

[John]

48 minutes ago, paulastro said:

It would probably be ok on my Ercole mount as I'm purely a visual observer apart from taking a snap or two of the Moon.  

It would be OK if carefully balanced on both axis. You would need some patience when observing at high powers. It won't be vibration free by any means, but useable.

 

[paulastro]

Thanks John.  Mm, I was hoping that you'd say it would be a dead loss on the Ercole so I'm not tempted at some point in the distant future - not really! 

[Stu]

7 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Excellent choices, John.

I was also wondering about the AZEQ6 that @Stu mentioned. I am assuming this could be used manually at times when you don't want to be bothered with electronics etc. Or one could use the GOTO when required (in either AZ or EQ mode).

Yes, that's right Jeremy. Freedom Find means it keeps alignment even when you move it manually although I rarely used it that way. I'll out the pics of my Vixen 150ED on the AZEQ6, it looked a little like a missile launcher!

[John]

15 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Thanks John.  Mm, I was hoping that you'd say it would be a dead loss on the Ercole so I'm not tempted at some point in the distant future - not really! 

Some folks might think that it is not satisfactory. As I'm always keen to maintain portability and simplicity of setup / tear down I'm usually OK about accepting some movement at high power as long as it dampens down in a reasonable time. I can see that it might not be acceptable to all though.

[paulastro]

4 minutes ago, John said:

Some folks might think that it is not satisfactory. As I'm always keen to maintain portability and simplicity of setup / tear down I'm usually OK about accepting some movement at high power as long as it dampens down in a reasonable time. I can see that it might not be acceptable to all though.

Thanks again John.  I think in the same way about using the 120ED on the AZ4.  I'm happy to use this combination with my binoviewer and powers up to around x220.  Not so good if there is any wind and it does take some effort - but do-able for me.   It wouldn't be satisfactory for everyone though.

[Stu]

12 hours ago, Stu said:

I used to have a Vixen 150ED which is a heavy beast, and although it did give lovely views was probably just that bit too much to be setting up and taking down each time. If I had an observatory then I would be tempted by one, and would likely choose an AZEQ6 for it to go on, with a sturdy pillar. They are excellent mounts and up to the job of one of these big fracs. AZ mode much better for visual too.

Here you go, found these on the forum. Probably one of the most insane setups I've owned, but great fun while it lasted. The 150ED weighed about 20kg, a heavy beast! These were from 2016 when I guess, from my grass, it was quite hot!

This is a thread with it on an Ercole which was marginal for it...

I did use a Steeldrive for focusing which helped the vibrations.

[JeremyS]

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

Here you go, found these on the forum. Probably one of the most insane setups I've owned, but great fun while it lasted. The 150ED weighed about 20kg, a heavy beast! These were from 2016 when I guess, from my grass, it was quite hot!

Amazing set-up, Stu. But I can see why you wouldn't want to keep setting it up. The weight of the Atlux OTA is exemplified by being counterbalanced by the C8 at the end of the counterweight shaft PLUS some serious counterweights!

How's your back? 🙂

 

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

How's your back? 🙂

Better since I got rid of that! 🤣🤣

[John]

If thats a Meade Giant Field tripod I can see I know how heavy those things are - I had one for my 6 inc F/12 Istar refractor and I could only just about move the tripod, on it's own, out to my patio. Add an EQ6 to that plus 15kg of counterweights plus the 16kg scope and I'm surprised that the patio slabs didn't break !

 

 

[Stu]

Yes @John it is a Meade Giant tripod, plus a 16" pillar which isn't light either. As you can see from the unmowed weeds around it, I left it set up for long periods under a cover so as not to have to move it very often.