First light with the Sky-Watcher Heritage 150P

[JeremyS]

Achieved first light with the new SW Heritage 150p last night.

I set it up on the patio table. It’s very quick and easy to set up. The scope + mount is stored in a cupboard, so I simply lifted it out and used the built in carry handle cut-out to take the whole thing outside and plonk it down on the table. Easy. Extending the collapsible tube is quick too. I checked the collimation with a laser collimator and it was almost spot on – as it was the other day when first delivered. First thing was to align the red dot finder on Arcturus. I must say I do not like these small red dot finders and this one seem particularly poor. The adjustment screws are pretty hard to move (without jogging the main scope) and don’t seem to work very well. Moreover, the orange tinted front glass reduces transparency and scatters light. I’ve got a few more of these dreadful 1x power red dot finders and one without the tinted glass (if it is glass, that is!!), so I might swap.

I then inserted a Panoptic 24 mm eyepiece(x31)  and focused on Arcturus. The focuser isn’t brilliant, but I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect. It works pretty well, though, and achieving focus was easy. Note that I had wound some PTFE tape around the focuser thread which reduces play and makes focusing smoother. There is some play in the focuser unit as it’s made of plastic. But, again, it’s acceptable given the intended purpose of the instrument – and its price point.

Arcturus and surrounding stars were pint point. Lovely view, actually. Of course the 6 diffraction spike were visible (due to the 3 vane spider). A bit of a novelty for me as a refactor user normally!

Turning to M13, again a lovely wide-field view with the Pan 24 (just over 2 degrees x31). I inserted a Nagler 9mm (x83) and the outer edges were resolved. It occurred to me that the Nagler eyepiece cost 50% more than the Heritage 150p which shows what good value the scope is (or, perhaps, how expensive Naglers are 🙂 )

Next was M57, the Ring Nebula. Again easily found and benefiting from the Nagler 9mm.

Finally, I scanned part of the Summer Milky Way in Cygnus. I think this is where the ‘scope will be used a lot at dark sites as the Pan 24 gives a stunning wide-field vista as one moves through all those amazing star fields.

The dob mount performed well and was smooth enough in both alt and az, especially when I’d adjusted the friction tension.

So, all in all I think this is an excellent telescope. The optics are excellent and the views wonderful. It’s also highly desirable to have 6 full inches of aperture to hand! Yet it’s compact and light enough to put in a small car for a holiday under dark skies. The folding tube assembly obviously has some limitations and the weak points are the focuser (although this can be improved with the PTFE tape) and the red dot finder.

I also have a SW 150 f/8 Dobsonian. This is the solid tube version. I gave it to my younger daughter for her 9th birthday and she’s now a junior doctor, so I’ve had it a while 😊. Mechanically this is much better and the solid tube a real benefit. But it is bulky and not really suitable to take away by car, unless it was the only thing I had on board. If I had to chose between the two, I’d go for the solid tube longer FL ‘scope if I was only intended to use at home.

I also tried the Heritage 150P OTA on two other mounts. The SW AZ5 on a Berlebach Report 312 gives much smoother alt az motions that the Heritage dob base. I also tried the OTA on a SW AZ-GTi: a super combo and this will be great for dark nights away. The goto will allow loads of objects to be swept up easily. I think I will prefer using one of these mounts on occasion, but of course it partly negates the compact dob package that the Heritage offers. You can’t beat the simplicity of grabbing the heritage, setting it on a table and be observing in a couple of minutes! 🙂

 

[andrew s]

So how many telescopes is the now @JeremyS ?I am sure you can get treatment  on the NHS for this addiction. 

Regards Andrew 

[JeremyS]

5 hours ago, andrew s said:

So how many telescopes is the now @JeremyS ?I am sure you can get treatment  on the NHS for this addiction. 

Regards Andrew 

As you said in another thread:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sounds a good mix @Stu, but you can do squats,  knee push ups,  star jumps , lunges and lots more all with no equipment. Variety is the spice of life.

