Home > Telescopes > Skywatcher > Maksutov
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“… Saturn presented crisp detail through the 25mm eyepiece – Saturn’s rings were well defined, there was a hint of a northern belt and a good view of Titan.The 10mm eyepiece revealed the Cassini Division in the rings, along with three more moons (Rhea, Tethys and Dione) and it gave a better view of the belt around the planet.Jupiter was the next target and the views were gorgeous. The planet’s northern belt was clearly a brownish colour and much wider than the slimmer and fainter southern belt.It was possible to make out hints of plume features with the 10mm eyepiece, as well as subtle hints of more belts.All four Galilean moons were visible too. Our Moon was the target for the next test, a week later, and it almost filled the view through the 25mm eyepiece, presenting lots of detail to enjoy.” Review by Paul Money for BBC Sky at Night (pdf)
“… Saturn presented crisp detail through the 25mm eyepiece – Saturn’s rings were well defined, there was a hint of a northern belt and a good view of Titan.
The 10mm eyepiece revealed the Cassini Division in the rings, along with three more moons (Rhea, Tethys and Dione) and it gave a better view of the belt around the planet.
Jupiter was the next target and the views were gorgeous. The planet’s northern belt was clearly a brownish colour and much wider than the slimmer and fainter southern belt.
It was possible to make out hints of plume features with the 10mm eyepiece, as well as subtle hints of more belts.
All four Galilean moons were visible too. Our Moon was the target for the next test, a week later, and it almost filled the view through the 25mm eyepiece, presenting lots of detail to enjoy.”
Review by Paul Money for BBC Sky at Night (pdf)
Model: skywatcher_10996Part Number: 10996
High contrast Makustov optics on a compact Virtuoso GTi mount with integral WiFi (creates it’s own Wi-Fi network so can be used anywhere, without reliance on other WiFi or mobile networks).
After entering your coordinates into the App and following a simple alignment procedure, you are ready to explore the universe using the App’s intuitive touchscreen menu.
The Virtuoso GTi and SynScan App provides full computerised GO-TO control, enabling the telescope to be automatically slewed to any of the 10,000+ celestial objects in the App’s extensive database.
Incorporates Sky-Watcher’s Freedom-Find™ patented Dual-Encoder Technology, which enables the telescope to be moved manually in either axis without it losing positional information. This provides the user freedom, convenience and flexibility during observational sessions.
Designed for convenient use on a tabletop but equipped with a 3/8" standard tripod bush so can also be used with an optional tripod making it a versatile choice. The Sky-Watcher Stainless Steel Tripod is a good choice for use with this telescope.
Features & specification
A compact and easy to carry telescope. It’s the first one, so there is nothing to compare its optics or quality to. I did use it on a small round garden table a couple of times. It did feel impractical so the first step was to get a 40mm tripod for it. That is the way it has been used since. I like the sturdiness of the table mount and it does not need a seperate center column to mount it on a tripod. I like the bigger clutch wheels to tighten and loosen the mount axis. What I don’t like is some play in both horizontal and vertical axis, which makes the telescope a pain to use with high power eyepieces. The eyepieces can’t be touched even lightly with your eyebrow or the telescope shakes vertically. It is also annoying to try to get the telescope in focus, because rotating the focus knob shakes the view through the eyepiece every time for a few seconds. These are much less a problem with low or medium power eye pieces. Overall I enjoy the purchase, but can’t help thinking, would AZ-GTi mount had same or different problems.
I love this package but getting problems with it moving by approx 6mm up and down when altitude clutch wheel tightened.When I GOTO a star i can see it dropping out of view, even when i use up and right to finish alignment it still has this annoying slack.I'm thinking of returning it but i really love it apart from this problem. I was wondering if other owners have this problem before i return or try to get a replacement mount.I really want to keep it and if I'm just unlucky with a problem mount it would be 5 stars.