Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest review

[Nikolai De Silva]

Hi, I have this Telescope and thought of giving a complete review with my experiences. Hope this will will be helpful!

 

Sky-watcher  P 130/650 Starquest review                      

"As a pencil is a friend of a writer, a telescope is a friend of an astronomer". A One who finds a telescope with better optics for a reasonable price, which is easy to use, may have stopped in the right place! This fresh and solid Starquest telescope offers you greater experiences which will last forever.  

The Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest, has an aperture of 5.1 inches (130 mm) which is a great and ideal size for an amateur to start. The parabolic mirror is the best about this which will resolve greater views with maximum clarity. The 130mm Parabolic mirror gives contrasting images which will be useful. 

 

The instrument is shorter and fast with a f5 focal Ratio. It weighs a little compared to others which makes it easier to use. The secondary mirror is already collimated in the factory, so you have no need to spare time before use! 

 

This comes with a metal mount with two Capstan style locks, and to slow motion cables, which are smooth. The Equatorial mount offers star tracking with precession. The tripod is made out of aluminium where an accessory tray sits for more stability. 

 

Extra accessories include two powerful eyepieces (10mm and 20mm), and a Red dot finder, which is great!

 

Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest basic Specs

 

Aperture	130mm
Focal length	650mm
Focal Ratio	5
Max useful magnification	260x

 

Telescope in use…

 

Every part is fixable by hand effortlessly, so putting the Telescope together is very easy. After assembling it, ready to go on a clear night! 

The first target, our neighbour, Moon. Moon's views are really great and impressive. Thousands of lunar features are prominent, craters, seas and old volcanoes are clear (don't expect Apollo landing patches!).

 

Jupiter and Saturn look clear and their features are clearly seen. Jupiter's Great Red spot and its bands are visible. Saturn's ring is visible clear.

 

Out of the solar system into the Deep sky. All messier objects are visible. M27 and M57 especially offer great views! M31 (Andromeda galaxy) and M33 are visible with low magnification on clear nights. The Great Orion Nebula also offers you a good view. The Pleiades star cluster is like diamond dust in the sky! You can really expect deep sky targets clearly and impressively. 

 

The only bad thing is the tripod is not very stable, a little wobbly. But, the vibration settles down very quickly.

 

Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest vs Celestron Astromaster 130eq (specs)

 

Specifications	Starquest	Astromaster
Aperture	130mm	130mm
Focal length	650mm	650mm
Focal Ratio	5	5
Max useful magnification	260x	260x
Primary mirror	Parabolic	Spherical
Mount	Almost metal	Almost plastic
Mount type	Starquest Eq	Eq2
Supplied eyepieces	10mm, 20mm	10mm, 20mm + 2x Barlow lens
Finder	Red dot finder	Red dot finder
Motor drive	Sold separately	Sold separately
PRICE (Astroshop EU)	US$ 337.00	US$ 339.00

Summary

 

Pros	Cons
Easy to use	Wobbly tripod
Clear views	Not for astrophotography
Inexpensive for the aperture

 

Overall, the Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest Telescope is a durable, and a good beginner Telescope which you can enjoy the views to stay in mind forever.

 

Hope you enjoyed!

Nikolai.

 

[seven_legs]

great write up, thanks.

looking at the price it seems great value at £239.

hope to read more observation.

[TheTaz]

Great write up. I have just got hold of one of these although it came with the motor. Some lovely photos which rekindles my enthusiasm. It has rained every day since I got mine so I have set it up, collimated the lenses and am ready to go. 

[Nikolai De Silva]

On 09/04/2024 at 20:48, TheTaz said:

Great write up. I have just got hold of one of these although it came with the motor. Some lovely photos which rekindles my enthusiasm. It has rained every day since I got mine so I have set it up, collimated the lenses and am ready to go. 

Motor is an additional option. It'll be great and hope you enjoy this scope! 👍

Nikolai

[happy-kat]

(When viewing the site using the simple theme on a mobile all the review text is white)

Lovely to see images as well in your review, where they afocal images?

It's a great setup I like how the mount is versatile offering both altaz or Equatorial with the further option of adding a motor for in EQ use.

Edited April 19 by happy-kat

[Nikolai De Silva]

16 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Lovely to see images as well in your review, where they afocal images?

Thank you very much!

 The Saturn's and Jupiter's images are not my own. Because I don't have such a good cam. Therefore I posted a picture from the internet in the way that I see them for real. 

But the moon pictures are completely mine. Yes, they are afocal images. I have also more prime focused images which are really good. These are my first prime focused images.

Thank you.

Nikolai.