Ranking 35+ Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescopes in the UK

Rank & ratings last updated by Zane Landers on Sep 15, 2025

While definitely a specialised type of instrument, Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes have a place in my heart and my telescope collection. I keep them on account of their superb performance, extreme compactness, and low maintenance requirements and use them if I have to travel light as well as for planetary viewing/imaging.

Their simplicity in manufacturing leads to sharp optics with minimal need for collimation (alignment of mirrors), and their long focal ratios (typically f/10 to f/16) help in enabling great performance even if I use the cheapest eyepieces I've got.

A 90mm Maksutov Cassegrain's mirrors — The front view of a Maksutov Cassegrain optical tube

Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes have a spherical primary mirror in the back of the optical tube and a thick meniscus corrector lens in the front that is spherical on both of its surfaces. There is an aluminised reflective “spot” on the back surface of the corrector that functions as the telescope’s secondary mirror. The all-spherical surfaces of these telescopes are easy to manufacture to high tolerances.

Front view of a maksutov — The corrector lens and the secondary mirror in its center.

Maksutov Cassegrain telescope's light path — Light diagram of Maksutov Cassegrain showing all its parts and focusing mechanism. The convex secondary mirror gives them a “folded” optical design

Because the secondary mirror and corrector are built into the same piece of glass, collimation (the process of aligning the primary and secondary mirrors) is rarely required in most Maksutovs. As a result, Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes are incredibly sharp on small targets like the Moon, planets, and double stars; it’s extremely rare to see one with bad optics.

What You Should Expect While Buying a Maksutov-Cassegrain

Behind apochromatic refractors, Maksutov-Cassegrains easily cost the most per inch of aperture of any telescope type.

They are rarely made with apertures larger than 7-8 inches.

The thick corrector plates on larger Maksutovs can slow down the time the corrector plate and mirrors take to cool down to ambient temperature. This is critical for the best performance of the mirrors.

Many Maksutovs are limited to 1.25”-only accessories, and almost all have focal ratios of f/12 to f/15 or above, both severely limiting the telescope's field of view. The high focal ratio also keeps them boxed in at high magnifications with most eyepieces.

Most Maksutovs also use a moving-mirror focuser like a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, where the primary mirror slides on a metal rod adjusted at the back end, moving the focal plane without physically elongating the back of the telescope. This usually works well but can have “image shift” (the view appears to bounce) when focusing, which can be a bit of a pain at high magnifications or when trying to do astrophotography.

You won’t be doing deep-sky astrophotography with a Maksutov-Cassegrain due to the super-long focal ratio and limited field of view, but planets and the Moon are possible.

Things to Look For

Any good Maksutov-Cassegrain usually has some kind of visual back which can be removed. Some scopes have “flip mirror” assemblies, which are often plastic and low-quality; replacing them if the flip mirror is damaged, gets stuck, or is bad optically can be a pain. If possible, stick with a scope that takes a standard astronomical star diagonal.

Rank Category: Maksutovs Below £200

Being utterly tiny aperture-wise, all of SarBlue's Maksutov options lack resolving capabilities for serious viewing but are tack sharp on the Moon, planets, and double stars. The limited field of view, low resolution, and minimal light-gathering ability of 60 mm and 70 mm Maksutovs put a bottleneck on what you can actually see when it comes to deep-sky objects. But considering how cheap they are, we believe these are still a nice catch.

SarBlue Mak70 with Tripod

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The SarBlue Mak70 comes with an actually decent mount/tripod, unlike the cheaper tripod-mounted Mak60 variants listed just below. When compared to the slightly cheaper Mak60 optical tube, the Mak70 has an all-metal build, 36% more light-gathering ability and a smidge more resolving capability. It has the same razor-sharp optics as we expect with any Maksutov-Cassegrain type of telescope. We get a decent accessory pack (finder, eyepiece, and star diagonal) to get started with. It has an extremely compact form factor when disassembled. But the scope is overpriced compared to that of the US.

SarBlue Mak60 with Freestanding Tripod

Rank 2

3.5^_/5

This Mak60 configuration, which has a standard photo tripod, works well. But we find aiming and tracking targets at high magnifications with the provided tripod frustrating and challenging. The Mak60 optical tube is a scaled-down version of the Mak70 and still delivers great views of the Moon and planets.

Sarblue Mak60 with Tabletop Tripod

Rank 3

3.4_^/5

The Mak60/tabletop tripod combination is the cheapest available. But we found it extremely hard to aim, and that is worsened by the lack of a dedicated finder scope. While usable, this wasn’t exactly a fun package for us. However, if you already have a sturdy, high-quality standard photo tripod and can get used to the tiny nibs on the optical tube for aiming, this package will save you a few bucks.

Rank Category: Maksutovs Between £200 and £400

A 90mm or 100mm aperture gives way more light-gathering and resolving power than a smaller 70mm Maksutov, though 90mm or 100mm is still quite small for a serious telescope.

Sky-Watcher SkyMax-102S AZ Pronto

£265 at FLO

The Sky-Watcher SkyMax 102 is an excellent Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, and the Pronto AZ mount provides a sturdy and easy-to-aim platform for it, while you also get a nice set of accessories provided with the scope. However, the limited aperture and field of view of a 102mm Maksutov mean this is primarily a lunar, planetary, and double-star scope. While it might not seem like much, the extra ½” of aperture the SkyMax 102S has over a 90mm Maksutov does wonders for brightness and resolving power.

