The Quality of Optical Tube and Optics
The SkyWatcher 8” Traditional, or the Classic 200P, is an 8” aperture, f/5.9 focal ratio Newtonian reflector, manufactured by China-based Suzhou Synta Optical Technologies—the same company that owns Celestron and used to manufacture Orion’s XT and XX Dobsonians.
The telescope’s mirrors are made of borosilicate glass (Pyrex), which expands far less with temperature changes than the more common plate glass that I’ve seen in many cheaper and even similarly priced telescopes. Quality-wise, the mirrors tend to be good in almost all Classic 200P scopes that I’ve handled.
At f/5.9 focal ratio, there isn’t any coma like there is with faster focal ratio scopes such as Sky-Watcher’s own 10” and larger models, which have faster focal ratios to avoid being cumbersome and, in the case of the largest size telescopes, requiring a tall ladder.
The Classic 200P’s tube length is identical to SkyWatcher’s own 150P and other manufacturers’ 6” f/8 Dobsonians (for eg. Aperture AD6 which I very much like). As a result, the 200P is not really any more cumbersome to transport or more difficult to store than a typical 6″ dobsonian.
I really like solid tubes for 8ʺ Dobs. A 10ʺ scope becomes a bit uncomfortable to wrap your arms around, and a 12ʺ or larger is a nightmare to handle, unless you are built like Paul Bunyan.
Issues I’ve Had With It’s Rack and Pinion Focuser
The focuser on the Sky-Watcher 8” Dobsonian is a rack-and-pinion. It works just as well as a higher-priced Crayford unit, but there are two issues I have with it.
- First, the knobs are made of hard plastic with little ridges that dig into our fingers.
- Second, the focuser comes with a strange thread-on 1.25” adaptor and a thread-on 2” adaptor, which means that unless you spend additional money on a separate 1.25” to 2” adaptor, you’ll be fumbling around in the dark with these silly adaptors. I don’t get why Sky-Watcher elected to add this system rather than just supplying the 2” adaptor and a 1.25” to 2” adaptor.
The Accessories and My Recommended Aftermarket Buys
The 8” Traditional comes with 25mm (48x magnification) and 10mm (120x magnification) “Super” eyepieces that seemed to be Plossls to me. They work well, as I tested.
But, still, I’d advise you to get additional 6mm and 9mm “gold-line” eyepieces at the minimum for high magnification views (the included 10mm Super was a little short on eye relief when I used it). These high-power eyepieces will provide great close-up views of the Moon, planets, double stars, and globular star clusters.
I’d also recommend a 2” wide-angle eyepiece such as the GSO 30mm SuperView. The wide-angle 2” eyepiece will make it easier to find objects and provide the maximum possible field of view for expansive views of nebulae, star clusters, and other deep-sky objects.
The 8” Traditional comes with a 9x50mm straight-through finderscope. In addition to being uncomfortable to aim through at almost every angle, I don’t like that the finder’s images are inverted.
I’d recommend a Telrad or Rigel Quikfinder as a great supplement or replacement for the included 9×50 finder on the telescope. A Telrad/Quikfinder is far easier to use. Even if you get a 50mm right-angle finder, I know for certain that it will also work well and do wonders for your neck.
About the Dobsonian Mount in Skywatcher 8″ Dob
Like all other Chinese-made Dobsonians, the Skywatcher Classic 200P Dob’s mount is made of melamine-covered particle board, which is basically sawdust compressed with glue. This is a cheaper version of the stuff your IKEA furniture is sometimes made out of and is heavier compared to plywood. If the melamine is damaged, even slight moisture (which can happen when it’s being used in grass) will warp it.
Altitude tensioning is provided by two handles that stick out from the rocker (basically bicycle grips). I can see that this system works well, but the handles can get caught on things such as loose clothing, especially in the dark.
The scope’s motions are pretty smooth. However, if you want to, you can improve the azimuth motion by nailing a sheet of Formica to the azimuth board and replacing the cheap Nylon pads with genuine Teflon pads (available from various vendors on eBay and some hardware stores). Due to the design of the altitude bearings, I would not recommend tampering with them.
