Sky-Watcher Telescopes, Mounts and Star Trackers

What Sky-Watcher makes

Sky-Watcher telescopes in our Amazon US data fall into six types: telescopes, telescope mounts, star trackers, eyepieces, finderscopes and tripods. There are 32 live listings. Sky-Watcher's US site says the brand launched in 1999 and describes a line of Dobsonians, APO refractors, equatorial mounts and photography products, plus solar telescopes and Star Adventurer mounts. That matches the shape of the listings.

Here's the lineup by job:

• Dobsonians: Heritage 130 and 150 tabletop models, Classic 150, Flextube 250 and 300, the GoTo collapsible 8", and the Virtuoso GTi 130P
• Refractors: Evostar 80EDX APO, EvoStar 100 APO, and StarTravel 102 on the AZ-GTe
• Astrographs (tubes for photography): Quattro 150P, 250P and 300P, and a 190 mm Maksutov-Newtonian
• Star trackers: Star Adventurer Mini Pro Pack and Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack
• Mounts: AZ5, AZ-GTi, SolarQuest, EQ-AL55i Pro, HEQ5-R, and Wave 100i and 150i Pro kits
• Eyepieces and parts: Emerald 82° eyepieces, EvoGuide 50DX guide scope, pier extensions

Sky-Watcher Dobsonians: the swivel-base line

A Dobsonian is a reflector on a simple swivel base you point by hand. It's the most aperture for the least fuss, because the mount has almost nothing to go wrong.

Heritage tabletop Dobsonians

The Heritage 130 lists 130 mm of aperture on a tabletop Dobsonian base with 10 mm and 25 mm eyepieces. The Heritage 150 lists 150 mm, a 750 mm focal length and f/5. A tabletop base needs a table, a sturdy crate or a stool under it. The picnic table on the loop does that job fine.

These suit a first telescope for a family with a yard and a table. Skip them if your only observing spot is a balcony with a railing at chest height; you'd be crouching all night.

Classic 150 and Flextube

The Classic 150 lists 152 mm, 1200 mm focal length, 25 mm and 10 mm eyepieces and a straight-through optical finder. It stands on the ground.

The Flextube 250 lists 254 mm and the Flextube 300 lists 305 mm, both with right-angle finders. The tube collapses for storage and transport. A telescope that telescopes. I'm told that joke has been made before, and I made it anyway.

The S11800 is the GoTo version of the idea: a collapsible 8" (203 mm) Dobsonian with WiFi app GoTo listed.

Virtuoso GTi 130P

The Virtuoso GTi 130P puts a 130 mm, 650 mm focal length, f/5 tube on a small motorized base with WiFi app GoTo. It's a tabletop-sized scope that finds objects from a phone.

Sky-Watcher refractors and astrographs

Evostar and EvoStar APO

The Evostar 80EDX APO lists 80 mm, 600 mm focal length and f/7.5 with apochromatic glass. The EvoStar 100 APO is apochromatic too, with a right-angle optical finder. Both are listed as OTA only, meaning optical tube assembly: the tube without a mount or tripod. Budget for a mount before these do anything but sit on a shelf.

Apochromatic glass is designed to bring colors to focus together, which cuts the colored fringe you can see around bright objects in simpler refractors. These suit astrophotography and sharp, wide visual views. Our refractor telescopes page explains the glass types.

StarTravel 102 on the AZ-GTe

This listing pairs a 102 mm achromatic refractor with a computerized alt-az GoTo mount and WiFi app control. It's a grab-and-go kit with motors.

Quattro and the Maksutov-Newtonian

The Quattro 150P, 250P and 300P are f/4 Newtonians listed as OTA only, at 150, 254 and 305 mm. Fast focal ratios like f/4 suit wide-field photography. The S11550 Maksutov-Newtonian lists 190 mm, 1000 mm focal length and f/5.3. These are tubes for a photographer who already owns, or is shopping for, a serious equatorial mount. Skip them for visual-only use with no mount plan.

Sky-Watcher mounts and star trackers

Manual and GoTo alt-az mounts

The AZ5 is a manual alt-az mount with a 15 lb payload and tripod listed. The AZ-GTi is a GoTo alt-az mount with an 11 lb payload. The SolarQuest lists an 11 lb payload too; it's a mount made for solar telescopes, so read the safety section below.

Equatorial GoTo mounts

The EQ-AL55i Pro is an equatorial GoTo mount with a 22 lb payload listed. The HEQ5-R is an equatorial GoTo mount sold with its tripod. The Wave 100i and Wave 150i Pro kits are listed with steel or carbon fiber tripods. Two pier extensions in our data raise the mount head so a long tube clears the tripod legs.

An equatorial mount is aligned with Earth's axis so one motion follows the stars. It needs polar alignment every session. That's the price of long exposures.

Star Adventurer trackers

The Star Adventurer Mini Pro Pack lists app control and a polar scope. The Star Adventurer 2i Pro Pack lists app control. Both carry a camera, not a big telescope. The star trackers page covers payload and the polar alignment routine in detail.

