Telescope - Skywatcher Evostar 100ED Doublet APO Refractor - Unboxing & Brief Review

Telescope unboxing and review: In this video I unbox and do a brief review of the Skywatcher Evostar 100ED Doublet APO Refractor.
Here's some equipment I'm using for my setup:
Sky-Watcher EvoStar 100 APO Doublet Refractor Telescope
amzn.to/3PWW0gN
ZWO ASI183MC 20 Megapixel USB3.0 Color Astronomy Camera for Astrophotography
amzn.to/3CDJVtH
iOptron GEM28 Mount - Head with iPolar in Hard Case
amzn.to/3PR7WAJ
This eyepiece is awesome for visual astronomy with its wide field of view.
Alpine Astronomical Baader 76° Morpheus 17.5mm Eyepiece (1.25"/2")
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
This is a very well made barlow lens I've been using for visual astronomy. I found thought that this doesn't seem very compatible for astrophotography for my setup unless using the diagonal (only way to get camera focus).
Celestron 93436 Luminous 2-Inch 2.5x Barlow Lens (Silver)
amzn.to/3KsfloY
This is a must have for astrophotography purposes.
Sky-Watcher S20201 Reducer / Corrector
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...
Astromania M48X0.75 (2" Filter) Female to M42X0.75 T / T2 Male Thread Telescope Adapter (to achieve back focus with reducer/corrector)
amzn.to/3KueNid
Alstar Astronomical 2"/M48-extension Tube Kit for Cameras and eyepieces - Length 5mm 8mm 10mm 20mm 30mm - M48x0.75 on Both Sides (adapter to use with tubes for achieving back focus with reducer/corrector)
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SVBONY Bahtinov Mask Focusing Mask Aluminum Alloy Telescope Focusing Mask 60-115mm Caliber Fixed Diameter 65-100mm
amzn.to/3xILEKQ
I find this lightweight cart handy for hauling in/out a stack of organizer boxes and the mount case.
Leeyoung Folding Hand Truck and Dolly,309 lb Capacity Aluminum Portable Cart with Telescoping Handle and PP+EVA Wheels
amzn.to/3KwAFcJ
Some gear for cleaning purposes:
UES Air Blower Dust Blaster for Digital, DSLR, SLR Cameras Sensor Lens Cleaning, Rubber Bulb Air Pump Dust Blower Cleaner - Black
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UES APSC-16 DSLR and Mirrorless Digital Camera Sensor Cleaning Kits for APS-C Type CMOS and CCD Sensors (14pcs APS C Sensor Cleaning Swabs and 15ml Sensor Cleaner)
amzn.to/3cw0NYW
UES Lint Free Microfiber Cleaning Cloth for Lens, Eye Glasses, LED (8 Packs - 15cm x 15cm)
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These are great for making sure you don't have any dust or dirty spots on your CMOS of your camera.
Beileshi Watch Repair Magnifier Loupe Jeweler Magnifying Glasses Tool Set with LED Light with 8 Interchangeable Lens-2.5X 4X 6X 8X 10x 15x 20x 25x
amzn.to/3Kwx26J
If you have to transfer images/files from your laptop to another computer for further processing, this external drive is very fast compared to something like a thumb drive.
SAMSUNG T7 1TB, Portable SSD, up to 1050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen2, External Solid State Drive (MU-PC1T0H/AM), Blue
amzn.to/3PZ9o41
To avoid unrolling and rolling up power cables for each imaging session or setup where there's no outlet to connect to,, this is very convenient.
Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 300, 293Wh Backup Lithium Battery, 110V/300W Pure Sine Wave AC Outlet
amzn.to/3KybHK7
If you want to share your astro images so I can feature them in a future video, send them to my email:
[e-mail]

[@YouSirAreNoob]

Thanks for making this video. This is exactly what i was looking for, i especially appreciated the closeup of the information by the focuser. I found a scope losted but it doesnt say the model and i wanted to see of this was it!

[@marksastrojourney]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TheLostLibrary]

Thank you for sharing this video - I am considering picking one up and hope to see it arrive soon! However, being new to the hobby, I noticed you have it on what I believe to be a more complex-looking EQ mount. I am thinking of starting with the AZ mount unless that is a rookie mistake.

