Skywatcher Heritage 150p - first light thoughts

[Stu]

I have posted up a first light review of this scope here, but thought I would also post some thoughts on the scope itself.

@Lockie has done a splendid job with his videos of this scope, so I’ll just add a few thoughts of my own to back this up.

Overall impressions are very good. I actually like the black finish on the scope; I think the writing suits the Heritage 130p but would have looked out of place on this one.

The sliding truss on mine was quite loose on my scope when I first used it. As soon as I undid the locking screws, it slid straight back down into the tube, rather than needing to be pushed down. I tightened up the grub screws gently on the truss and it now holds position well. The motion is a bit judderly, so I might just smear some WD40 or similar onto the poles to make it a little smoother.

Once extended and locked in place, it is quite rigid though. I did the PTFE tape mod on the focuser threads which makes a big difference. It now has a very good feel to it, would be good if they could find a way to improve the tolerances so this wasn’t necessary but it is very easy to remedy.

Despite the clear knock my scope’s box had had during transit, collimation was not far off at all. The secondary was fine, and it just required a star test and quick tweak on the primary to get it bang on. The adjustments were smooth, easy and held position well once set. I gently tightened the locking screws, but really just so they don’t unscrew over time and fall out; one was loose in the packing when the scope arrived.

The helical focuser itself is very simple to use, however I did find that the flex in it could make finding fine focus a little fiddly at high power. If I was cumbersome with it, I found focus with the focuser flexed a little then when I released it, it went out of focus. The secret is to be gentle and make sure you are not applying any inwards pressure, then reaching a sharp focus is quite easy, and it holds well. I would recommend sticking with lightweight eyepieces too, but the 24mm Panoptic is held perfectly well and gives a nice 2.2 degree field of view which is the max you will be able to get given the 1.25” focuser. A 32mm Plossl will give a similar field of course, with a larger exit pupil so it depends on skies and whether you are filtering or not as to which is preferable. The ES 24mm 68 degree would be a good option I think.

I found the finder easy to install and align, and it held its position well. It was quite straightforward to get my eye in the correct position to find targets, the only criticism might be that it does not dim enough, but it is still very useable.

I was expecting not to like the diffraction pattern from the three vane secondary support as I’m not a big fan of diffraction spikes, and six of the little blighters didn’t sound like good news! The reality was a very pleasant surprise. Each spike is a little less intense than in a four vane setup, and I found the effect quite attractive to view, and actually less intrusive when splitting doubles. On Jupiter the spikes were really not that visible which was great.

As you will have seen from the other report, I use the scope on a mount and tripod rather than the supplied dob base. I find this much easier to manage, and with careful setting of the tripod height, the eyepiece remains easily accessible and comfortable to use from horizon to zenith.

So, does this scope have flaws? Yes it does, but I am nonetheless very impressed with it. Optically it really is excellent, I can’t fault it, even more so given the price but it competes very well with much more expensive kit.

Would I change anything about it? No I wouldn’t. Any change to the focuser for example would inevitably push the price up, and as it is it is an excellent starter scope that is more than capable of keeping an old hack like me happy too. As a travel option it is a great choice.

The only thing I think I would suggest to Skywatcher is to consider offering it as an OTA only version at a reduced price. I doubt I will ever use the dob base so this money could be saved. I picked up my Heritage 130p for about £50 from ABS as an OTA and have enjoyed using that for a few years. I’m not sure if this would go on an AZ5, probably not due to the OTA diameter; it would not fit on the Scopetech Zero Mount for example. Perhaps a Mini Giro or Mini Ercole would be the most suitable. On the Ercole it is smooth and easy to pan around without counterweights and is still easy to pick up as a whole and move around the garden to get the best views.

Now I just need to pick up a 1.25” OIII filter to see what it can do on the Veil!

[Chris]

Fab review Stu, I agree with the 3 spider veins producing quite an attractive 6 mild spikes compared to the usual 4, and an OTA only version would be pretty cool. Conversely the little single arm Dob mount that comes with the H130p and H150p can be quite handy for little refractor and Maks, so I could imagine a flat pack version of that mount at a suitable price selling quite well.