Skywatcher 250 pds for visual use

[andrew956]

I am thinking of purchasing the skywatcher 250 pds but only as a visual scope. My question to any forum members who own this scope is have they had to buy additional kit to achieve focus and what would be the recomended eyepieces for this scope. I will be happy to hear any comments from other poeple who have used this telescope and what they think of its capabilities etc.

Andy

[jam1e1]

Hi in short I use it just for that, recommend Meade 5000 swa/ uwa or similar, or sw aero. See my other post on this ( Meade 5000 first light), just ensure collimated correctly. No other extras required.

[lukebl]

I am thinking of purchasing the skywatcher 250 pds but only as a visual scope. My question to any forum members who own this scope is have they had to buy additional kit to achieve focus and what would be the recomended eyepieces for this scope. I will be happy to hear any comments from other poeple who have used this telescope and what they think of its capabilities etc.

Andy

I have one of these and absolutely love it for visual use. It is big and mine is permanently mounted on a pier-mounted NEQ6. It would be a pain to set up each time. Not sure what you mean by 'additional kit to achieve focus'. Mine achieved focus fine! I use a 4mm TMB eyepiece for planetary use. Otherwise, I just use the standard 28mm eyepiece. I have 2x and 5x Powermates for imaging.

[andrew956]

Thanks for the response my eyepieces are 20mm nagler 12mm nagler 32 and 55mm televue plossls aslong as it will work with these eyepieces i will have one. My mount is a heavy duty altaz mount on a vixen half pillar with the the dp 95 Atlux tripod i know big scopes are a pain to lumber out and set up but apeture is king so i would have to put up with that.

[haitch]

I think anything from 10", if you are just going for visual and aren't bothered about tracking (i.e. an equatorial mount), is best in dob form.

Those EPs will give you some lovely views with that scope or pretty much any scope really.

The only problem with some eyepieces on different scopes is when the scope is fast and the EPs aren't well corrected for fast scopes but yours, expecially the Nags, are.

[andrew956]

I currently have an orion optics spx 200 f/6 that works well on the mount, i have but i am considering selling it to move to the skywatcher for more apeture and if i stick with orion for the bigger apeture then i will pay double the amount than the skywatcher so hence posting a thread so others could give there thoughts on the scope. I use a telrad on the spx as i enjoy star hopping but if i am lazy i have a vixen skypod with a OO europa 150 f/5 half pillar and hal 130 tripod so thats my goto setup basically i have a very good set up i used to own a darkstar 14 inch dob that was fantastic, I think maybe the way to go as you say would be to sell all my kit and fund another large dob.

[haitch]

Funnily enough my main scope is a Darkstar 14" with modifications - hence my dob bias

[haitch]

Thinking about your Eps more the 55mm might be too big an exit pupil in a lot of fast scopes which at one end of the scale might just waste light and at the other may make the secondary obstruction visible

[andrew956]

Glad to hear you have a Darkstar dob i bought mine of Keith around 12 years ago it had the ngc max fitted brilliant scope. Yes your right about the 55 it won`t focus on the spx and also the nagler 12mm won`t focus. I have spoken to OO about this and I have also bought an extension tube to see if I can achieve focus but since I have had the extension I have had no clear nights too test it. So I am still waiting to see if it works i will probably have to do something terestrially and see if i can focus in daylight.