The mount comes with a handle and an eyepiece tray, as seen in the above picture. They are nice conveniences, but I don’t recommend using the latter, as it’s a good way to get your eyepieces damaged/dewed up/dirty.
What All Can You See with SkyWatcher Classic 200P?
I’ve always found the Moon to look good in any scope, but particularly so in an 8″, which seems to be a good general size for lunar observation – you have decent resolution, but the Moon isn’t blinding at sane magnifications. Clavius can show three or four dozen craterlets, provided there is good seeing and collimation.
Jupiter’s moons are nice disks with an 8” and show some amount of colour, particularly Io, which is a ruddy orange-yellow. Jupiter itself shows many festoons, cloud belts, and, of course, the Great Red Spot. Galileo Regio on Ganymede can be hypothetically glimpsed with an 8” but I’ve never done it.
Saturn shows several bands—currently, it has three major ones—as well as the Cassini Division in its rings and several moons. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is a gold colour, but it falls short of being a disk with anything less than perfect seeing conditions.
Uranus’ moons can hypothetically be glimpsed with an 8”, but I’ve never done it in practise. Neptune is a nice azure disk, and Triton can be seen with some effort.
Outside the solar system, 8” of aperture is enough to show you the entire Messier catalogue, though a few galaxies like M74 and M83 may be difficult to see if you suffer from light pollution. The famous Whirlpool Galaxy can just show a hint of spiral arms from a dark site, and its companion M51B/NGC 5195 is pretty easy to see. M81 and M82 in Ursa Major are quite interesting. In the spring, the Virgo Cluster becomes a bit crowded with galaxies, and in the autumn, several smaller galaxy clusters may show at least one or two bright members with some effort.
Globular star clusters with an 8” actually start to show resolution. M2, M3, M5, M13, M15, and M92 in particular tend to show a fair amount of stars sprinkled across with an 8”, while M4 may yield fantastic views if you don’t live too far north and don’t have much light pollution to the south of you. Even the dimmer Messier globulars like M10, M12, and M79 can show hints of resolution with practise.
Many planetary nebulae besides the Ring and Dumbbell are interesting to investigate with an 8” (particularly with a light pollution or oxygen-III filter), such as NGC 1535 in Eridanus and the Eskimo Nebula in Gemini in the winter, and the Blinking Planetary Nebula and NGC 7027 in Cygnus in the summer.
Alternative Recommendations
The Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200P Classic is not our top pick in its price range due to the single-speed Crayford focuser and the less-than-ideal design of the altitude bearings; however, it is still a great scope. For your convenience, here are some alternatives around and above its price range that you might want to consider:
Under £700
- The StellaLyra 8”/Zhumell Z8/Orion SkyLine 8 offers a significantly improved 2” dual-speed Crayford focuser with a compression ring, a more comfortable right-angle correct image 9×50 finder, a built-in cooling fan, slightly better bearings that can be adjusted for balance, and a 2” low-power, wide-angle 30mm eyepiece instead of a 1.25” 25mm Plossl or wide-angle design.
- The Explore Scientific 10” Hybrid Dobsonian offers more aperture, and thus more light-gathering and resolving power, than an 8” Dobsonian like the Classic or AD8, but requires a significant upfront investment in new accessories and some DIY modifications to perform well.
- The Ursa Major 8 is very similar to the 8” Classic but lacks the Classic’s extra eyepiece or 9×50 finder. However, the bearings are more well-designed and the Crayford focuser has a compression ring as well as not requiring an annoying extension tube to reach focus with most eyepieces.
- The Sky-Watcher Virtuoso GTi 150P is smaller than the 8” Classic but features an ultra-compact collapsible tube and full motorised GoTo and tracking along with the same excellent pair of 1.25” Super eyepieces. You can use it manually with or without the GoTo functionality, or purchase the cheaper Heritage 150P in lieu of the GTi, which is identical apart from the lack of electronics.
