Skywatcher EvoStar DS Pro vs Altair Starwave? Which one?

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Jaq1967
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Skywatcher EvoStar DS Pro vs Altair Starwave? Which one?

#1

Post by Jaq1967 »


Hello all,

I'm still on the hunt to buy my first imaging refractor. My budget won't be to excessive and will need a few bits and bob's to get it up to speed.

I have narrowed it down to:

1. Skywatcher Evostar 80ED DS Pro £550.00 ( https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/sk ... l-kit.html )
2. Skywatcher Evostar 100ED DS Pro £720.00 ( https://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-se ... utfit.html )
3. Altair Ascent 102ED F7 £549.00 ( https://www.altairastro.com/ASCENT-102E ... cuser.html )
4. Altair Starwave 80ED-R V2 £599.0 ( https://www.altairastro.com/Starwave-80 ... scope.html )

I know these are all different. I hope to be imaging both DSO (Nebula/Clusters) as well as planetary. I have an Altair HyperCam 183C Pro TEC (pretty good CMOS imager I understand, so bare this in mind when we talk about speed of OTA).

1,2 & 4 have FPL53 lenses.

I believe 2 has FLP51, but the website is not clear on what type of lens this uses. It did get raving reviews on https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/revi ... pe-review/

I believe the focusers are better on the Altair OTA. Maybe someone can confirm or correct this statement? Are they fairly good load bearing focusers?

How good are the DS focusers on Skywatcher? Can they cope with the weight of the HyperCam and other extras (finderscope and the Orion Magnificent Mini Deluxe AutoGuider Package)? Would I be looking at maybe upgrading the focuser in due course? If so:

Is the OVL Dual Speed 2" Crayford Focuser For Refractors as sensibly priced upgrade ( https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/ov ... ctors.html )?

Or would it be better to go for Revelation Superfocus 2 inch Rack n Pinion Refractor Focuser ( https://www.telescopehouse.com/revelati ... 3kQAvD_BwE )?

Or TS-Optics Monorail 2" Refractor focuser ( https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pr ... lange.html )?

I know the GSO96 is also an option, but in the USA - plenty of variants/re-badged items in Europe of this thing I believe.

Additionally: With the Altair OTA I will need to buy flattener/reducers, as well as 2" diagonal (this will increase my price). The Evostar 80ED SD Pro has the reducer as an extra (quite expensive vs Altair at £180.00) and the Evostar 100ED SD Pro have some packages out there with the reducer bundled in! Seems package seems like it does represent good value?

My budget is about £800.

Bottom line... which one would be the one to go for?

Help!

Jacques :)
Telescopes: Altair Astro Starware 102ED-R, SW P150 reflector, SW SkyMax127 mak, Meade ETX90 mak, SW Startravel 80 Table Top Telescope
Mount: HEQ5-Pro, EQ3-2
Camera: Pentax K-50, Pentax K-70, Altair Hypercam 183C Pro TEC
Accessories: Various


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John Baars Netherlands
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Re: Skywatcher EvoStar DS Pro vs Altair Starwave? Which one?

#2

Post by John Baars »


Well I am not an astrophotographer (any more) but I have enough modern astropfotographers in my environment to know what they should advice.

Above all a mounting that is heavy, precise and stable, stable, stable.

The refractor comes in second place and should be the one with the fastest F number, the lowest weight and the best focusser.
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Micke187 Sweden
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Re: Skywatcher EvoStar DS Pro vs Altair Starwave? Which one?

#3

Post by Micke187 »


I have had the skywatcher 80mm ed and now i got an ts-optics 80mm and i can tell you that the focuser is alot better then the skywatchers crayford focuser. R/p focuser is the way to go for AP. And also the captains wheel lock is also good on the altair scope. The ts-optics scope as i have i think is almost identical to the altair one just the only difference is that i have a triplet version.
So my choice would be the altair 80ed if i had to choose.
TS-optics photoline 115mm triplet + 1.0x flattener
Guiding: qhy5lll APM 50mm guidescope
Main camera: ASI1600MM pro +Starlight xpress filterwheel (Ha,OIII, SII ,LRGB baader filter)
Mount: heq5 Rowan mod
Zwo EAF focuser
Programs: APT, DSS, PIxinsight, Nebulosity3, Phd2, CDC Eqmod
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JayTee United States of America
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Re: Skywatcher EvoStar DS Pro vs Altair Starwave? Which one?

#4

Post by JayTee »


So you are facing the conundrum that every beginning imager faces when they want to image both DSOs and planetary. No single scope can accomplish both extremely well.

DSO imaging is best accomplished with shorter focal lengths - 500 -1000mm.
Planetary imaging is best accomplished with extremely long focal lengths - 4000 to 6000mm.

So all of the scopes you've listed above will be decent for DSO imaging and not so much for planetary imaging. As John has pointed out above, having a precision equatorial mount is mandatory but only for DSO imaging. For planetary imaging even an alt-az mount will give you excellent results.

So now you have to do decide where you're going to compromise. You need to lean one way or the other. You are seeing now why a lot of us have multiple telescopes.

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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yobbo89 Australia
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Re: Skywatcher EvoStar DS Pro vs Altair Starwave? Which one?

#5

Post by yobbo89 »


forget any high resolution planetary imaging, you'll most likely achieve wide shot low detail images..big glass and long focal lengths is the only place to be for planet detail.

The starwave looks good, The 102 and the 80 ,better focuser. reasonable f ratio/focal length, better piggy back mounting and adjustment bolts. in the description they list a focal reducer/field corrector available ?

one thing to look at is ca and field curvature when picking a imaging refractor as well as the focuser, refractors tend to have a long draw tube out to achieve focus, a focuser that isn't as good will cause image tilt from slop.
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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