Skywatcher Evostar ED150/1200

[Tasastro (Bill)]

Has anyone out there got their hands on one of the elusive ED150/1200? From the few reviews I can find they sound like a disaster...

[Kunama]

Don’t believe everything you hear Bill, I think Daniel in Adelaide is very happy with his.
The problem with all the banter in USA is that people want to pay Skywatcher ED $$$$ and then expect Takahashi TOA performance. It’s not long ago that a 6” achromatic cost more than these EDs are going for....

[glend (Glen)]

Yeah, i have seen all the talk the CN threads. Have a chat with Luke at Andrews, he has them in stock (via TASCO) and has looked them over. If your looking at a 6"refractor for visual use only, and can get your hands on one that has not been roughly handled in shipping, then it might be the answer. If I was buying one I would go pick it up directly from TASCO in Sydney, right off the pallet, which can be arranged I believe (at least Luke tells me so). If you can get the collimtion checked by the techs at TASCO at that time, that would be a bonus (maybe something they should be doing anyway for these big objective, non-adjustable cells). I would be very leary of having it on shipped to Tasmania via truck, maybe air would be OK if you could arrange that.

[Tasastro (Bill)]

Originally Posted by Kunama

Don’t believe everything you hear Bill, I think Daniel in Adelaide is very happy with his.
The problem with all the banter in USA is that people want to pay Skywatcher ED $$$$ and then expect Takahashi TOA performance. It’s not long ago that a 6” achromatic cost more than these EDs are going for....

I believe very little of what I hear or see on forums, especially about refractor performance. However there seem to be a lot of collimation issues reported.

[DJ N]

Originally Posted by Kunama

Don’t believe everything you hear Bill, I think Daniel in Adelaide is very happy with his.
The problem with all the banter in USA is that people want to pay Skywatcher ED $$$$ and then expect Takahashi TOA performance. It’s not long ago that a 6” achromatic cost more than these EDs are going for....

Yep.... still very happy with mine. As Matt suggests, don't believe too much about what you read. Many people often provide opinions about what they heard or read on a forum post as opposed to what they have actually owned and used

Had mine out again on Saturday night for a quick session looking at Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and the moon (albeit close to full moon). I even bumped up magnification to a stupid 600x (5 XW plus 2.5 Powermate) and certainly could see the polar cap on mars and dark shading on Mars.

I purchased this scope realising that it is a sub $3,000 6 inch ED/apo..... its closest equivalent would be the APM/Lunt 152ED which would be close to $5k delivered in Australia. As for a TOA150, which I would really love to own..... well I don't think you would get much change from $20k

Here is the old link from when I purchased the scope...

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=168486

Cheers

Daniel

[Earl (Earl White)]

We haven't had any issues with the small number of 150 ED units we've shipped in Australia. In fact, just about everyone who has bought and used it under the stars has come back to us with very positive feedback.

We're actually pretty careful with who we use to ship to dealers. Is the shipping process 100% perfect? No. However, it's very, very good generally and we keep a close eye on it. While it's early days, we also haven't seen anything so far to indicate that the 150 ED models are any more fragile than the other models in the range.

I read through the entire CN 3mega thread on the faulty telescope and while there was a issue, you'll see Kevin from Sky-Watcher is helping out.

And if there is a problem with a Sky-Watcher telescope or accessory in Australia, bear in mind we have a *5* year product warranty and we're here to assist along the way.

Hope this helps!

[Tasastro (Bill)]

Originally Posted by Earl

We haven't had any issues with the small number of 150 ED units we've shipped in Australia. In fact, just about everyone who has bought and used it under the stars has come back to us with very positive feedback.

We're actually pretty careful with who we use to ship to dealers. Is the shipping process 100% perfect? No. However, it's very, very good generally and we keep a close eye on it. While it's early days, we also haven't seen anything so far to indicate that the 150 ED models are any more fragile than the other models in the range.

I read through the entire CN 3mega thread on the faulty telescope and while there was a issue, you'll see Kevin from Sky-Watcher is helping out.

And if there is a problem with a Sky-Watcher telescope or accessory in Australia, bear in mind we have a *5* year product warranty and we're here to assist along the way.

Hope this helps!

Thanks Earl and Daniel,


Your replies indicate that the basic quality of the optics is good which was my major concern. Collimation and other assembly problems can be rectified by a competent technician.



Having some experience dealing with Chinese suppliers, and following the saga of this telescope on various forums from the time of first announcement I can imagine this project was somewhat of a nightmare for Skywatcher. When I first heard about this scope I was tempted to order but couldn't believe the price and thought initially that the scope might never appear. This opinion appeared to be confirmed when the first design was ditched and delivery dates continued to slip. Then when the reports started coming from Europe and the UK of pinched optics and collimation issues with very little information about the optical performance I decided to seek some local feedback.


I am now reassured, but shall still wait a while to see a few more good reports before making a decision.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Earl , thats just about the best information I have seen regarding these scopes , I to waded through 100's of pages on CN and yes as Matt says people expect AP/Tak quality for 3k and that ain't going to happen . But it's 6 inch APO heaven for the masses and we cant ask for anything more .

I wish you success with these as they deserve to sell well to the right people of course ( might be me in the future ) .

Again thanks for your time . .

Brian.

[Earl (Earl White)]

Thanks Brian,


Hopefully Santa will leave you one under the Xmas tree!

One more thing to note is this particular telescope was announced some time ago but has only starting shipping in the last couple of months. Sky-Watcher copped a bit of flak over the delays which was understandable given the frustration caused. This was mainly due to some changes to the initial design and manufacturing processes to get it as spot on a possible.



Yes, I think we're trying to give everyone the best scope we can for the $$$ spent. You really have to compare like to like. But as I said, if there's an actual problem, we'll fix it.



The other thing to remember is the ED/Evostar range including the 150 is our "middle child" of the Sky-Watcher refractor series.

As many would know, we have another Sky-Watcher refractor series, the Esprit range. These do compare very, very well with more expensive gear.