Celestron Omni 150

[spike87]

Hi all, having a pretty tough time in deciding which scope to go for. Just seen the recent price reductions at FLO and really like the look of the Celestron Omni 150 XLT which has been reduced by £100.

After reading a few reviews I came across this one which sort of put me off slightly:

Omni XLT 150 - Review

Which states:

"Focusing on stars revealed an unfortunate, needless drawback of the scope's design. The focuser is tall, which is inappropriate for a small, fast reflector. The constricted light path and the large distance between the eyepiece and the diagonal mirror result in vignetting."

So I've been reading back through the forum and am still drawn to the Skywatcher Explorer 130PM which many people state is a great starter scope. I really like the idea of the scope tracking the object for me once I've located it. I'm hoping to look at the Moon, planets and maybe a few DSOs. Will I notice a huge difference between the Omni 150 and the Skywatcher 130PM and would you say the £50 price difference is worth it?

Any comments greatly appreciated.

[spike87]

After studying both telescopes a bit further, I've decided I'm going for the Celestron Omni 150 XLT.

[Lee]

Good luck with it.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the mount when it arrives.

Lee.

[spike87]

No problem. Does that mean I might have a bit of trouble with it? It looks mighty difficult to use but I'm sure I'll get there. Got a few tutorials ready on German EQ mounts.

[The Warthog]

I am a little surprised by that review. Mine is a C6N, Celestron's previous version of the same scope. The focuser on mine widens out to about 1 3/4" to avoid that possible problem. I really like my scope.

[johninderby]

Hi

I recently bought a CN6-GT which has the same OTA except for the colour and tested the OTA before selling it (I bought it for the mount) and there was no problem with vignetting at all.

John

[spike87]

Been out with it tonight. Really like the scope, still learning how to use it properly. Got the finderscope aligned correctly tonight so found things much easier.

Loaded up Stellarium to see where Saturn was and then pointed my telescope at the star that I thought was Saturn. Used a few eyepieces (25mm, 12.5mm, 10mm and 4mm) on all the stars around the area where it was showing Saturn was. All I could see were bright white spots, pretty much exactly what you can see with the naked eye but just a bit brighter . Obviously doing something wrong.

So still not found Saturn, even though it was a really clear night! Damn, will have another go tomorrow.

[John]

Stars never appear as anything other than pinpoints of light with scopes - it's only things like the Hubble Space Telescope that can reveal the disks of a few.

Saturn though is quite distinctive, even at low power - you will see the planet as a small but distinct disk with the rings almost edge on to use - looking like a "stick though a toffee apple" as my son puts it. You should also be able to see 3-4 moons strung out along the ring plane.

Keep on trying !.

John

[gustavo_sanchez]

I am sure nothing is wrong with the scope, you just have to try again, as John said. Regarding the quality of the mount, I have the Omni 120 refractor, and I am guessing that it is heavier than your scope, and the mount carries the weight properly, so you should be ok with the mount.