[@marksastrojourney]

The reason I went for a GoTo German equatorial mount is to facilitate astrophotography as well as tracking the star or object you wanting to observe. With an AZ mount you may find yourself adjusting constantly as the object moves out of view. As an example, if you center up the moon in your eyepiece, within just a few seconds it moves out of view. The GEM 28 EQ mount, once polar aligned and synched to one or two different stars, tracks the object very well. I hope that's helpful! I found reading\viewing articles\videos on the different astronomy threads to hear other people's experiences using an AZ versus an EQ mount very informative.

[@vtfollett]

Found one issue with this scope. I bought it about a year ago, but haven’t used it much. It came with a manual eq. mount, and I just haven’t spent the time to learn how to use it. For casual viewing, I prefer my 8” Dobsonian. But eventually I want to try EAA, and plan to mate this scope with a motorized mount. The one issue was with the finder scope. The dovetail wasn’t seating properly in the slot. No matter how tight the clamping screw, there was still some play. Turned out the small projection on the base of the finder dovetail was preventing the foot from seating properly in the slot. I filed off about 1/16 of an inch, and now it seats securely. Don’t know if this is common, but if your finder wiggles, this might be the cause.

[@marksastrojourney]

Hi Steve, thanks for sharing the issue you had as well as how you solved it. I’ve not had any issues with the finder scope. I bought an IOptron Gem28 goto mount for this telescope. I like the way the mount works and it’s easy to set up. But I did have some issues with the mount and iOptron had to make some repairs. It’s working well now. I can’t imagine going back to a manual mount. There’s no comparison once you’ve been using a goto eq mount.

[@k.h.1587]

You dont need to buy a new mount, unless you got the package that came on the tiny eq2 mount. If it was eq4 or eq5 mount, there are both basic tracking, and full goto systems available. And there are basic tracking drives available even for the tiny eq1 and 2 mounts. But only consider that if you are satisfied with the stability of your mount

[@k.h.1587]

That 5mm looks a lot like the old tmb burgess planetary series, which has been sold under many brand names. The 25 is just a fancy dressed up plossl like the vixen NPL line, and all in fact are made by the same company, synta. This scope is also available for more money as a vixen 100ed, and of course the orion 100ed. When these first came out, the 5mm had the same looking cosmetics as the 25. It was a longer eye relief than 5mm plossl, but I don't think it was as nice or as wide angle as the one you just got. Those are actually pretty decent. It would be nice if more scopes came with those instead of the usual small plossls or MAs for the high power. Also.note that the twist up eyeguards don't Indicate what the eye relief of the eyepiece actually is, nor does it adjust the eye relief. Buy yes it does get the eyecup out of the way for eyeglasses, but more importantly you can keep them all the way up to minimize the chance of other people getting eyelash grease or mascara on your eyepieces. Scopes like that usually destroy the common, sometimes slightly out of collimation SCTs and Dobs that many astronomy club members bring to outreach events, on planets, which is the most common outreach target other than showpiece dsos on the larger aperture scopes. And the views of open clusters are best in refractors, even in light pollution. I'm sure you love it by now

[@marksastrojourney]

thanks for all the great details shared in your comments! I do still enjoy this telescope. I’ve since added a wo redcat61 for wide field imaging. So now I end up using one for a month or two and then switching to the other one. I have to admit, since I’ve learned more of the basics of astrophotography I’ve barely done any visual astronomy. Clear skies!

[@k.h.1587]

@@marksastrojourney that's where a dob comes in handy, something to look through while your rig is integrating.

[@RetiredFE]

I just purchased one of these telescopes. I have a Sky-watcher HEQ5 Pro mount. I just ordered the same reducer/corrector from B&H. I'm going to be using a Nikon D5000 initially. Not sure how I'm going to figure out the 55mm backlash with it though. Just wondering how your ASI183 camera is doing. I've read that the uncooled cameras are not good for deep sky photography, but I have seen a couple of KZbin channels such as yours using them for deep sky. How do you like it? The photo's look good. Any trouble with them or with a noise problem? I have had my scope for about 10 days now but the skies are not cooperating here in Columbus, Ohio. The forecast for the next 10 days are not looking good either. I just got a ASIAIR Plus. I would like a ZWO camera also, but don't want to pay $1000 - $2000 for one. If the planetary camera's will work for DSO I may consider getting one for my scope. So I'll see how that will work out. Looking forward to more of your videos. Hard to find videos for this scope. Take care and clear skies.

