Skywatcher Virtuoso GTI 150mm (WiFi) Table Dobsonian Telescope

The concept of a collapsible optical tube has been well executed by Sky-Watcher, creating a telescope with plenty of aperture for the serious beginner or even an advanced amateur looking for a powerful (6" aperture) but compact and portable telescope.Overall construction and fit and finish is executed to a high standard, this may be a budget telescope but it is definitely not a cheaply manufactured telescope.The Virtuoso tracking and goto system works very well, one star alignment was good enough for a lot of deep sky objects and, of course open clusters. However I would recommend spending the little extra time involved to do a 2 or 3 star alignment. The motors are efficient and quiet and tracked well. the menu in the app gives options for sidereal tracking ... MoreThe concept of a collapsible optical tube has been well executed by Sky-Watcher, creating a telescope with plenty of aperture for the serious beginner or even an advanced amateur looking for a powerful (6" aperture) but compact and portable telescope.Overall construction and fit and finish is executed to a high standard, this may be a budget telescope but it is definitely not a cheaply manufactured telescope.The Virtuoso tracking and goto system works very well, one star alignment was good enough for a lot of deep sky objects and, of course open clusters. However I would recommend spending the little extra time involved to do a 2 or 3 star alignment. The motors are efficient and quiet and tracked well. the menu in the app gives options for sidereal tracking (default) etc. However, this telescope is not designed as an astrophotographer's telescope, but casual photography with a mobile phone at the eyepiece will give some pleasing results. The database provides plenty of visible night sky objects to satisfy and evening's viewing, or for the more advanced amateur objects can be entered via their Messier, Caldwell, NGC or IC catalogue numbers. The dual encoders live up to the hype, you can manually move the telescope on any axis and the tracking will resume as will the computer keep up with the changes in declination and right ascension. Manual adjustment allows smooth motion on both axes.A 6" reflector is a good balance between aperture (light gathering ability) and size and weight. Not so long ago a 6" Newtonian was considered a very useful size for advanced amateur astronomy. There are 1,000's of objects in the night sky well within the grasp of this telescope. The primary mirror performs very well for a budget telescope, the optics are as good as has come to be expected from Sky-Watcher, the images are really very good with good contrast. I was unable to view any planets or the Moon, but based on the viewing done and the sharpness and contrast provided by the telescope's optics I would expect the telescope to provide pleasing, quality views of Jupiter, Saturn etc. but would require the use of a quality 2x or 3x Barlow lens or the purchase of a 5mm eyepiece to provide around 150x magnification. The rule of thumb for upper magnification limit is twice the aperture in mm, a combination of a Barlow lens and eyepiece to give around 200x magnification would be completely within the grasp of this telescope. The mirrors were well aligned from the factory; despite the inevitable bumps etc during shipping, the telescope would have been quite usable straight out of the box; the primary mirror required very slight adjustment to bring the collimation to perfect alignment.The instruction manual is mostly clear and concise around the operation of the telescope, as are the instructions for collimating the telescope mirrors.So, a great telescope overall.Now the cons which are few; The telescope is supplied with two eyepieces, a 'Super 25' (30x magnification) and a 'Super 10' (75x magnification). Both are marked as 'Long Eye Relief', the 'Super 25' is also marked as 'Wide Angle'. While I did not measure the area covered by the 'wide angle' 'Super25' it more than comfortably showed excellent views of both the Great Nebula in Orion and the eta Carina Nebula. Sky-Watcher's 'Super' series of eyepieces are budget eyepieces included to get one started in viewing. The appear to be of 3 element design (looking at reflections from the lens surfaces), I would assume they are either Kellner design or modified achromats (a version of the Kellner) Star images form nice, pin point images across most of the field and for budget eyepieces were more than satisfactory. A look at the Jewel box cluster in Crux immediately revealed the colours of the blue and orange stars, so not bad performance for $40 eyepieces. Eye relief was definitely satisfactory, however eyeglass wearers may struggle to encompass the entire field. The negative comment for these eyepieces comes regarding their construction; the bodies are plastic and the 1.25" barrel is aluminium, creating a light weight eyepiece. I'm not sure if all the lens elements are glass but as the image quality was satisfactory it is probably irrelevant, just be very careful cleaning the lens surfaces and treat them with as much respect as any top quality eyepiece or camera lens. However, the alloy barrel is ******* to the plastic body and the thread tolerances are very 'loose'. The alloy barrel very easily pulled away at the threads when I went to remove the plastic lower dustcap. Reassembly was easy enough, just be careful not to cross-thread the components. I am an engineer, the thread fit is definitely below what would be considered good engineering, my concern would be that the eyepiece could separate at the threaded connection allowing the body containing the lens elements to crash to the ground causing damage. And the poor thread fit will only become worse as the owner continues

I love the Skywatcher 6” Virtuoso GTi. Really excellent views of Moon, Planets and Deep Space Objects. The scope is lightweight and has a small footprint. It’s really quick to set up and use within minutes. Make sure you have a sturdy surface to set it on. A camping table works well for me.The Goto system works really well using the SynScan Pro app on your phone. Make sure you have collimated the scope beforehand and you’ll have no problems. Collimation itself was really easy to do.The best way I have found to align the scope using SynScan Pro is using the North/Level alignment. I’ve found it useful to use the level app and compass app on my phone to get the scope pointed in the right direction (and level) and from there alignment is a breeze.The lenses provided ... MoreI love the Skywatcher 6” Virtuoso GTi. Really excellent views of Moon, Planets and Deep Space Objects. The scope is lightweight and has a small footprint. It’s really quick to set up and use within minutes. Make sure you have a sturdy surface to set it on. A camping table works well for me.The Goto system works really well using the SynScan Pro app on your phone. Make sure you have collimated the scope beforehand and you’ll have no problems. Collimation itself was really easy to do.The best way I have found to align the scope using SynScan Pro is using the North/Level alignment. I’ve found it useful to use the level app and compass app on my phone to get the scope pointed in the right direction (and level) and from there alignment is a breeze.The lenses provided are pretty good to start with. The 25mm is the better one for me with crisp wide field views although the 10mm does a good job of getting you a lot closer as well. I’ve already started acquiring some other lenses; Planetary lens, Barlow lens and filters to enhance the viewing experience. Definitely recommend a UHC filter for DSOs.I also recommend making a shroud out of 3mm foam to reduce light leaking into the secondary lens. You can fit it so that it slides in and out of the main tube assembly easily and it works really well. There are plenty of YouTube video tutorials on how to make them. I’ve also seen comments about the focusser and adding Teflon tape to the thread to tighten the action but have had no issues with mine out of the box.Overall this has turned out to be the telescope I’ve always wanted. I’m super happy with it and can see myself using it regularly for many years to come. If you have any doubts about buying one of these then cast them aside. You won’t be disappointed.