There's a lot to love about this scope and I'm surprised that more people don't get one of these beautiful 6" Newtonians.
First the negative - if you're considering one of these scopes you need a collimation tool to assist you with getting the mirrors lined up correctly. It's an easy job and only takes a minute to do when you know what you're doing.
The focuser is brilliant. It's smooth and very easy to use and holds focus well, even when you're hanging a DSLR, upside down off the back of it. It has plenty of travel and makes focusing a breeze. It's even compatible with the Skywatcher auto focuser (FLO also sell these).
Since the telescope is only 750mm long, it's easy to store. I keep mine on my desk (mirror up). The next model up (the very popular 200P) is 25% taller (1000mm) and 33% thicker (8") and it's also heavier. If you're wanting to perform astrophotography, it helps to have a lighter and smaller telescope so that the mount can track more accurately.
This scope has given me blow-away views of Saturn and the moon and jaw-dropping views of star clusters and other deep space objects, although I primarily use mine for imaging.
If your interest is mostly in the planets and the moon, then I would recommend the also brilliant Skywatcher Maksutov 127 over this telescope. However if your interest is more in a wider field (rather than high power zoom) view of deep space (as well as delivering good views of solar system objects) or astrophotography then this is the scope to get! It will take you plenty of time to outgrow this more than capable, very good value telescope.
Skywatcher Explorer 150P OTA
Rating (max 5):
5
Great Introduction to Astronomy - Tom
The scope is well built, easy to set up and most importantly, brilliant to use!
The tube feels very solid, yet light and manageable at the same time. It's also quite compact, so storage isn't a problem.
Targets like the moon and Saturn are stunning, both showing amounts of detail I wouldn't have thought possible from a scope of this price. The included 25mm eyepiece gives nice, low power views. The 10mm I don't find as good. The 2X Barlow is very good for doubling the power of the eyepiece. Deep sky objects are equally stunning, though harder to locate with the supplied finderscope.
Collimating (lining up the 2 mirrors) is reassuringly easy, especially as this is the first scope I have ever collimated. To do this though you need a collimating eyepiece.
The Crayford focuser is very smooth in operation, and has a convenient focus lock to avoid any small nudges in the focus.
I would highly recommend this scope to anyone, especially those who are just starting out in this amazing hobby.