Skywatcher Heritage 90P Virtuoso Mak

£259 at FLO

The Sky-Watcher Heritage 90P Virtuoso's motorised auto-tracking mount is a huge help for planetary observing but doesn’t have the cumbersome setup of aligning a full GoTo system, which is arguably unnecessary for such a small telescope anyway. It’s also extremely compact and easily fits in a backpack. We can also attach the Virtuoso 90’s base to a sturdy photo tripod if we wish, thanks to the threads on the bottom.

Rank 3	Skywatcher Skymax 90 EQ1	3.8
Rank 4	Skywatcher Skymax 102 EQ2	3.7
Rank 5	Bresser Messier MC-100/1400 EQ3	3.6
Rank 6	Skywatcher StarQuest 102MC	3.6
Rank 7	Bresser Messier MC-90/1250 EQ3	3.6
Rank 8	Skywatcher SkyMax 102 SynScan AZ	3.6
Rank 9	Celestron Astromaster 90EQ Maksutov	3.5
Rank 10	National Geographic 90mm GoTo Automatic	3
Rank 11	Celestron Astromaster 127EQ Maksutov	2.2

Rank Category: Maksutovs Between £400 and £700

The higher-ranked 127mm Maksutovs are nearly as portable as a 102mm Maksutov but offer more light-gathering and resolving power, allowing for excellent views of the Moon, planets, double stars, and the brightest deep-sky objects.

Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 Virtuoso GTi GoTo

£489 at FLO

The Virtuoso GTi mount and SkyMax 127 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope optical tube from Sky-Watcher are both excellent, and this scope is ideal for viewing the Moon, planets, and double stars. Unlike Celestron’s GoTo mounts, the Virtuoso GTi allows manual movement without affecting its GoTo alignment. However, the eyepiece can often be in an uncomfortable position if this scope is used on a tabletop, and you may wish to use the stud at the bottom to attach it to a tripod for additional height.

Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 AZ-GTi GoTo

Rank 2

3.9^_/5

The Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 offers excellent optical performance and is an ideal match for the compact, versatile, and high-tech AZ-GTi GoTo mount. The AZ-GTi can be used manually or as a GoTo mount without affecting alignment while pushing the telescope around the sky by hand (unlike the GoTo mounts from Celestron) and is also controlled via your smartphone/tablet with the free SynScan app or another app such as SkySafari Pro. The whole package is also fairly compact when broken down.

Skywatcher Skymax 127 AZ-GO2 GoTo

Rank 3

3.8^_/5

The Sky-Watcher 102mm Skymax AZ-GO2 package uses the same SkyMax 127 optical tube but with a less capable GO2 computerised mount on top of it. You can’t use this manually at all, and it has to be controlled wirelessly with your smartphone or tablet.

Celestron Astro Fi 102 Mak AZ GoTo

Rank 4

3.7^_/5

The Astro Fi 102 is a fully motorised GoTo telescope with a full-sized freestanding tripod and larger 102 mm (4”) optics. Its mount is controlled exclusively via your smartphone or tablet with Celestron’s SkyPortal app or another app like SkySafari Pro. It can’t be controlled manually at all.It includes a pair of decent eyepieces, and the dismantled telescope packs up into a fairly small package able to fit in a suitcase or small storage container.

Rank 5	Skywatcher Skymax 127 SynScan AZ	3.7
Rank 6	Skywatcher Skymax 102 AZ-GTi	3.7
Rank 7	Skywatcher SkyMax 127 AZ5	3.7
Rank 8	Celestron NexStar 102SLT	3.7
Rank 9	Skywatcher Skymax 127 EQ3-2	3.7
Rank 10	Bresser Messier MC-127/1900 EXOS-1	3.5
Rank 11	Bresser Messier MC-100/1400 EXOS-2	3.5
Rank 12	Celestron NexStar 4SE	3.4
Rank 13	Bresser Messier MC-100/1400 EXOS-1	3.4
Rank 14	Celestron NexStar 90SLT	3.2

Rank Category: Maksutovs Above £700

Skywatcher Skymax 150 Pro EQ5

With superb optics typical of any Maksutov-Cassegrain, the Sky-Watcher Skymax 150 Pro is great for viewing the Moon, planets, and double stars, while the EQ5 mount is a sturdy if basic mounting choice for this scope.

Rank 2	Bresser Messier MC-152 Hexafoc EXOS-2	3.9
Rank 3	Celestron NexStar 127 SLT	3.7
Rank 4	Skywatcher Skymax 127 EQ3 Pro GOTO	3.7
Rank 5	Bresser Messier MC-127/1900 EXOS-2	3.5
Rank 6	Bresser Messier MCX-127 GoTo	3.4
Rank 7	Bresser Messier MC-127/1900 EXOS-2 GoTo	3.4
Rank 8	Bresser Messier MC-100/1400 EXOS-2 GoTo	3.3
Rank 9	Bresser Messier MCX-102 GoTo	3.2