Any thoughts on Sky-Watcher Evostar 150 OTA

[Happysolderer]

I plan to buy a new telescope. The Sky-Watcher Evostar 150 OTA seems to be pretty good. I'll predominantly use it for the moon/ planets. I already have the EQ6-R PRO so its more than capable. Is this a good choice of scope? 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Happysolderer

[dweller25]

Purrrrfect for the Moon and Planets and quite good for DSO’s too 👍

Correction - please see below.....

Edited January 13, 2021 by dweller25

[Happysolderer]

38 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

Purrrrfect for the Moon and Planets and quite good for DSO’s too 👍

Thank you. 😁

[dweller25]

@Happysolderer

But the Skywatcher 150ED will be better as it is better corrected for chromatic aberration. This is the scope I assumed you meant before I read your post title correctly - sorry 😔

Edited January 13, 2021 by dweller25

[mikeDnight]

The standard achromatic from Skywatcher have variable amounts of spherical aberration often due to poor figure. There are good ones out there, but its a bit of a lottery.  They can make fabulous comet seekers and are ideal for rich star fields. The 150ED is in a whole different league though, and is a lifetime scope! 

Edited January 13, 2021 by mikeDnight

[Ricochet]

£500 is not throw away money. I think I would rather put that towards the cost of a 100ED rather than a big, heavy achromat that I suspect would end up being sold on for a significant loss.

[John]

I agree with the other posters - if you can get the ED150 it is a much better scope or even an ED120.

I've owned a few of the Evostar 150's and they have been fun scopes but I would not pay £500+ for one.

 

 

 

[fifeskies]

As others have mentioned the Evostar 150 is a fun scope and I kept one for quite a while.

It performs well on star fields and DSO when there are not bright objects to show up its poor Chromatic Aberration performance.

For the moon not so bad, but this is mostly down to the moon only needing small levels of magnification to fill the view so CA is less pronounced. (other than it will fare poorly at the edge between dark and light).

 

I'll predominantly use it for the moon/ planets @ Happlsolderer

 

However I found it VERY poor for the planets ,clearly smearing out into overlapping coloured versions of the target.

If planets are your main interest this is very definitely NOT the scope for you.

I upgraded to a lower aperture ED scope and this gives vastly superior planetary performance.

SD103S an ED 103mm scope, but it does retail at 3 times the price , I was lucky to find one at a very good price second hand.

 

Below is Venus in the basic Evostar 150 and the moon at 2 different phases.

Jupiter and Saturn show similar poor performance as the Venus photo

(though being low down from the UK just now this is exaggerated by atmospheric issues at the low altitude)

 

I think you would soon tire of an Evostar 150 , and end up upgrading to an ED scope.

 

Another issue is that it is a very big scope and requires a substantial mount (I used an NEQ6 PRO with it) , but I see you already have the suitable mount.

 

 

Edited January 13, 2021 by fifeskies
smaller photo

[KP82]

I'd pick a 4 - 5" ED over this 6" achro anytime. You get refractors for wide field, high contrast and pin-point sharp views. If it cannot deliver, it isn't worth it. For £500 a decent 10" dob will be far better for the money.