SkyWatcher EvoStar 90mm Review

[Astorix]

Hey all, got my scope yesterday andset it all up last night. Unfortunately the curse has remained and have yet to have any clear skies, however have taken it into garden ju st to test stability, EP's, mag and general build quality etc. So thought i would give a part review now and another part after i get a clear night:)

So here we go, first review!

Scope: Skywatcher Evostar 90mm Refractor

Items included:

EQ2 Mount

90x900mm Focal length optical tube

25mm ultra wide angle LER EP

10mm Super EP

2x Barlow lens

Accessory tray

6x30 Finderscope

After prancing around like a child for about 10 minutes i thought i should actually open the box and get going!!

The telescope components were very well packaged and keep the pieces safe and clean. I managed to maintain my excitement and remained calm whilst setting the scope up for fear of me knocking it over! The construction time was about 30 minutes and was relatively simple. I say "Relatively" because i feel the instruction manual could have been slightly clearer and better explained.

Once i had the scope physically set up i went about reading how to fine tune the scope for latitude and height etc. This however was very well explained in the manual and only took me about 5 minutes to complete.

Now i had the scope all set up i unpackaged the EP's and attached the finderscope.

The Finderscope was very easy to attach and luckily i had some daylight left so aligned the finder to the scope there and then. Alignment was very simple and in about 5 minutes i had it so what ever i saw through the finderscope is what i saw through the EP.

At this point before i looked through the scope i thought i would check over the overall build quality of the scope. First i checked out the Tripod, and i must say i am very surprised how sturdy and well supported it is. Luckily my back garden is quite flat and have a solid patio at the end, so with the tripod the scope remained extremely rigid and still.

Next i had a look at the Mount. Considering it is only a EQ2 (i have had experience with the eq3-2) i found it perfectly adequate for the weight of the scope, i messed about untightening the DEC and RA turn knobs, moving the scope around then re tightening and found that it had very fluid and smooth movement around the mount. Also there are a few bits with nice attention to detail, for instance the tube rings that hold the tube to the mount are padded to avoid scratches, where as a few other scopes i have used and seen before do not (Probably the difference between cheap and a decent make!)

Also the knobs and bolts on the mount are metal and of a good quality so when adjusting them you can feel how tight they are compared to flimsy plastic that you think might snap if you turn it that bit too much!

By now i was extremely eager to test the optics and have a look though the scope! I took the scope upstairs to my bedroom window which has good views of distant hills (Devils Dyke) which has radio and mobile antennas on it (This is also what i used to align my finderscope)

First i selected the 25mm ep giving me 36 mag, and already i was blown away with the crystal clear image that i saw! The image was extremely sharp, crisp and contrasted. I then moved up the Mag sequence, 36, 72, 90 and 180 with aid of the barlow, which although hearing bad things about the SW barlow, was pleasantly surprised! even with the Barlow, the image was still sharp however i began to understand what people had told me about the higher the mag, the darker the image. By the time i had got to 180 the images was probably a third darker than at 36x. This could however be due to the clouds that rolled in right over the hills!

I also placed objects right at the side of the FOV to check for any Spherical Aberration and could not see any! Maybe this is because the construction of this scope, the new lens system etc, or maybe because the objects weren't as far away as say.. The Moon!

All in all i am extremely happy with the scope and am glad the choice i made as it works well for terrestrial use even on the EQ rather than AZ mount.

Of what i have seen so far, the optics are clear and contrasted, the mount is more than sufficient for the scope, and tripod is more than stable enough to support the equipment!

All there is left to do now is wait for a clear night so i can really try it out!

Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave comments:)!

[John]

Congratulations on your new scope !.

It's a really good ideal to find out how it all works before using it in the dark so, in a way, the clouds might be a blessing. The equatorial mounts in particular take some getting used to so that you can move the scope to point anywhere in the sky.

Of course the real test will be using it on astro objects and you still have that excitement to come !.

[Astorix]

That i do! hopefully should be clear skies here tomorrow so fingers crossed i will get to try it out!

[A McEwan]

These are great scopes. I got one and did it up before selling it on to one of our club members as their first scope. I was very impressed with the optics, particularly surprised at the very low level of false colour. Planetary views will be a joy, and with a wide field eyepiece you'll love the Orion nebula, Double Cluster, Pleiades etc too. Look forward to reading your first light report.

Ant

[Karlos]

Great review, nice to hear the mount and build quality is substantial. Just a few questions about this telescope, does it come with a barlow? (If so is that dependent on the dealer you buy from?) Also, what is the approx weight of this scope and mount? Do you think a young fit (ishhhh ) person would be able to walk with this setup in a fairly large sized bag?

I'm really stuck as to whether to buy a reflector or this refractor. My main use will be purely visual so quality of optics is my preference (So for me, aperture really isn't everything), I've borrowed a small reflector of 76mm so I have realistic expectations. Would this Skywatcher Evostar 90mm offer better quality of optics than that of the Reflectors - Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube ?

Any feedback would be great

[John]

This thread is nearly a year old and the poster has not been active since last year so you may get a better response by posting your questions about this scope in the Equipment Help section.

[Karlos]

Thanks for the advice, I just noticed!