£700-£1000
- The StellaLyra 10”/Zhumell Z10/Orion SkyLine 10 offers more aperture than the 8” Classic with significantly more bang for your buck, not only in the form of the larger primary mirror diameter but also with a dual-speed focuser, cooling fan, 2” 30mm SuperView wide-angle eyepiece, right-angle 9×50 finder scope, and a laser collimator included.
- The Celestron StarSense Explorer 8” Dobsonian is similar in design to the 8” Classic but features a lightweight base, a better included 1.25” adaptor, and Celestron’s award-winning StarSense Explorer technology to help with locating objects in the night sky such as star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies via your smartphone.
- The Sky-Watcher 8” FlexTube Dobsonian is essentially identical to the 8” Classic, apart from its collapsible tube which reduces its length when stored and transported. This is helpful if you have a small vehicle or very little storage space, but there are some disadvantages from the open tube (such as the need for a shroud to block out stray light) and no weight savings, plus the same drawbacks of the 8” Classic’s design and accessories.
Aftermarket Accessory Recommendations
To enable a full range of magnifications and field of view options with the Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200P Classic, acquiring a few additional eyepieces is essential. The provided pair of eyepieces are good enough for you to get started with the basics and the 120x of the 10mm is enough for decent planetary views; however, a wide range of magnifications is crucial for observing various types of celestial objects. At the low power end, 38mm OVL PanaView (32x magnification) or a similar inexpensive 2” super wide angle (SWA) eyepiece delivers the lowest magnification and almost the widest possible true field of view that the Skyliner 200P can achieve. For medium magnification between those of the provided 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, I recommend a 16mm Ultra Wide Angle (UWA) eyepiece (75x magnification), or, alternatively, the more affordable 15mm redline/goldline ocular (80x magnification) for the Skyliner 200P Classic.
While not strictly necessary, it might be a good idea to obtain a 9mm goldline/redline (133x magnification) eyepiece to replace the Skyliner 200P’s included 10mm ocular, as it offers significantly longer eye relief, a wider and more immersive apparent field, and superior interior blackening for enhanced contrast and less scatter on bright targets. A 2x Barlow lens coupled with a 9/10mm eyepiece, or a dedicated 4mm UWA or 4mm planetary eyepiece (300x), will provide the highest magnifications likely to be of considerable usefulness with the Skyliner 200P Classic, provided your atmospheric conditions permit it.
You may also want to replace the Skyliner 200P’s stock 1.25″ extension tube/adaptor system and 2″ extension tubes with higher quality alternatives. A compression ring 1.25″ adaptor with filter threads will enable the use of 2″ filters with your 1.25″ eyepieces and provide a secure, non-marring grip without worry of your eyepieces getting scratched or managing to fall out of the adaptor; similarly, a 35mm threaded extension tube with a 2″ compression ring adaptor will offer the same benefits for heavy and expensive 2” eyepieces. These upgraded adaptors will also allow for more accurate collimation by properly squaring up a collimation tool with the telescope and focuser body. At this scope’s focal ratio of f/5.9, collimation tolerances are starting to get somewhat critical – a Cheshire collimation tool is a sound and fairly small investment and will make accurately collimating the Skyliner 200P Classic considerably easier.
Additionally, you might want to replace or supplement the stock 9×50 straight-through finder supplied with the Skyliner 200P Classic with a zero-power reflex sight finder, such as the Telrad or Explore Scientific ReflexSight. Either option is far more user-friendly than the 9×50 finderscope, offering a simple illuminated reticle against a window aimed at the sky, making it remarkably intuitive to use.
Lastly, a narrowband Ultra High Contrast (UHC)/OIII nebula filter can significantly enhance your views of nebulae, such as the Orion Nebula, when using almost any telescope, including the Skyliner 200P Classic. This filter also improves the visibility of planetary nebulae by reducing the brightness of surrounding stars, making it easier for you to locate them at low power. Furthermore, it provides enough contrast improvement to unveil previously invisible nebulae throughout the night sky, such as the Crab Nebula and Veil Nebula supernova remnants, when using the Skyliner 200P Classic under dark skies. A 2″ filter will screw onto an aftermarket threaded 1.25″ adaptor, such as the one mentioned earlier, and consequently be compatible with either size eyepiece.