Regards Andrew 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Same holds for a variety of telescopes 🙂

 

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Excellent report there Jeremy, The heritage 150p sounds like it packs a punch and is nice and practical also! It is encouraging that you managed to locate so many DSO's even with less than ideal  sky at the moment, It will be good to hear how it performs under darker skys!

What are your thoughts about a light shield? Do you think it would benefit from one to cover the secondary mirror more and darken the inside of the tube?

it looks like you have a very similar focuser to my little 76p, looking at your pics did you literally just wrap the silver focus thread with PTFE tape?

I was going to get the 300p  out later but my go with the 76p after your write up 🙂

Baz

[JeremyS]

4 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Excellent report there Jeremy, The heritage 150p sounds like it packs a punch and is nice and practical also! It is encouraging that you managed to locate so many DSO's even with less than ideal  sky at the moment, It will be good to hear how it performs under darker skys!

What are your thoughts about a light shield? Do you think it would benefit from one to cover the secondary mirror more and darken the inside of the tube?

it looks like you have a very similar focuser to my little 76p, looking at your pics did you literally just wrap the silver focus thread with PTFE tape?

I was going to get the 300p  out later but my go with the 76p after your write up 🙂

Baz

Hello Baz,

it will definitely benefit from a light shield, not only to stop light nuisance but also breath crossing the light path. I must order some. Somebody gave a link to thin polymer foam material the other day from Wickes but I’ve lost it.

The threaded eyepiece holder is black. I simply wound it round with a single layer of ptfe tape - this is the white stuff you can see in the pic

Jeremy

[Barry-W-Fenner]

20 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Hello Baz,

it will definitely benefit from a light shield, not only to stop light nuisance but also breath crossing the light path. I must order some. Somebody gave a link to thin polymer foam material the other day from Wickes but I’ve lost it.

The threaded eyepiece holder is black. I simply wound it round with a single layer of ptfe tape - this is the white stuff you can see in the pic

Jeremy

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Proplex-Black-Surface-Protection-Sheet-2400-x-1200-x-2mm/p/118670 link attached, complements of Helen.

I've just PTFE taped my 76p focuser. It's taken a lot of play out of it. Arcturus and Vega should be along shortly to try it out 🙂👍

 

[JeremyS]

9 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Proplex-Black-Surface-Protection-Sheet-2400-x-1200-x-2mm/p/118670 link attached, complements of Helen.

I've just PTFE taped my 76p focuser. It's taken a lot of play out of it. Arcturus and Vega should be along shortly to try it out 🙂👍

 

Thanks Baz!
Yes the ptfe tape trick does the job 👍

[Ricochet]

12 hours ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Proplex-Black-Surface-Protection-Sheet-2400-x-1200-x-2mm/p/118670 link attached, complements of Helen.

I've just PTFE taped my 76p focuser. It's taken a lot of play out of it. Arcturus and Vega should be along shortly to try it out 🙂👍

 

The focuser on the 76p is a standard rack and pinion focuser, nothing like the threaded helical focuser on the 130p/150p. You might find that the PTFE tape is quickly compressed out of position when winding the focuser in and out. The usual method of improving the play in a focuser like yours would be to increase the thickness of the shims on the inside of the focuser that push against the draw tube. See the following thread:

 

[JeremyS]

17 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Hello Baz,

it will definitely benefit from a light shield, not only to stop light nuisance but also breath crossing the light path. I must order some. Somebody gave a link to thin polymer foam material the other day from Wickes but I’ve lost it.

The threaded eyepiece holder is black. I simply wound it round with a single layer of ptfe tape - this is the white stuff you can see in the pic

Jeremy

Hello Baz, @Barry-W-Fenner. I took a pic of my focuser, which does sound different from yours:

[Stu]

Hobbycraft do useful thin foam which works well for making light shields.

