Ongoing review of Skywatcher Evostar 72ED and accesories

[Victor Boesen]

I've recently ordered the Skywatcher Evostar 72ED as a travelscope and it arrives on monday. I just received my mount head(The TS AZT6 from teleskop-express) which I've made a video on with my first impressions. I will post updates, review, first light etc in this thread when I get my scope(and some clear skies, sorry everyone)

Hopefully this thread will help others who are considering to buy the evostar 72ED but also entertain everyone else reading from the sideline:)

Here are my first impressions on the mount head I will be mounting the telescope on:

Clear skies!

Victor

Edited August 9, 2019 by Victor Boesen

[laudropb]

Nice video Victor. I have used this mount for a grab and set up with the ED 72 and it works very well, but I did have to put a longer dovetail on to get a better balance.

[JeremyS]

I've also got that TS mount head which I use with my Tak FC76 DCU as part of my airline portable kit: 

 

[Paz]

I'll be interested to follow how this scope does. I have a st80 but in the long run would like to swap it for something higher quality.

[Victor Boesen]

1 hour ago, laudropb said:

Nice video Victor. I have used this mount for a grab and set up with the ED 72 and it works very well, but I did have to put a longer dovetail on to get a better balance.

I ordered a longer dovetail with the scope since I've read many times that people were having trouble finding balance. Thank you for watching the video:)

[Victor Boesen]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

I've also got that TS mount head which I use with my Tak FC76 DCU as part of my airline portable kit: 

 

Nice setup! A little more expensive than mine is going to be though😬

[heliumstar]

19 hours ago, Paz said:

I'll be interested to follow how this scope does. I have a st80 but in the long run would like to swap it for something higher quality.

It's a big improvement over ST-80 in every possible way. Don't wait. Just get it.

[paulastro]

I agree with heliumstar, just buy one!  It is a fabulous little scope and it makes me smile whenever I use it.  It's gives very sharp images, and punches well above it's weight on the moon and planets.  Fabulous for wide field deep sky, as a high quality spotter scope and as a 420mm lens.

I have no problem balancing it, even with a binoviewer on board.  I use it on a Manfrotto 393 head on a photo tripod and it's the best grab and go I've ever had.  The 393 uses its own 'dovetail' system which helps greatly in achieving balance.

I've a review of the scope here on SGL and on FLOs website if you want to check it out.

  

 

 

[Victor Boesen]

Great looking setup @paulastro! Makes me more excited to get mine. Weather is actually looking good tomorrow evening which is the day DHL estimates it to be delivered!

[paulastro]

That's great news Victor.  It will be nice to hear how get on with it.  Fingers crossed it turns up tomorrow.

[Victor Boesen]

I have to be lucky today... DHL messaged me they'd deliver it today between 8-17 but I'll be home from school approximately 16:30 and they didn't give me the option to get it delivered to a shop 200m from me which I usually do. I'm still hoping I'll be lucky but the odds are tight...

[paulastro]

I've got my fingers crossed for you Victor!

[Victor Boesen]

Well... "Delivery attempted". I'll have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday to get the scope unfortunately

[Victor Boesen]

So I picked up my scope today and I've made a new video of the unboxing and my first impressions.

Everything is just as I hoped although I have problems with the longer dovetail. The hole where I'm supposed to screw the screw into the rings seems to be different from the ones already on the stock dovetail. Does anyone know if I'm doing anything wrong or if I need some other screws?

Skies were clear 15 minutes ago but now it's clouded over. I hope it'll clear up again so I can get it out for a short play.

Victor

[Victor Boesen]

Had somewhat of a first light last night. I got out my scope for 40min of clear skies. I watched Jupiter slowly move behind the roofs of nearby appartements which really affected the seeing but the bands were easily visible and the first thing that struck me was the much warmer colors compared to the view through my dobsonian. The contrast also seemed a little higher. I was using the 4,7mm eyepiece giving 89x which on the planet was not quite enough I felt since the view was really sharp.

I picked up the scope and tripod and went down to the parking lot of my appartement and pointed the scope towards saturn with the same magnification. I was amazed!! Subtle banding on the planet could just be observed at certain moment and I felt like the scope could easily do over 100x(I will dig up my 2.5x barlow, but I don't know if the quality of this). The 89X just wasn't quite enough to confirm I could see the cassini division but I'm prette sure I could spot it. Focusing was also really easy with the 1:11 focuser and the mount held it steady as well.

