TOP 5 SkyWatcher Virtuoso Telescope MODS

These are the first mods you should do right away to your 6 inch Skywatcher Go-To (TRACKED) Virtuoso Heritage 150P Dobsonian Telescope if you want to improve its performance and get better pictures and views doing Astrophotography or EAA - Electronically Assisted Astronomy.
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#DobsonianPower Disclaimer: i may receive compensation for links to products on this channel without any cost for you. As an Amazon Associate, i earn from qualifying purchases. Sponsors do not influence my opinion or recommendations, but they do offset the expense involved with providing free content for you. I only recommend what i use and believe is also a good deal for you.

[@DobsonianPower]

5 REASONS To Buy a 6" Skywatcher Virtuoso Gti kzbin.info/www/bejne/mom6Z3yMepp3hZY

[@Rotceh-r4g]

Great tips!!! Often at Astronomy forums, the prevailing opions are bigger, better, and more expensive equipment is always best. You prove that this not necessarily so. Thanks for doing so. It makes astronomy and photography accesible to anyone. Thanks for posting! Love the video. Love the results! Continued success my friend!

[@sacra2kx]

Awesome once again! I made these mods myself aswell! I have a very nice UPS with 12V and 5V output and 12V input, that I use for this scope. Tefflon is a must do, always, the helical focuser is by far, for me the biggest compromise on this model. And the shroud, I also made one, an external one that allows me to focus the way you do it! I also painted the glass around the secondary mirror with a black permanent marker and did a shroud to protect it from dew, already thinking about the winter nights! Keep it going Tiago! Cheers and clear skies from Coruche!

[@DobsonianPower]

Hi! I also blackened the secondary edge but forgot to mention. I didn't make the small dew shield yet neither change the secondary knobs yet.

[@cjdaglow6427]

I was just on Reddit looking at this scope in particular and thought I saw your name! Keep up these great vids, you are a massive asset to the community

[@DobsonianPower]

Thanks!

[@justklaas4703]

Hi Tiago, complete newbie here. what a nice and informative channel. You are the reason that some time next week an old 2nd hand skywatcher 12" flexscan with motors will be in my posession! I will first start to get to know the telescope, add goto functionality to it using a wifi dongle and the synscan app, and basically first learn to know the sky. Of course also practice collimating it until I can do it in a few minutes. Ultimately, my plan is to buy a 32557rd hand full frame sensor camera body to start EAA. These things can be found for under 150 euro's and give a large FOV even without a reducer. For sure nothing compared to your 294, however very budget friendly. I am super exited! Of course, after more than a month of no rain in the Netherlands and horrible droughts, we have rain now every day. To help nature, I should have bought a telescope earlier....

[@DobsonianPower]

what a wonderful telescope. Congrats!!

[@AndriiMarusiak]

Very useful item. I have a friend, who is a owner of this telescope and he told me, that he never sale it. The telescope has a good combination of size and power. If you can use 3d printer, you can upgrade the focuser. Only focuser is the weak point of this device

[@DobsonianPower]

Unfortunately i don't have 3d printer

[@guarykknay]

All of your videos worth gold

[@DobsonianPower]

Thanks for the motivation!

[@LnkSeries]

I enjoy your videos, did you have a video on how you made the shroud (your 3rd choice) looking to make one for my Flextube 250P.

[@DobsonianPower]

This is the only one. If you need more help doing it, join our discord.👍

[@gigomesdasilva5447]

Dobsonian Power, the power of fun!

[@DobsonianPower]

👍👍

[@jefftrvecvlt1819]

I want to get a camera for this scope...but i have a limited budget. Will the zwo224mc be ok since i can increase the field of view with a reducer and also adjust the focal length of the scope with the truss rods? The 482MC is also an option but at the limit of my budget.

[@DobsonianPower]

it is but larger objects can't fit. The larger the sensor, the better. But it is fine, i used it with the virtuoso.