Thanks for the report Jeremy, one of these will definitely be joining the fold sooner or later 👍👍

[Chris]

Excellent first light report Jeremy! it looks an especially cool match for the AZ gti   I've ordered some A2 foam from Ebay for mine. Coincidentally I'm in the process of uploading my first video with the Heritage 150P to Youtube. 

[Corncrake]

Very interesting report, thanks.

I wonder if you tried the supplied eyepieces ?
Did you find them too horrid to report on, or does the Panoptic just jump into hand by habbit !

( I dont have either Panoptic or Naglers   )

 

[JeremyS]

1 hour ago, Corncrake said:

Very interesting report, thanks.

I wonder if you tried the supplied eyepieces ?
Did you find them too horrid to report on, or does the Panoptic just jump into hand by habbit !

( I dont have either Panoptic or Naglers   )

 

Good question Corncrake. The two eyepieces remain unopened. I have used similar ones on other telescopes before and they are OK, but one would soon need to move on to better eyepieces to get the best from this scope whose optics are very good. You don't need to go to Panoptics or Naglers though - I had them to hand, so used them 🙂

 

[jetstream]

Great review Jeremy thanks for the info- I'm going to get one soon myself.

Edited June 21, 2020 by jetstream

[Timebandit]

39 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Great review Jeremy thanks for the info- I'm going to get one soon myself.

 

I take it that you require a quality light weight finder for your 24" Dob 😀

 

 

 

[Corncrake]

2 hours ago, JeremyS said:

,,,,this scope whose optics are very good,

thanks, great info.  👍

[Captain Scarlet]

I’ve just bought one of these as a present for a neighbour who’s done me some huge favours lately. I’m looking forward to looking through it...

[jetstream]

2 hours ago, Timebandit said:

 

I take it that you require a quality light weight finder for your 24" Dob 😀

 

 

 

Great idea!

In reality I want to get this bad boy on the Pleiades...

[paulyz]

Hi JeremyS,
please confirm, AZ-GTi Mount works without problem with Heritage 150p? I googled and some peoples says that this mount is too weak for Heritage 150p. Sometimes I use CELESTRON X-CEL LX 5mm (0.57lbs/260gr) eyepiece with mine Heritage150p and I afraid, that SW AZ-GTi Mount will not work. Many peoples recommend only SW eq5 pro mount, but it about 2x expensive than AZ-GTi Mount. I appreciate for your help. 
 

[cajen2]

Nice first light, Jeremy. One of my scopes is the 150p.

You soon get used to the focuser....in fact I find it almost as good as a two-speed R&P one at achieving exact focus. If there's still significant play, try a little more PTFE tape. One layer soon gets compressed.

The optics are excellent for a small scope. I'm intrigued by your putting it on an AZGTi : an expensive way of making it go-to but no doubt effective. I look forward to hearing how well you get on with this setup.

A couple more things: if you get foam for the lightshield, make sure you don't buy it too thin. I got 2mm and I find it deforms too easily. I imagine 3mm would be ideal. Also, I wanted to change to a better finder too, but FLO informed me that a normal finder shoe wouldn't fit.

Edit: just noticed the original post was two years ago, so @paulyz perhaps you won't get an answer.

Edited September 9, 2022 by cajen2

[JeremyS]

6 hours ago, paulyz said:

Hi JeremyS,
please confirm, AZ-GTi Mount works without problem with Heritage 150p? I googled and some peoples says that this mount is too weak for Heritage 150p. Sometimes I use CELESTRON X-CEL LX 5mm (0.57lbs/260gr) eyepiece with mine Heritage150p and I afraid, that SW AZ-GTi Mount will not work. Many peoples recommend only SW eq5 pro mount, but it about 2x expensive than AZ-GTi Mount. I appreciate for your help. 
 

It’s ok, but I only used it like that a couple of times, preferring the original dobsonian mount

[Baskmask]

On 20/06/2020 at 14:39, JeremyS said:

Achieved first light with the new SW Heritage 150p last night.

