Skywatcher Evostar 150 ED

[Marki]

I've had this scope since December last year, and its had a fair amount of starlight now, albeit under generally poor/average seeing conditions.  Still, long enough for me to have come to some conclusions. My skies are suburban, but pointing towards central York. Apparently I'm in Bortle 6, but I'd say closer to 7 (right on the edge according to the maps I've seen).

In a nutshell, its a 6" (150mm)  ED (glass unspecified) with a focal length of 1200mm (f8), with a price well under £2k. FLO currently have it for £1799 - I was lucky enough to buy mine for £1520, before the recent price rises kicked in. It has the same fit and finish as the rest of the Evostar (Pro) range. A big fixed metal dewshield adds to the weight at the top end, it has some basic rings and a vixen/sw type dovetail and a 2" fixed dual speeed focusser (note, mine did not come with a 2" to 1.25" adaptor), all delivered in a well padded hard case. The interior is well baffled, and I don't see any stray light. The OTA with rings weighs in at 9.5kg and is substantially easer to handle than the 150mm f10 Istar I used to own. The case is huge, sturdy and heavy and nearly unmanageable with the scope inside. There is a sprung handle at either end and a central carry handle on one side. Four locks, and plenty of inserts/cutouts in the interior for accessories.

I mount the scope on an Az-Eq 6 GT, in eq mode which handles it easily. I could really do with a mini-pier to lift the tube a bit, as I do find myself kneeling to observe targets near the zenith.

My basic testing and observations to date indicate that the scope is basically collimated fine, with no obvious aberrations. It controls colour reasonably well (much better than my f9 125mm achro), but there is a little colour on the limb of the moon for example. Doesn't bother me (I don't really notice it when using my achros anyway, although they're all pretty "long", so not too bad in anycase). Star images are generally good and sharp pretty much across the whole lens. It'll take high magnification on the moon, and doubles (haven't had an opportunity to test it on planets yet). Its aperture ensures it gives really pleasing views of features such as the Orion nebula - almost a 3D feel, with lots of structure visible. Despite the moonlight over the last couple fof nights, it was able to bring out the granularity in M3 and m94 as it started to resolve these clusters at medium magnifications (hinting at what it might be capable of under a good dark sky). Its been great for splitting multiple systems so far (the Pup still eludes me however). I was even afforded a suprisingly good view of M53, depsite it being at low altitude through average seeing last night.

If I have a criticism, its that it feels soft when trying to focus at high powers (250x plus), even allowing for seeing. Even at medium powers, it just doesn't have that snap to focus I enjoy with my other fracs: both of my TALs seem to exhibit a decent snap to focus even with non-dual speed crayfords and the baader steeltrack on my f13 100mm achro (one of Richard Day's Carton lensed Skylights) is leagues ahead of the focusser on the Skywatcher. To be fair, its seems to hold heavy eyepieces in a 2" diagonal well enough though.

To sum up, considering my suburban and limited skies, and the largely indifferent seeing since I bought it, I think its a pretty good telescope for the money. It controls colour reasonably well, better than the 102mm ED Starwave I had a few years back (that had FL51 glass, if I recall correctly), but maybe not quite as well as the SW Equinox 120 I used to own (close though). Nevertheless, I feel it has great potential -  as I get to know how best to use it, I'm getting better results with it, and I think it could really do wonders in the right conditions and under a dark sky. It has great light grasp and good optics. It is well made, but pretty basic. In my opinion it is let down by a poor focusser, but I can live with that focusser being non-rotatable, adn I don't mind the fixed dew shield. 

I'm sure it is not the best performing scope out there, but to get something significantly optically better at the same aperture I think I'd have to spend a good £1000 extra (or more, if I went triplet). Of course, that would likely bring a better finish and improved mechanicals (rotatable focussers etc). Still, a robust and capable 150mm ED in a manageable tube length that'll perform pretty much as well as my average seeing conditions will permit, all for well under 2 grand? Whats not to like!

 

 

 

 

[garryblueboy]

Nice report Mark I think you would notice a big difference in a darker site it’s much like all large optic scopes even refractors suffer from poor seeing 

having owned quite a few large 6 inch APOs including the TOA 150 the optics on my 150 are not to far behind and I would say better than the two 120equinox I owned 

and they were very good  I was surprised by the blackness of the field of view and the sparkle of the stars very Tack like the other night it had no problem resolving the trapeze in M42 and the double clusters looked jewel like I agree the focuser is a bit of a let down but adequate I’m just used to much more robust ones I would rather of seen the option as in the USA of the upgraded one for a few extra pounds but I was told by the vendor the latest model had a few tweaks on the focuser I like you got it at the pre crisis price it is a lot of scope for the money my only gripe was the tube rings which I think are not man enough for this scope and I upgraded those before letting it loose outside 

[Marki]

Good point on the tube rings. I have bought the upgraded SW set, just not got round to fitting it yet (partly so it'll go back in the case ok). WOnder if it'll make that much difference to the stability? As it is, it damps down pretty quikcly if I accidently nudge it, and doesn't vibrate when tracking. I reckon I need some better eps too (maybe some TV Delos or the Nagler zoom). At f8 it seems less forgiving of my basic eps than my f13 100mm. Having said that, my Baader orthos work well with it.

[garryblueboy]

I was lucky my local vendor split the rings and dovetail so I only purchased the rings as I already had a nice dovetail the Delos are nice the Ethos in my opinion not worth there price now even second hand there nearly £500 a piece that more than some Sellars paid for them I’ve got the 13mm nice it is but not a massive jump from the 14mm Delos it upgraded I have the Myriad 100° 20-9-5-3.5mm and I think there almost as good as the ethos 

[GazOC]

1 minute ago, garryblueboy said:

I was lucky my local vendor split the rings and dovetail so I only purchased the rings as I already had a nice dovetail the Delos are nice the Ethos in my opinion not worth there price now even second hand there nearly £500 a piece that more than some Sellars paid for them I’ve got the 13mm nice it is but not a massive jump from the 14mm Delos it upgraded I have the Myriad 100° 20-9-5-3.5mm and I think there almost as good as the ethos 

I've owned various sizes/ combinations of Ethos, Myriad, APM and ES 100 Deg eyepieces and there's not a huge difference in between any of them IMHO.

[garryblueboy]

2 minutes ago, GazOC said:

I've owned various sizes/ combinations of Ethos, Myriad, APM and ES 100 Deg eyepieces and there's not a huge difference in between any of them IMHO.

I’ve only looked through the ethos and Myriad but from other reviews I think your comments are correct I was using the 20mm on m42 last night stunning and sharp 

[John]

Very interesting report on the ED150 Mark

I reckon it's got more to give under the right conditions.