[@marksastrojourney]

Hi Rodger, It'd be great to see some of your images once you get some better weather! I feel like my ZWO non cooled camera has been able to produce some pretty good deep sky images and I've not had any trouble out of the camera. You might find my video on back focus interesting, if you haven't already seen it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/najZqHSEjMSoY68 I'm here in Southern Indiana next to the Ohio river. So our weather is probably pretty similar. Almost nothing but clouds day and night now for weeks. Occasionally during the day there will be a break in the clouds for an hour or two. My challenge right now is not with the ZWO camera, but rather the iOptron Gem28 mount. I'm having very bad backlash. I reached out to iOptron support and shared the PHD2 guiding logs with them. They recommended I disassemble the DEC worm gear to inspect it for any damage. I did that and it's quite a tedious thing to disassemble. However, no damage was found on the worm gear or the larger gear it turns. I'm unsure if I'm going to have to send it in for them to repair it or what. But I can't get any consistent guiding because the backlash is so bad. The mesh adjustment seems right. The belt adjustment seems right. The only thing I can see is that the belt seems to wonder side to side while slewing. I'm wondering if the belt could be bad actually. I'm going to send them a video of it wondering around on the gear. I've also watched tons of videos on backlash, most of those end up suggesting the belt tightness adjustment, the mesh adjustment, finding loose screws inside and tightening them or managing dangling cables. So far none of these suggestions have resolved my issue. Clear skies!

[@k.h.1587]

Backlash is play in your gears. Backfocus is what you meant

[@lornaz1975]

How is the focuser? Sometimes they need some tweaking right out of the box.

[@marksastrojourney]

I haven't had any issues with the focuser using an eyepiece. Since it is a dual focuser, I can get a very sharp focus. Where I initially struggled is trying to achieve focus with my ZWO camera installed. I didn't have a batinov mask at first because you can't seem to get one delivered right now from anywhere. I had ordered one and during shipping it just got lost and never arrived. I ordered a second one from Amazon and now they updated the shipping to say it's delayed. So I went ahead and made my own batinov mask using the online tools. I just made it out of cardboard (to see if I could even do it before attempting plastic or some more durable material). However, it works great! Just like people show in all of the KZbin videos how to focus with a batinov mask, it works like a charm. This is especially important for astrophotography, because otherwise it's a visual guessing game and/or attempting to use the focusing tools/utilities of something like Sharpcap. And if your focus is off, the images are of poor quality. Now that I'm using the batinov mask, I achieve focus for the ZWO camera attached to my telescope in about 1 1/2 minutes. Then, I place the locking mechanism on the focusing knob. I have checked the focus again some time later after moving to different targets and it seems to hold the focus. However, I'm guessing if you didn't put the locking mechanism on the focusing know, it might lose focus. Side note: I also discovered that Lowes has a green plastic grate that is designed to go on the end of a 4" drain pipe. The grate cover/flat part has a grid pattern on it with slots in it. It was only 6 or 7 dollars, so I bought one and gave a try to see what kind of focus I could get using that. Interestingly, it puts 2 overlapping cross shapes over each star. Although it may not be as good/precise as the batinov mask pattern, it works similarly where I can align the center of the 2 overlapping cross shapes and achieve great focus. Clear skies!

[@robertochacon4290]

Hi. What is the model of tripod for that telescope?

[@kyleschroeder4801]

I am contemplating one of these as a quick grab-and-go for backyard viewing of the moon/planets so I do not have to lug out my C11. Do you think this a good scope for that purpose? Do you think the focused could handle a Binoviewer well?

[@marksastrojourney]

Hi Kyle, I’ve never used a binoviewer with this telescope. However, I think it would only be comfortable if used with the diagonal. I have used a Morpheus eyepiece, which is pretty heavy and it handled it okay. I hope that helps. Clear skies!

[@k.h.1587]

You might have to use one of those binoviewer lenses that threads onto the nose of the binoviewer, or a barlow in the same way, to reach focus with a binoviewer, or maybe just use a 1.25" diagonal that eats up less backfocus than the 2". Generally binoviewer friendly refractors have a slide out draw tube or a removable piece of tube to give the extra in travel needed to reach focus with a binoviewer without a compensator lens or barlow. But since you say moon and planets, you probably don't care if you.need to barlow your binoviewer to reach focus, so yeah. These scopes are surprisingly good on planets