I set it up on the patio table. It’s very quick and easy to set up. The scope + mount is stored in a cupboard, so I simply lifted it out and used the built in carry handle cut-out to take the whole thing outside and plonk it down on the table. Easy. Extending the collapsible tube is quick too. I checked the collimation with a laser collimator and it was almost spot on – as it was the other day when first delivered. First thing was to align the red dot finder on Arcturus. I must say I do not like these small red dot finders and this one seem particularly poor. The adjustment screws are pretty hard to move (without jogging the main scope) and don’t seem to work very well. Moreover, the orange tinted front glass reduces transparency and scatters light. I’ve got a few more of these dreadful 1x power red dot finders and one without the tinted glass (if it is glass, that is!!), so I might swap.

I then inserted a Panoptic 24 mm eyepiece(x31)  and focused on Arcturus. The focuser isn’t brilliant, but I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect. It works pretty well, though, and achieving focus was easy. Note that I had wound some PTFE tape around the focuser thread which reduces play and makes focusing smoother. There is some play in the focuser unit as it’s made of plastic. But, again, it’s acceptable given the intended purpose of the instrument – and its price point.

Arcturus and surrounding stars were pint point. Lovely view, actually. Of course the 6 diffraction spike were visible (due to the 3 vane spider). A bit of a novelty for me as a refactor user normally!

Turning to M13, again a lovely wide-field view with the Pan 24 (just over 2 degrees x31). I inserted a Nagler 9mm (x83) and the outer edges were resolved. It occurred to me that the Nagler eyepiece cost 50% more than the Heritage 150p which shows what good value the scope is (or, perhaps, how expensive Naglers are 🙂 )

Next was M57, the Ring Nebula. Again easily found and benefiting from the Nagler 9mm.

Finally, I scanned part of the Summer Milky Way in Cygnus. I think this is where the ‘scope will be used a lot at dark sites as the Pan 24 gives a stunning wide-field vista as one moves through all those amazing star fields.

The dob mount performed well and was smooth enough in both alt and az, especially when I’d adjusted the friction tension.

So, all in all I think this is an excellent telescope. The optics are excellent and the views wonderful. It’s also highly desirable to have 6 full inches of aperture to hand! Yet it’s compact and light enough to put in a small car for a holiday under dark skies. The folding tube assembly obviously has some limitations and the weak points are the focuser (although this can be improved with the PTFE tape) and the red dot finder.

I also have a SW 150 f/8 Dobsonian. This is the solid tube version. I gave it to my younger daughter for her 9th birthday and she’s now a junior doctor, so I’ve had it a while 😊. Mechanically this is much better and the solid tube a real benefit. But it is bulky and not really suitable to take away by car, unless it was the only thing I had on board. If I had to chose between the two, I’d go for the solid tube longer FL ‘scope if I was only intended to use at home.

I also tried the Heritage 150P OTA on two other mounts. The SW AZ5 on a Berlebach Report 312 gives much smoother alt az motions that the Heritage dob base. I also tried the OTA on a SW AZ-GTi: a super combo and this will be great for dark nights away. The goto will allow loads of objects to be swept up easily. I think I will prefer using one of these mounts on occasion, but of course it partly negates the compact dob package that the Heritage offers. You can’t beat the simplicity of grabbing the heritage, setting it on a table and be observing in a couple of minutes! 🙂

 

Hello JeremyS!

I find this telescope amazing for the price and performance, and it is also not too bulky which I also appreciate.
The thing is that I am not a fan of the Dobsonian mount specially for using the pointer.
Could I use it with my light AZ3 tripod?
I would appreciate if you or somebody could share his experience or knowledge here and give me an advice. The telescope plus ocular would maybe too close to the 5kg declared as maximum from the mount. Maybe it could feel unstable?
Thanks!!
 
My tripod: https://www.teleskop-spezialisten.de/shop/Montierungen/Azimutale-Montierung-manuell/AZ3-Skywatcher-AZ-3-azimutale-Montierung-mit-Feinverstellung-bis-5kg::409.html