And hi Andrew . You could do a lot worse for a first telescope than this , and yes its the same scope as the skywatcher , just a different paint job .
These are all made by Synta in china and the build is very good for the money . One thing , being only an f/5 at 510mm ( meaning the focal length is 5x longer than the diameter of the main lense , 102mm x 5 = 510mm focal length ) it will be awsome at deep sky and reasonable on the moon and planets .
If the price is right , go for it mate and enjoy .
.
Brian.