What are the differences in quality between...

[Neilius]

The Skywatcher 130 and the Celestron Astromaster 130eq?

I know they both have the same focal and aperture dimensions, but it seems to me that the Skywatcher gets a lot more press around here.

I will be updating in a year or 2, but I'd just llike some opinions on this, please?

[Astro_Baby]

Ohh - its been a bit done to death......

Heres my take on it and why I would always advise someone to take the Skywatcher over the Celestron.

1/ Spider Vanes - the Skywatcher has very thin steel spider vanes versus the Celelstrons horrible thick plastic ones.

2/ Secondary mirror assembly - the Skywatcher has a decent (for the price) secondary assembly thats realtively easy to adjust. The Celestron has horrible over long threaded bolts which dont really provide a stable secondary and are a nightmare to adjust (I know - I have had to do it for someone and it was collimation hell)

3/ Focuser - not much in it. The Skywatcher ones looks less good but was actually the nicer of the two to use.

4/ Red dot finder - the skywatcher comes with a red dot finder mounted on a proper vixen style accessory shoe which means you can change finders with ease. The supplied red dot from skywatcher is basic but has a dimmer. The Celestron scope has a non-adjustable star finder moulded into the front ring of the scope, its way too bright and generally dreadful to use.

5/ Primary mirror collimation bolts. The skywatcher users Philips headed screws which seem deeply duff against the Celestrons posh looking knurled thumbscrews UNTIL you try adjusting them. The celestrons needed King Kong to turn them on the unit I had to fix. By contrast the Skywatchers Phillips headed screws worked reliably and well.

6/ Mount - about the same in terms of stiffness but the SKywatchers tripod legs were more stable and the mount although looking low tech was mostly made of metal. The Celestron showed a lot of plastic.

7/ Overall - the celestron had a high plastic content and (to me at any rate) looked like a toy. The Skywatcher just looked nicer to my eyes.

Optically the are probably identical as Synta make both of them.

Oh and just remembered - the SKywatcher had a centre spotted mirror - the celestron wasnt centre spotted.

[Neilius]

Thanks for the reply Astro, but the Celestron is my starting point this time round. My last scope was a dreadful Tasco and that WAS a toy.

I'll be buying Skywatcher next time though.

Cheers

[Astro_Baby]

Sorry about that nellius....