Eyepieces and guide scope

Three Emerald eyepieces are listed at 9, 16 and 22 mm, all with an 82-degree apparent field. A wide apparent field means more sky in each view. Magnification is the scope's focal length divided by the eyepiece's. On the Classic 150's 1200 mm tube, the 16 mm Emerald gives 75x, by the arithmetic. Celestron's eyepiece guide puts the highest useful magnification at about 60x per inch of aperture, which for 152 mm is about 359x. So that eyepiece sits well inside the range.

The EvoGuide 50DX is a guide scope: a small scope with a camera that helps a mount correct its tracking during photography.

How to pick a Sky-Watcher telescope

My one opinion on this page: pick the mount before the tube. The mount type field decides how often a telescope gets used. A swivel base goes out in two minutes. An equatorial head goes out when you have an hour and a reason. Both are fine. Only one goes out on a work night.

1. Visual, simple, family: Heritage 130 or 150, Classic 150.
2. More aperture, less storage: Flextube 250 or 300, or the GoTo 8".
3. Visual with GoTo in a small box: Virtuoso GTi 130P or StarTravel 102 on the AZ-GTe.
4. Camera on a tripod: Star Adventurer Mini or 2i.
5. Deep-sky photography with a mount you'll keep: an APO or Quattro tube plus the EQ-AL55i Pro, HEQ5-R or a Wave kit.

Theo looked at the list and asked why the two simplest scopes are called Heritage and Classic. "Sounds like the names of a history quiz." His seventh graders would do fine on it.

Reading a Sky-Watcher listing

Sky-Watcher listings carry a lot in the title. Three things are worth finding before anything else.

The S number

Most listings in our data end with a code like S11705 or S30450. It's the maker's part number, and it's the fastest way to tell two similar names apart. The Wave 100i Pro kit comes as S40014 with a steel tripod and S40013 with carbon fiber. Same mount head, different legs. If two listings look identical, compare the S numbers before the photos.

OTA only, or a full kit

Five telescope listings in our data say "OTA only" in the mount field: the two APO refractors and the three Quattros. The Maksutov-Newtonian listing names no mount either. An OTA needs a mount, a tripod and usually a diagonal or camera adapter before first light. Kits like the Heritage, Classic, Flextube, Virtuoso GTi and AZ-GTe bundle list a mount and eyepieces. If the listing doesn't name eyepieces, plan to buy them.

Payload against your tube

Mount listings give payload in pounds: 11 lb for the AZ-GTi and SolarQuest, 15 lb for the AZ5, 22 lb for the EQ-AL55i Pro. Add the tube, finder, diagonal, eyepiece or camera, and any dew heater. For photography, many observers stay well under the stated maximum. A stated maximum is a ceiling, not a target.

Dobsonian or GoTo: the main Sky-Watcher choice

Most families shopping this brand end up between a plain Dobsonian and a GoTo model of similar size. Here's the honest trade in the data.

• Plain Dobsonian (Heritage, Classic, Flextube): no power, no app, no setup beyond carrying it out. You find objects with a finder and a star chart.
• GoTo Dobsonian (Virtuoso GTi 130P, the S11800 8"): WiFi app GoTo finds and follows objects. It needs power and a phone or tablet, and a short alignment at the start.

Aperture is the same choice either way. The Heritage 130 and Virtuoso GTi 130P both list 130 mm. What changes is who does the pointing. A kid who likes star charts may prefer the plain one. A grown-up with forty minutes after dinner may prefer the motor.

Who should skip Sky-Watcher's list for now

Skip the equatorial mounts and Quattro tubes if nobody in the house has used a telescope before. Those are second-telescope purchases, and they reward someone who already knows what they want to photograph.

Skip the big Flextubes if the telescope has to go up stairs. A 305 mm mirror is heavy in any tube, collapsible or not, and the listing doesn't give a weight in our data. Check the maker's spec before you plan the staircase.

Skip a star tracker if you want to look rather than photograph. A tracker has no eyepiece.

Sky-Watcher vs Celestron

Both makers cover refractors, reflectors, Dobsonians and GoTo mounts. In our data, Sky-Watcher's 32 listings lean toward Dobsonians, collapsible tubes, f/4 astrographs and equatorial mounts. Celestron has 126 listings with more Schmidt-Cassegrains, phone-guided StarSense scopes, eyepieces, filters and binoculars. Neither list is a verdict. Pick one model against another on aperture, mount type, weight you can carry and what the box includes.

Sun safety

Never look at the Sun through a telescope, binoculars, a finder or a camera, or with your eyes, without a certified solar filter made for that purpose and fitted correctly. Eye damage can be instant and permanent.

Our data includes a Heliostar 100 H-Alpha solar telescope kit with a Wave 100 mount, and the SolarQuest mount. A solar telescope is built for the Sun; an ordinary telescope is not. The American Astronomical Society says a solar filter for ordinary optics goes on the front, never at the eyepiece end. Cover or remove the finder before you aim anywhere near the Sun.

Choose the mount you can lift with one coffee in you. The mirror can grow later.