Is the Skymax 180 good for deep sky imaging?

It is not built for it: 2,700 mm at f/15 is slow. Even so, 15 unguided one-minute subs of M13 on the ZWO AM5N resolved the cluster into stars.

What mount does the Skymax 180 need?

First Light Optics lists the tube at 7.8 kg, before a camera, finder or guide scope. I carried it on the ZWO AM5N, which is rated for 15 kg without a counterweight.

Which camera suits the Skymax 180?

For deep sky, not a small-pixel one. My ZWO ASI183MC has 2.4 micron pixels, which at 2,700 mm works out at about 0.18 arcseconds per pixel, far finer than the sky allows on most nights.

What comes in the box?

First Light Optics lists a 9x50 finder in a centring bracket, a 2 inch star diagonal with 1.25 and 2 inch adaptors, SP 10 mm and 25 mm LET eyepieces and a fitted 45 mm dovetail bar. Sky-Watcher USA lists a 28 mm 2 inch eyepiece instead. No dew shield is included.

How does the Skymax 180 compare with the RedCat 51?

They are opposites. The RedCat 51 shoots at 250 mm and f/4.9 for wide deep sky fields; the Skymax 180 shoots at 2,700 mm and f/15 for small, distant targets. I pointed both at M13 on the same night, 15 one-minute subs each.

What magnification does the Skymax 180 give?

Magnification is the focal length divided by the eyepiece's: with 2,700 mm, a 25 mm eyepiece gives 108x and a 10 mm gives 270x.

What have I not tested on the Skymax 180?

I have not tested the Skymax 180 on the planets or the Moon, visually through the eyepiece, with guiding, or with a cooled or larger-pixel camera.

Sky-Watcher Skymax 180 review: 2,700 mm for the planets

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 42 telescopes on my board, against price
Rank	Telescope	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	Askar 50P	95 out of 100	£299
2	ToupTek Hope D60	93 out of 100	£749
4	Askar SQA106	91 out of 100	£3,395
18	Celestron C11 EdgeHD	75 out of 100	£4,845
22	ZWO FF110	73 out of 100	£1,499
33	Sky-Watcher Skymax 180	58 out of 100	£1,021
38	Altair 60EDF	51 out of 100	£499
41	Celestron 114 LCM	42 out of 100	£361
42	Celestron AstroMaster LT 76	13 out of 100	£200

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In the hand
04 How good is it? Here's what I captured
05 The rig on the mount
06 What is it for
07 Watch the review
08 Should you buy it?
09 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 58/100

Reviewed 4 Sep 2024 Updated 23 Sep 2026

Rank: #33 of 42 telescopes
Verdict: With reservations

Written by Damon Scotting 4 min read

Buy it if

You want high magnification on the Moon, the planets and double stars from a compact 52 cm tube
You already own a mount that carries well over 8 kg without a struggle

Skip it if

You want to photograph nebulae and galaxies: 2,700 mm at f/15 is slow and unforgiving
Your mount is a star tracker or a light alt-azimuth head: the tube alone weighs 7.8 kg

The Skymax 180 is the chunky beast in my collection: a 180 mm f/15 Maksutov with 2,700 mm of focal length, built for the planets rather than deep sky.

Specifications and features

Against the telescopes I have reviewed

Compare with

Sky-Watcher Skymax 180 reviewed #33 of 42	Celestron 8" EdgeHD #5 of 42	Celestron C5 #39 of 42
Recorded UK price	£1,021	£1,999	£850
Stars for Your Buck	58/100	90/100	49/100
Aperture	180 mm	203.2 mm (8 in)	127 mm (5 in)
Focal length	2,700 mm	2,032 mm	1,250 mm
Focal ratio	f/15	f/10	f/10
Optical design	Maksutov-Cassegrain	EdgeHD aplanatic Schmidt-Cassegrain	Schmidt-Cassegrain, StarBright XLT coatings
Image circle	1 inch (25.4 mm)	42 mm; central 28 mm optimised	1 inch
Back focus	not recorded	133.35 mm from rear 2 inch, 24 TPI baffle lock nut, native f/10	127 mm (5 in) from the rear baffle tube lock ring
Focuser	Twist-knob focusing by an internally moving primary mirror; integrated T2 thread	Moving primary mirror; mirror support clutches	Internal moving primary mirror; rear manual focus knob
Weight, tube	7.8 kg tube	6.35 kg (14 lb) tube	2.72 kg (96 oz)
Length, tube	520 mm tube	432 mm (17 in) tube	330 mm (13 in)
Dew shield	Not included	Not included	Not included
In the box	9x50 finder, 2 in star diagonal with 1.25 in and 2 in adaptors, fitted 45 mm dovetail bar, 10 mm and 25 mm eyepieces (UK) or a 28 mm 2 in eyepiece (USA)	40 mm Plossl 1.25 in eyepiece, 9x50 finder, 1.25 in star diagonal, CGE dovetail bar	25 mm Plossl eyepiece, 45 degree diagonal, 6x30 finder, lens covers, carrying case

