New Skywatcher Virtuoso products

[Stu]

I just noticed these new Skywatcher products which look interesting. They look to be very neat Goto versions of the Heritage 150p and also a 127 Mak on the same mount. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-heritage-150p-flextube-virtuoso-gti.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/heritage/skywatcher-skymax-127-virtuoso-gti.html

[Gfamily]

Skywatcher are certainly putting out some interesting new products. 

 

[Astroscot2]

The 150p seems like a bargain. 

 

[Astro_Dad]

Very tempted - looks like a great package! Quite a versatile set up. Might upgrade my standard addition! 

[david_taurus83]

I suppose you can't buy the table top mount on its own? 

[Astro_Dad]

I decided to follow through with this and now have the Virtuoso addition. I’m very impressed - the build quality and stability / smoothness of the Azimuth movement on my limited experience seems to very much improved. It just feels solid and has the correct amount of friction - maybe just the comparison between my specific units, but no complaints. You lose the carrying handle but otherwise much gained in terms of the Syn Scan set up, tracking facility etc. I was concerned about too much extra weight, defeating the object of convenient grab and go system, but it it really isn’t noticeably heavier. The recommended mods are in place and now looking forward to trying some basic Astrophotography - Saturn looking good presently!

Clear Skies,

AD

 

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Saw that, noticed the illustrations on the ad. showed a far longer dovetail, and thought, will they also have done something better with the focuser ?

A closer look showed it was the same,

Shame, if they'd upgraded that I'd have seriously considered smashing the piggy bank and going on bread and water for a while to get one  The  focus is  the only thing that really annoys me about the Heritage 150.

Heather

[vlaiv]

16 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

The  focus is  the only thing that really annoys me about the Heritage 150.

I wonder how feasible would be to replace it with something like this:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p7836_TS-Optics-1-25--Crayford-Newtonian-Focuser---metal---with-T2-connection.html

That one has base plate that is removable:

and what is left is probably the same size as focuser of Heritage 150?

As far as I can see from images - it looks like stock one is cast together with upper assembly? That might be a problem for modding to most.

[Astro_Dad]

Agree, the focuser is the weak link for sure- the PTFE tape mod helps improve a little. Reduces play, seems more precise but that’s subjective. I suppose  it’s a design trade off for portability etc. 
 

AD

[Astro_Dad]

4 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I wonder how feasible would be to replace it with something like this:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p7836_TS-Optics-1-25--Crayford-Newtonian-Focuser---metal---with-T2-connection.html

That one has base plate that is removable:

and what is left is probably the same size as focuser of Heritage 150?

As far as I can see from images - it looks like stock one is cast together with upper assembly? That might be a problem for modding to most.

Interesting Vlaiv - worth a look. I’m sure it’s doable with some skill! Yes the stock one is a hard plastic cast into which the helical eyepiece holder is inserted. 

[vlaiv]

5 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

Interesting Vlaiv - worth a look. I’m sure it’s doable with some skill! Yes the stock one is a hard plastic cast into which the helical eyepiece holder is inserted. 

Seems that clever people already thought of doing that and it works fine

 

[Astro_Dad]

😀There’s typically a solution or workaround for most things somewhere  - and normally you can find them from the collective wisdom of forums like this! 

[Tiny Clanger]

38 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

I wonder how feasible would be to replace it with something like this:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p7836_TS-Optics-1-25--Crayford-Newtonian-Focuser---metal---with-T2-connection.html

That one has base plate that is removable:

and what is left is probably the same size as focuser of Heritage 150?

As far as I can see from images - it looks like stock one is cast together with upper assembly? That might be a problem for modding to most.

Yep, that looks like a good replacement focuser, but the metalwork to install it shown in the thread you link to is way beyond my skill, I found it stressful just to drill two holes for a finder shoe ... The existing focus tube is , indeed, all one plastic moulding , part of the front ring which incorporates the spider , the RDF shoe and the attachment for the extending rods . There is no existing place such an after market focuser could be easily  mounted, .May as well go the whole hog and upgrade to a larger, solid tube dob. with a decent focuser built in.

My future plan, when they are back in stock and I have saved enough money , is for a Bresser 8" dob, . the biggest I can handle alone. 

[vlaiv]

2 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

.May as well go the whole hog and upgrade to a larger, solid tube dob. with a decent focuser built in.

Indeed. Whole OTA seems like most reasonable way to go.

I'm sure people will be interested in purchasing only collapsible OTA for travel and mounting on photo tripods and light weight Alt Az mounts as well - so it can be relatively easily exchanged.

[CraigT82]

That H130p focuser mod actually worked really well - which is most unusual for one of my hairbrained ideas! 

