0
Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest review
Discuss this article in our forums
Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest review
Hi! I'm Nikolai De Silva from Colombo, Sri Lanka. I'm only 16 years old and have finished my basic exams 5 years earlier than normal. I'm interested in astronomy at its best and learn about it all by myself. I got this scope as a gift and enjoying it so much!
"As a pencil is a friend of a writer, a telescope is a friend of an astronomer". One who seeks a telescope with better optics for a reasonable price, which is easy to use, may have stopped in the right place! This fresh and solid Starquest telescope offers you greater experiences which will last forever."
The Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest, has an aperture of 5.1 inches (130 mm) which is a great and ideal size for an amateur to start. The parabolic mirror is the best about this which will resolve greater views with maximum clarity. The 130mm Parabolic mirror gives contrasting images which will be useful.
The instrument is short and fast with a f5 focal Ratio. It weighs a little less compared to others which makes it easier to use. The secondary mirror seemed already well collimated from the factory, so I had no need to take the time to do so before use!
This comes with a metal mount with two Capstan style locks, and two slow motion cables, which are smooth. The Equatorial mount offers star tracking with precision. The tripod is made out of aluminium where an accessory tray sits for more stability.
Extra accessories include two powerful eyepieces (10mm and 20mm), and a Red dot finder, which is great!
Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest basic Specs |
|
|
Aperture |
130mm |
|
Focal length |
650mm |
|
Focal Ratio |
5 |
|
Max useful magnification |
260x |
Telescope in use…
Every part is fixable by hand effortlessly, so putting the Telescope together is very easy. After assembling it, ready to go on a clear night!
The first target, our neighbour, Moon. Moon's views are really great and impressive. Thousands of lunar features are prominent, craters, seas and old volcanoes are clear (don't expect Apollo landing patches!).
Jupiter and Saturn look clear and their features are clearly seen. Jupiter's Great Red spot and its bands are visible. Saturn's ring is visible clear.
Out of the solar system into the Deep sky. All messier objects are visible. M27 and M57 especially offer great views! M31 (Andromeda galaxy) and M33 are visible with low magnification on clear nights. The Great Orion Nebula also offers you a good view. The Pleiades star cluster is like diamond dust in the sky! You can really expect deep sky targets clearly and impressively.
The only bad thing is the tripod is not very stable, a little wobbly. But, the vibration settles down very quickly.
Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest vs Celestron Astromaster 130eq (specs) |
||
|
Specifications |
Starquest |
Astromaster |
|
Aperture |
130mm |
130mm |
|
Focal length |
650mm |
650mm |
|
Focal Ratio |
5 |
5 |
|
Max useful magnification |
260x |
260x |
|
Primary mirror |
Parabolic |
Spherical |
|
Mount |
Almost metal |
Almost plastic |
|
Mount type |
Starquest Eq |
Eq2 |
|
Supplied eyepieces |
10mm, 20mm |
10mm, 20mm + 2x Barlow lens |
|
Finder |
Red dot finder |
Red dot finder |
|
Motor drive |
Sold separately |
Sold separately |
|
PRICE (Astroshop EU) |
US$ 337.00 |
US$ 339.00 |
Summary
|
Pros |
Cons |
|
Easy to use |
Wobbly tripod |
|
Clear views |
Not for astrophotography |
|
Inexpensive for the aperture |
|
Overall, the Sky-watcher P 130/650 Starquest Telescope is a durable, good beginner telescope with which you can enjoy views to remember forever. It's really reasonable to afford and brings you a sensation of quality.
- John Miele, Urban Observer, John Russell and 11 others like this
5 Comments
Great review Nikolai and glad that you're enjoying the telescope.
Nicolai, glad you put this out there. Folks underestimate these scopes, but inexpensive as they are, Synta of mainland China, the OEM of SkyWatcher and Celestron telescopes, makes some incredibly good small F/5 mirrors for these 130 and 150mm scopes. I am fortunate enough to own the Celestron 130SLT optical tube. I bought it used off a fellow on CloudyNights for less than $200. He had only wanted the go-to mount, but I already had a nice alt-az mount, the GSO Alt-Az Deluxe (also marketed in the USA as the original AstroTech Voyager mount). I think this mount-head is the same, the SVBony SV225. Here's a picture of the mount-head, with Ho wooden legs with my AstroTech 80ED riding it. I wrote a star party report using this scope back in August of last year. Yes, these scopes come with some nice optics. Really wish there were an easy 2" dual speed focuser upgrade path, but all the dual speed 2" newtonian focusers I've seen only come with 6" or larger adapter plates. Great images these mirrors throw up, however. Thanks for making people aware, Nicolai.
Congratulations and enjoy your telescope !
Definitely a good begginer scope. I built also 5" but F8 and the images where stunning in a clear and quiet sky, Saturn's Cassini division completely visible and Jupiter and the Moon were amazing. The dobson mounting didn't allow good videos but I got some nice pics of the all these objects and the Orion Nebula was very beautifulc too !!! It only makes me build a bigger one !!!
Thanks for sharing !
Rauber
Great review! Hang a weight from the apex of your tripod. This will help with stability. I filled a gallon plastic bag with clay, enclosed it in a clothe bag. It weights about 8 pounds. Works great. Best of luck for your future.