Sky-WatcherSkymax 180mm Maksutov-Cassegrain - Large Aperture Compound-Style Reflector Telescope (S11540)

This is by far one of the best purchases I’ve made!! It’s definitely worth its value, the optics are nice but I also ordered some other lens too make the most out of the telescope. The assembly is fairly easy & I love the functionality of it as a table top telescope. I do wonder if there is any avid astronomy people that can help me find a telescope stand for this scope though to have that as an option.

I’ll let the attached pictures do the talking. I purchased this telescope to try it out for deep sky and planetary astrophotography and it is doing a stellar job (no pun intended) Pictures are of Messier 5 globular cluster and Messier 100 Spiral Galaxy. My skies are Bortle 7 and I use a Nikon Z50 unmodified camera. The photos are 132 and 232 stacked 30 second images taken at 3200 ISO. No filter was used ( I tried a light pollution filter but the first images were too dark)

I love this optical tube. I live in the suburbs of Orlando FL, so the light pollution isn't gonna let me see alot of deep sky objects. So a mak seemed like a logical choice for lunar and planetary astronomy. I did see the Orion nebula and the image was sharp. Planets and the moon are amazing and ideal for observing thru this scope. Stock 2in 28mm eyepeice is awesome. It has comfortable eye relief, I'm guessing around 20mm, and the feild of view is (chef's kiss). No need for replacement like with other scopes, not right away anyway. The diagonal is good too, using a mirror rather than a prism, that are usually no good. I still got an upgrade but I didnt feel the need to replace it right away like other cheaper scopes. The only complaint I have is the finder scope. I'm just not a fan of them, it was sturdy and I can't thing of any problems with operating it. I will have this scope for the rest of my life. I can't wait to share my love of astronomy with my children. I loved Meade as a kid, but since meades are now harder to find, Sky watcher will now be my go to brand.

Excellent for the price, decent shipping.

Scope was a wear house deal for 1000 bucks so I pulled the trigger and when it arrived I was surprised to find that it was brand new! Ordered some eye pieces and collation laser and tuned it up (which was pretty easy) and viewed the planets. 🪐 . It didn’t disappoint me on that matter but it was pretty bad for the tripod and then to star hop was… ok for me but, I also took this beast back and forth outside together with counter weights on. Yeah it’s a bit more than I expected so it was sent back and I think it would be awesome for astrophotographers way more than viewing. But it would definitely require bigger tripod, camera,photoshop apps, understand imagining which means MORE Of what I don’t have, money or time .But plain and straightforward- you see more than a 200 dollar scope but not much more unless you’re putting a camera on it.

A really nice Telescope that is easy to use and has great clarity. I easily swap out my Nexstar 8se and use the standardCelestron mount. Yes, you can mount the 150mm Skywatcher on the same mount. (It was impossible to get this simple straight answer on different treads for some reason.) lol. Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon look splendid as well.Im very new to Astronomy but this device just makes me want to get out and learn more.

I got this scope because I was not happy with the planet sizes my short tube refractors were producing. Venus and Saturn are gone but Jupiter is a nice size in this scope and even people who have never looked through a telescope before have discovered the equatorial belts on their own.I have never used a moving mirror focuser I liked and initially had trouble with focus shift and image shift on this scope. I bought a Baader prism diagonal with a built in helical focuser to replace the stock dielectric diagonal on the theory that I would use the moving mirror focusers to get in the ballpark and then switch to the helical focuser to find tune focus.About the time the expensive diagonal, especially since the scope came with a diagonal, arrived I read that focus shift and image shift are features built into all moving mirror focusers. They had four suggestions to work around the issue:1) replace the focuser with a higher quality internal focuser - easy on a SCT, all of which have standardized backs, but not on a Mak where every manufacturer has their own standard so there are no after market focusers being made2) add an external focuser on the back end so you don't need to use the moving mirror focuser - what I had already done with the Baader diagonal3) rack focus all the way in and out 12 times to distribute the glob of grease that the manufacturer put wherever the focusing screw passes through the nut over the entire length of the focuser screw4) move the mirror back beyond focus and slowly move it forward until focus is achieved, always stopping mirror movement while it is moving forwardIt wasn't going to cost me anything so I spent 45 minutes laying in bed with the scope twisting the focus knob all the way in one direction and then all the way in the other direction. It was a lot of twisting and probably more than 12 repetitions as I lost count a couple of times amid the excitement.I looked in the front end and could not tell which direction the mirror way moving when I twisted the knob clockwise or anticlockwise.2 and 3 appear to both be working for me. I can find tune focus with the helical focuser but often achieve focus with the moving mirror focuser and there isn't noticeable focus shift anymore. I still get some image shift so if I don't get focus spot on initially I recenter the object and continue focusing with the helical focuser.The scope and accessories fit in my backpack and are a lot lighter and more convenient to transport than my short tube 102ED refractor.I tried using a Barlow with the scope but the field of view is so narrow that by the time I get the eyepiece out and the Barlowed lens in the target is long gone. I did once get a good big Barlowed view if crescent Venus by luck. To use a Barlow you need the scope on a clock drive.The red dot finder doesn't look very impressive but it feels very solid. My body doesn't bend in enough directions to get behind a red dot finder mounted at the back end of the scope so I am using my old Orion RACI finder scope. I am a left eye user so can have it aligned with its chimney parallel to my eyepiece. But right eye users bump into it when trying to get to the eyepiece. And the ocular of the finder is often too high up for me to see through it. I have to angle it off to the side but then the crosshairs are at an angle that does not relate to the slow motion controls of my Bogen 410 mount.⭐⭐⭐ Is my base rating for a product that is fully functional and fulfills its promises