I dragged that scope with me for three weeks around South America on a trip a couple of years ago and never got to use it, mostly because I was so ill with the South American version of Delhi belly to be motivated to go out at night, but also when I was finally feeling better in the last 4 days of the trip I we were in a major city with worse light pollution than I've got at home 🙄

Eventually the focuser got pulled off and fitted to a bigger dob which has now been sold on so the humble little H130p is back to its original focuser format, which isn't that bad really once you get used to it.

The virtuoso kit linked to in the OP looks really smart. That's a whole lot of astro capability for 400 quid. 

[Astro_Dad]

It is excellent value Craig, and to the point made by Vlaiv, the original rationale for this collapsible format for me was for ease  of travel, holidays etc. as a complement to a larger Dobs. For that reason I’m less concerned about the focuser as it’s part of the deal, and although fiddly does get the job done. That’s said this scope is so good I think over time it will be the instrument I use the most by far - the computerised version for me eliminated a need for a separate AZ tracking mount and opens up some basic AP possibilities beyond the drift method that I haven’t really dabbled with yet…I have a ZWO cam on order 😀.

Of course there’s also the fundamental interest in trying and testing new astro kit in general… 

Clear Skies

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[happy-kat]

Interesting, I think they must be using new motors in this virtuoso flavour to my virtuoso mount to have I suspect an increased load capacity. Freedom find is great.

[gckirk]

Just ordered the GTi 150p. Have 3D printers, Mill etc so will be looking to mod focus mechanism. What other mods are recommended for the 150p? 

[Girders]

I love my v.1 Virtuoso and now use it with a Mak 127. Would consider upgrading if the mount was available on its own (to avoid the limitation in alt before the scope bottoms out) but I’d really miss the physical L/R up/down buttons as they are easy to use with an eye on the eyepiece. Can’t really do that when controlling in a phone screen.

[happy-kat]

I have the wifi dongle and the synscan v3 handset (picked up second hand) both work with the virtuoso v1 though I use the handset the most as I use the phone while outside for controlling the camera.

It is good to see the virtuoso concept has been continued with a telescope choice update.

Edited August 14, 2021 by happy-kat

[Astro_Dad]

I can definitely see the advantage of the physical controller here having been using this for a while now - It can be tricky trying to align and manoeuvre using the phone at times. Agree that Freedom Find is fantastic. 
Will be interesting to see how people find the Skymax 127 version. 

[Gfamily]

It's very much personal preference as to whether to use a handset or the app on a phone or tablet, but I can say that linking the mount to Sky Safari or Stellarium adds a lot to the usability of the set up.

That's my experience using the AZ GTi mount at least. 

You'll need at least the 'Plus' versions, but they're often available at discounted prices.

I do usually have a spare SynScan handset connected, and I can use it to make minor corrections, but on the whole, with a lightweight OTA attached, I generally find that after the initial alignment,  GOTO is accurate enough to get the target in a 32mm eyepiece field of view so there's minimal adjustment needed.

One thing I think I found once, was that after using the handset it stopped tracking, but a tiny tap on the SynScan app started tracking again. However it's a while since I've used the handset so I can't remember whether it always does that.

[Zermelo]

18 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

It's very much personal preference as to whether to use a handset or the app on a phone or tablet, but I can say that linking the mount to Sky Safari or Stellarium adds a lot to the usability of the set up.

That's my experience using the AZ GTi mount at least. 

You'll need at least the 'Plus' versions, but they're often available at discounted prices.

+1 for that configuration, though I do understand how some prefer to be able to navigate on touch alone. I'm sure I remember reading about someone creating an overlay for a mobile that had raised areas glued on above the positions of the slew buttons.

[Nacho3G]

It's a shame that the internal mechanisms are made of plastic.

 

[Astro_Dad]

On 20/08/2021 at 12:50, Gfamily said:

It's very much personal preference as to whether to use a handset or the app on a phone or tablet, but I can say that linking the mount to Sky Safari or Stellarium adds a lot to the usability of the set up.

That's my experience using the AZ GTi mount at least. 

You'll need at least the 'Plus' versions, but they're often available at discounted prices.

I do usually have a spare SynScan handset connected, and I can use it to make minor corrections, but on the whole, with a lightweight OTA attached, I generally find that after the initial alignment,  GOTO is accurate enough to get the target in a 32mm eyepiece field of view so there's minimal adjustment needed.

One thing I think I found once, was that after using the handset it stopped tracking, but a tiny tap on the SynScan app started tracking again. However it's a while since I've used the handset so I can't remember whether it always does that.

I can see that set up working well - I’ve connected the iOS version of Sky Safari to the mount successfully (plus Luminos which I like using) and do use the MacOS version, but haven’t used with this scope yet. Is alignment done via SynScan in the normal way, to then switch to Sky Safari or can it all be done in the latter? 

I’m hoping to try the ASCOM controlled sky tour regularly featured in Sky at Night magazine at some point, but clear skies are so few and far between at the moment I’m generally just using manually on planets!