Skywatcher Evostar 90 Upgrades

[Hoody]

Hi, I've just recently joined SGL and I have to say I found the forums incredibly useful in choosing my first proper telescope. 

My main interest is lunar and planetary views so I went the refactor route (Evostar 90/900) on the most stable mount I could afford, the EQ3-2 Deluxe from Rother Valley Optics, who were doing a very good price compared to other retailers, which has left me with a bit more budget to put to potential accessories. I've already got my Collins guide to the night sky 2022 and Turn Left At Orion on it's way! 😄

I may be getting a bit excited and ahead of myself as it hasn't arrived yet (Tues hopefully 🤞), but I understand that I may want to upgrade the stock diagonal, barlow and eyepieces, so I'd be very interested to hear members opinions on what would be best for this particular scope with it's intended use in mind. 

Thanks, 

Chris. 

 

 

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Don't rush to spend your money on upgrades. You should wait and see what upgrades you yourself think are necessary or desirable, after using the scope for a while.

Things you might (or might not) want to consider are: an upgrade to the stock eyepieces, especially the 9 or 10 mm one, a different finder (e.g angled or RACI), a RA motor to make the mount track, a planetary camera for a play with planetary imaging, a whole-aperture solar filter (you can make one with Baader film)

[Hoody]

4 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Don't rush to spend your money on upgrades. You should wait and see what upgrades you yourself think are necessary or desirable, after using the scope for a while.

Things you might (or might not) want to consider are: an upgrade to the stock eyepieces, especially the 9 or 10 mm one, a different finder (e.g angled or RACI), a RA motor to make the mount track, a planetary camera for a play with planetary imaging, a whole-aperture solar filter (you can make one with Baader film)

I completely agree, I intend to use it for a good while before determining what may need changing. 

Only I'd watched the Astronomy and Nature youtube videos on best planetary views and they suggested the stock diagonal is usually a weak link and how to test it, so I'll definitely do that before changing it as it may be fine. 

Again, their advice was to change out the stock eyepieces for Plossls for general viewing and possibly Kellners for brighter views of the planets and moon using the 2x barlow. I got the same eyepieces with my Celestron Firstscope 76 so I have a rough idea of how good they are. 

I think the stock finder will be okay for now as it's a 6x30 rather than the red dot style, but I might look into that if it gets a bit tricky to see through. 

I quite like the idea of manually tracking for visual use, feels more involved like with my mini tabletop dob, but if I get the bug to take some photos I'll definitely look into it, just a little unsure whether it'll take my Canon DSLR (5D MK IV) rather than a planetary webcam 🤔.

Solar filter is also a great idea! Making one seems simple enough.

Thanks for the suggestions Geoff.