Skymax 180 pro black diamond...the poor mans 7" APO
I have owned this telescope for about 5 months now, i mount it on my EQ5, just at its limits, now upgraded to CG5 tripod so more stable, the OTA is 7.8 kg!
It is supplied with a 2" diagonal with 1.25 reducer, i found the 2" diagonal seemed to "droop" so i now use a 1.25 dialectric in mine, it comes with 9mm and 20mm ler eyepiece`s, i sold them on!
If you want to get this superb OTA allow for it to cool down before it gives its best, some people think it takes 3 hours to cool, rubbish, just keep it in a cool place, simple.
There were reports of mirror flop on early ones, when focusing, i have not noticed this problem on mine, unlike the omc 140 it replaced! Focus is very good, it snaps to focus very sweetly
The 180 pro gives fair to good views on larger dso`s, but this is not where its at, this is a planet/lunar scope, you just dont buy an OTA with 2700mm focal length for deep sky, viewing Jupiter with this scope is amazing, so much detail to be seen and as for lunar, well you wont find any thing better with out spending a lot more money.
My main eyepiece i use is a Baader genuine ortho of 18mm, this gives a very useful x150 with very good eye relief, if i need more magnification i just x2 barlow to x300
The 180 pro is gaining popularity with the planet/ lunar fraternity, and rightly so, 2 years back this was my dream scope, my dream came true!
Skywatcher Skymax 180 PRO
Rating (max 5):
4
Planet Killer - Ian
Ordered this telescope for planet and lunar visual (and a little imaging) work. Great packaging, arrived quickly and once unpacked was up and running in minutes.
Jupiter and the 4 moons easy to see immediately with the supplied and OK 1.25" 20mm eyepiece, even better once the scope had cooled down (supplied 9mm is poor). With better eyepieces, the coloured bands of Jupiter are clear, GRS and dark barges easily seen. Moon transits across the surface are as clear as day.
Lunar work is amazing, you can easily spend hours looking at details with this telescope. Image is very bright for lunar work, so consider a moon filter.
Being f15, DSO objects are not as distinct as through a big reflector, but they are still there and with good contrast. A lot of people suggest this telescope has similar image quality as some ED refractors, and I would have to agree.
This telescope now has a 2" back, so easy to fit camera etc. to the back of it.
Provided eyepieces and diagonal are OK but you would want to replace these very soon. An aluminium hard case is not available for this OTA (unlike most of the other OTAs) which is a real shame.
So to sum up. Great telescope but let down a little by the mediocre accessories and lack of a hard case. Would have been 5 stars but because of this, only a 4.
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FLO site now states that this telescope is now provided with a 2” Di-Electric Star Diagonal and a 2" 28mm LES eyepiece. Their site said this when I bought mine, but I actually got a lower quality diagonal and two 1.25" eyepiece(20mm and 9mm). Take a lookie please chaps