[@hart316]

How did you do the bottom cap? Did you unscrew all the screws or cut around and the place foam cap on? Thanks

[@DobsonianPower]

easier than that. I just made a small hole with a philips screw and then the foam opens itself when you push it against the knobs and close after inserting it. No need to unscrew anything. It hold forever.

[@hart316]

Thank You for your videos, as I just got my family a Virtuso for Christmas.😃

[@anaximandrosIT]

Hi Tiago! I just bought one as a gift for myself for christmas! 😆 Do you think I can use the zwo294 with my 2" filters with a 2" female to 1,25" male adapter tube or will I have problems for focusing & vignetting?

[@DobsonianPower]

the best solution is to use everything as is and at the end of the imaging train, screw a 2" MALE to 1,25" NOSEPIECE. super cheap and effective.

[@DobsonianPower]

and congrats to find this telescope in stock. It's a great Christmas gift.

[@mirceskiandrej]

I don't think the link for the focal reducer is in the description - which one did you use? Also, why is it 2"? I have zwo asi224, should i get the same focal reducer or a 1.25"one? Thanks for the great video!

[@DobsonianPower]

💥 ALL MY GEAR AND FREE RESOURCES HERE: 💥dobsonianpower.com

[@jefftrvecvlt1819]

Does your camera take 12V cooling? The battery pack on your website seems to only have one 12V output...(Shanqiu brand)

[@DobsonianPower]

The UPS i have there has 12v 9v and 5v. It's awesome. (Shanqiu)

[@GerryDX]

What solar filter do you recommend with this telescope?

[@DobsonianPower]

Buy this kind of sheet amzn.to/3QLzuKh?AMZN%F0%9F%8C%8D10%22x10%22%20Filter%20Sheet& and then do as i did in my video but instead of a cake mold you can use a different thing. Like cardboard or plastic.

[@bbhavers]

Thx for the video. How did you attach the light cover at the bottom? I have cut the foam (circle) and was about to make holes to fit the screws through. But i was wondering if i could just unscrew all six collimation screws, or will something happen to the mirror? Did you glue it in place, use velcro or will it stick there just by the pressure of the collimation screws?

[@DobsonianPower]

If you unscrew the 6 screws the mirror will fall and likely break. Just cut a simple circle and make 3 tiny holes to insert in the locking knobs (the thinner screws) and that's it. Super simple.

[@bbhavers]

@@DobsonianPower But what do i do with the larger collimation screws? As the circle would be over them. I guess i should cut out space for those (but it's probably the holes for thinner screws that provide 'holding' power to the cover)?

[@DobsonianPower]

@@bbhavers Just cut an U shape to fit them. It's not important if some mm space is there. The thin knobs are what hold the foam.

[@bbhavers]

​@@DobsonianPower Great, fits very well. Just to add for others: i used the dust cap as a template to draw/cut the circle. And to create the focuser protection (to prevent light leaks in the focuser), the smaller removable cap in the dust cap can be used as a template to fit the focuser through. Thank you for creating this video and helping out, really appreciated I am new to telescopes, so this helps a lot. Btw. i have also ordered that mini UPS.

[@DobsonianPower]

@@bbhavers the mini ups is great. Better than a standard powerbank :)

[@lukasjelinek5739]

Tnx, very useful! 👍 I have only one question, DSLR with Nikon d700 is posible? Can it hold that and will it work properly?

[@DobsonianPower]

Hi Lukas, skywatcher recommend a maximum of 11 pounds, around 5kg however, i tried with only 600g and it hold well but it's tricky because as it slightly bend the focuser, you will have to count on that with collimation or focuser tilt. It's just a bit but...it's there. Also it has to be very well balanced.

[@lukasjelinek5739]

@@DobsonianPower Tnx Tiago! I try it. It will be fine i hope. I have 10´ dobson and i now i want try this litle one, thanks to you. 🙂 Thank you for your work, you are the king!

[@DobsonianPower]

@@lukasjelinek5739 Thanks Lukas. Give me a feedback later please. And tell me the weight of your camera set up if possible, to help other people.

