Skymax 90

[yeti monster]

Today I have added a Skymax 90 (50 Earth quids from a nice chap in South Manchester, via fleabay) to my collection, my 1st Maksutov and even after just a brief look at Saturn I'm rather pleased with its performance. Using my 5mm Hyperion (200x mag) Saturn was still quite clear, although somewhat faded due to the small aperture. With the supplied 25mm EP (50x) Saturn was bright and 2x barlowing (TAL) didn't spoil things at all.

The RDF requires a new battery and a shim to gain correct alignment, but everything else is as it should be.

I must say that I was rather surprised at how small and compact these scopes are, and so light once removed from the EQ-1 mount and counter wieght, I am tempted to buy a large camera tripod for it when I return it to China (the scope is destined to become the rig telescope), and once I have located an outlet in China where I can buy Skymaxs, I'm sure a 127 or 150 will find its way into my bag.

So, that's scope number 5, is it an obsession yet?

[samtheeagle]

Seems like a perfectly reasonable purchase to me.

[part timer]

They are fantastic scopes.

I'd treat yourself to a proper finder for it though, once I did that I found the scope to be much easier to use.

and yes, five scopes is becoming obsessive!

[russ]

Nice purchase, very capable little scopes. Not had the Skymax 90 but was always amazed what my ETX90 could do. I imagine the SM90 is identical.

[yeti monster]

Solar filter has been made, just in time for the lousy weather, a new battery is now fitted in the RDF but alignment is still pending (too murky to actually see across the valley just now, but it's clearing up I recon).

[Dangerous-Dave]

I used to own one of these and they are great grab and go scopes. They fit in the ubiquitous Maplin flight case, making for extra portability.

The EQ1 is a flimsy mount though, if I got another of these scopes I would go for the OTA and mount it on an AZ3 or similar.

[part timer]

I had mine on a camera tripod. Worked a treat.

[yeti monster]

If it were destined for more than remaining repatriated, I would have gone for the large camera tripod alternative I think, the EQ-1 is heavy and awkward for throwing into the hold baggage. A nice tripod would strap to the side of my cabin bag and reduce my carbon foot print somewhat.

Initial results, after dealing with vibration issues, is that it was worth bringing out here, and now that I have stripped and cleaned the scope, removing almost every trace of that nasty black, inky grease, the last view of Saturn was very clear and I took a brief look at some Virgo fuzzies (directly overhead) too, so much easier than struggling with handheld binos. Drawbacks? Only the movement of the rig, but that will settle down in a day or so I expect, then I can increase magnification (Saturn was wandering across 2/3-3/4 of the FOV tonight.

I shall compile a report on the scope stripdown as it may prove useful to others.