Turning to the full moon at 89X I could just about see false color when just outside and inside focus while in-focus the color correction was super! The small exit pupil was a little uncomfortable since the 4,7mm and 89X gives an exit pupil of 0.8mm. This is the equivalent of using 312X in my 10" dob.

Really promising first light! I'm excited to use it again.

Victor

[Victor Boesen]

A little update on the scope. I have since the last post had the opportunity to use it a little more both for observing and imaging. Observing double stars and the planets has been a real pleasure although I feel Saturn looks a lot better than Jupiter. Saturn shows some slight banding on the planet itself and the Cassini division is visible at 90X with my 4.7mm eyepiece. Jupiter shows the two main bands and some features within them. Keep in mind the planet season from Denmark has been really bad since the planets don't rise that high on the horizon. I will post an update in a decade when they're up higher. Stars show small airy disks and I've easily split the double in Andromeda(Almach) at 90X.

I've used the scope on my star adventurer when I've been imaging and this works really well. I can get 90sec exposures if I spend some time on polar alignment and from my bortle 7-8 skies I've taken the following images which are both around 30minutes total exposure:

I've cropped the images a bit since I don't have the field flattener for it which I will probably get at some point.

Today I received the Takahashi diagonal which I'm really excited to try out as soon as time and weather permits:) I will continue to update this thread with new experiences and reviews of the scope and diagonal.

Victor

[Alanjmolloy]

Hi Victor, have you had any views through the new Tak prism? I too have the skywatcher scope and considering a diagonal upgrade. 

[Victor Boesen]

8 hours ago, Alanjmolloy said:

Hi Victor, have you had any views through the new Tak prism? I too have the skywatcher scope and considering a diagonal upgrade. 

Hi, I've only tried it once where I was testing the focus with the diagonal so can't quite commend on the quality of it but I will post when I've tried it out properly.

[Alanjmolloy]

4 hours ago, Victor Boesen said:

Hi, I've only tried it once where I was testing the focus with the diagonal so can't quite commend on the quality of it but I will post when I've tried it out properly.

Thanks! Can’t wait to hear. Hope it goes well.

[Victor Boesen]

@Alanjmolloy I was out last night with the scope for the first time in a very long time(time and weather hasn't been on my side lately). First of all! The light path of the skywatcher evostar ed72 is very short, which means you need a short 2" to 1,25" adapter. I use the stock one from my skywatcher dob, and I find it too long.

Practical things out of the way! The clouds only allowed for a test on the moon, pleiades and some MW-scanning. The diagonal didn't create more false color at all whereas it actually seemed to reduce the glare and improve general contrast on the moon and the black background. Very good!

The pleiades showed pin-point stars all across the field(I'm using explorer scientific 82 degree eyepieces) but here no difference was really noticeable from without the diagonal. The same goes for my short scan of the milky way. I didn't have the opportunity to test it on Saturn or Jupiter, but I hope to do so before they disappear.

I hope you can use it! Also, the diagonal isn't supplied with dust caps! Get yourself some when ordering, you won't regret it.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Victor Boesen

[Victor Boesen]

Also, my problem with the longer dovetail I ordered with the scope but didn't fit the rings:

The longer screws from FLO don't fit the rings since they require 6mm screws and the ones from FLO are 1/4" screws. The two middle holes on the dovetail however are 1/4" threads so I ended up drilling a 6mm drill through them so now I'm using the longer dovetail with some 6mm screws.

Clear skies!

[Highburymark]

Excellent set up Victor - and nice colour coordination between your scope and signature

[Victor Boesen]

54 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Excellent set up Victor - and nice colour coordination between your scope and signature

Hahaha the colour coordination isn't even on purpose I just notice what you mean now

[Alanjmolloy]

Great info Victor! Delighted to hear about the performance and not much color. Just need to decide whether to follow your lead or splash out on a Baader bbhs t2. 

interesting that you’re using the ES 82 eyepieces. I have read that they catch on the tak eyepiece clamp. 

 

If if I end up going for the bbhs I’ll post how I get on. Thanks for your great info! Alan

[Victor Boesen]

54 minutes ago, Alanjmolloy said:

Great info Victor! Delighted to hear about the performance and not much color. Just need to decide whether to follow your lead or splash out on a Baader bbhs t2. 

interesting that you’re using the ES 82 eyepieces. I have read that they catch on the tak eyepiece clamp. 

 

If if I end up going for the bbhs I’ll post how I get on. Thanks for your great info! Alan

I've heard many good things about the Baader as well. 

My eyepieces do reach focus but I almost don't even have to rack out the focuser which is a problem with some of my eyepieces.