[@lukasjelinek5739]

@@DobsonianPower I'll weigh it and I'll let you know.

[@quasar9058]

It helps a lot!Thanks.

[@DobsonianPower]

[@bobbymagetsonandmariueubited]

Hello. This goto dobson looks really cool. I have a question about it. Does it have good tracking and can i image with longer exposures cause i heard alt az mounts (this dobson has one) dont track really well

[@DobsonianPower]

I can go until 30 seconds although i do only shorter exposures

[@bobbymagetsonandmariueubited]

@@DobsonianPower thanks for telling me.

[@Pilord]

Thank you so much! 👍👍

[@DobsonianPower]

[@cattaraugustonawanda4426]

This scope looks very attractive with the exception of the focuser being goto and so convenient to move. I wonder if a 2" dual speed focuser could replace the poorly designed/made helical focuser?

[@DobsonianPower]

There can be made many solutions to the focuser, i didn't find a worthy one yet. That one you suggest it's one of them, with the expense to add much more weight, focuser intrusion inside the tube and requiring messing with the structure. I'm still thinking on a good solution but so far i can't see it for my needs. Adding a good helicoidal focuser would be also easy but bringing the focuser too far away to use with a focal reducer. The best one i saw was cutting the original focuser which i don't want to do.

[@cattaraugustonawanda4426]

@@DobsonianPower Crayford focuser can be made easily DIY if done as the old originals were made and be very light weight if made from polystyrene. The one supplied, looks very crude. Given the sliding structure I am surprised the engineer who designed the scope didn't make that part of the focusing unless the structure isn't particularly rigid.

[@DobsonianPower]

@Cattaraugus & Tonawanda it's rigid plastic. I didn't fond so far a solution "ready to go" to use and also recommend to my viewers although with DIY many things can be made. I'm looking for a simple solution.

[@simonhardwick1168]

I just purchased one When you use your camera with it how are you indoors operating it when it is on your roof terrace? Do you use an extra long USB cable? I want to know because I live in Finland and it gets cold and can only he outside in winter a few minutes at a time

[@DobsonianPower]

CONGRATS for the new Virtuoso telescope! You can use the 2m default ZWO camera USB cable but i use this larger one, very good: 5m/16.4ft USB 3.0 A to B Cable to connect the camera: 🇺🇸amzn.to/3Ij7jNe

[@simonhardwick1168]

@@DobsonianPower excellent thank you and also thanks for the tips.

[@DobsonianPower]

@@simonhardwick1168 👍👍

[@ronm6585]

Thank you. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@DobsonianPower]

👍👍

[@chrisg9602]

Great tips

[@DobsonianPower]

Hey chris, thanks! Have a nice day 💥✨️

[@anthonyscanu3230]

What about astrophotograohy, possible ? Good?

[@DobsonianPower]

Judge for yourself: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5q6gKJmetF3gNE

[@anthonyscanu3230]

Excellent !!!!! Je pense que je vais en prendre 1, puis la monture est capable de porter 5kg, je vais peut être y mettre ma lunette Bresser 102/460xs!!!!!

[@kristof3031]

try IC 10 galaxy with the 6 inch goto next.👍

[@DobsonianPower]

Almost 14 magnitude is asking too much to a 6". Better with my 12" for sure. Aperture rules ;)

[@kristof3031]

@@DobsonianPower But taking many many many frames? Or with the 8 inch and eq platform vs 12 inch and eq platform comparison?

[@DobsonianPower]

@@kristof3031 i can use them all but for that magnitude, the larger the aperture the better the results

[@CiaranMal1]

Mine came yesterday along with the clouds 😂

[@DobsonianPower]

Congratulations 👍

[@hawaiiangunner]

So what you're saying is this is not really a $500 telescope.

[@DobsonianPower]

What? Who said $100?

[@hawaiiangunner]

@@DobsonianPower sorry damn voice to text