In the hand

Six frames from my own footage

How good is it? Here's what I captured

Two targets

M 27 Dumbbell Nebula, ASI183MC

Integration: 20 min (20 x 60 s)
Field: Unknown
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Skymax 180
Camera: ZWO ASI183MC
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Target: M 27 Dumbbell Nebula
Type: Planetary nebula
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

M 13 Hercules Globular Cluster, ASI183MC

Integration: 15 min (15 x 60 s)
Field: 0.27 x 0.18 degrees
Telescope: Sky-Watcher Skymax 180
Camera: ZWO ASI183MC
Mount: ZWO AM5N
Target: M 13 Hercules Globular Cluster
Type: Globular star cluster
Location: Bortle 6.8 (in my garden)

The rig on the mount

On the JUWEI-17, then on six other mounts

What is it for

Four things it is for

Built for the planets

The tiny little RedCat 51 might not look that special next to the Skymax 180, but it is specifically designed for imaging deep-sky objects. So I switched the targets around: the baby telescope on the planets, the big telescope on some deep-sky objects.

Small pixels at 2,700 mm

Alongside the Skymax 180 I used an ASI183MC. Deep sky imaging at a ridiculous focal length of 2,700 mm and an f-ratio of 15 is a dumb idea, and shooting at such a high focal length with a camera that has a very small pixel size is just foolish: these two things don't go together at all. For comparison, my RedCat shoots at 250 mm and f/4.9.

Unguided at 2,700 mm

I popped the Skymax onto the AM5N and pointed it at M13, the great globular cluster in Hercules. This raw stacked image of 15 one-minute exposures with the ASI183MC is surprisingly solid: ask a group of elder astrophotographers whether unguided 60-second deep sky images are possible at 2,700 mm and they would have just laughed at you.

Focus by moving the mirror

The knob on the rear cell focuses by moving the primary mirror inside the tube. If you've ever used this scope before, you'll be well aware that the focuser is a bit of a nightmare.

Watch the review

Why it is BETTER than most Mounts? | AM5N Review. · published 7 November 2024 · 9:24 · Watch on YouTube · 18,800 views, 578 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

0:18 The test: deep sky at 2,700 mm
2:37 The Skymax 180 with an ASI183MC
3:00 Against the RedCat 51
3:27 The Skymax on the AM5N
3:33 M 13 through both telescopes
3:50 The Skymax 180's M 13 and its focuser
4:02 Unguided at 2,700 mm
4:13 M 27 through both telescopes

Check out more videos on the Sky-Watcher Skymax 180

Tiny Telescope V.S CHUNKY Telescope!

4 Sep 2024

Should you buy it?

58/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

180 mm of aperture and 2,700 mm of focal length, folded into a Maksutov tube only 52 cm long.
It shows real deep-sky potential: M13 resolved into stars from only 15 minutes of unguided subs.
It arrives ready to use: a 9x50 finder, a 2 inch star diagonal, eyepieces and a fitted 45 mm dovetail bar are in the box.
A T2 thread on the rear cell takes a camera directly.

Cons

Focusing is the weak point: slow and fiddly at 2,700 mm, with no fine focuser in the box.
It is the wrong tool for nebulae and galaxies: at 2,700 mm and f/15 it is slow and needs very steady tracking.
The tube alone weighs 7.8 kg before a camera or finder, so it needs a mount in the class of the ZWO AM5N; you never want to tiptoe the line of a mount's weight limit.
No dew shield comes in the box, and Sky-Watcher publishes no back focus or image circle for planning a camera train.

This giant of a telescope is used for imaging the planets: far away, distant, tiny points of light.

Who the Skymax 180 is for

Planetary and lunar imager

Buy

180 mm at 2,700 mm and f/15 is exactly the job the Skymax 180 is built for: the planets, the Moon and other small, distant targets.

Moon and planet observer

Buy

Everything to start observing is in the box, and 2,700 mm gives high power on the Moon, the planets and double stars.

Owner of a 5 inch Maksutov or SCT

Buy

180 mm collects about twice the light of 127 mm, in the same simple, compact Maksutov layout.

Deep sky astrophotographer

Skip

At f/15 it is slow and unforgiving for nebulae and galaxies. My recommendation is the Celestron 8 inch EdgeHD, which is built for imaging.

Owner of an 8 inch SCT such as the EdgeHD

Skip

You already have more aperture; the Skymax 180 would add focal length and weight, not detail.

Complete beginner or owner of a light mount

Skip

The Skymax 180 is a 7.8 kg tube that needs a strong mount and patient focusing. My recommendation is the ZWO Seestar S30 Pro, which does everything in one box.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Seven questions, answered

Questions about the Sky-Watcher Skymax 180

Reviewed 4 September 2024 ·Updated 23 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Some shop links are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

Is the Skymax 180 good for deep sky imaging? It is not built for it: 2,700 mm at f/15 is slow. Even so, 15 unguided one-minute subs of M13 on the ZWO AM5N resolved the cluster into stars. What I captured ↓
What mount does the Skymax 180 need? First Light Optics lists the tube at 7.8 kg, before a camera, finder or guide scope. I carried it on the ZWO AM5N, which is rated for 15 kg without a counterweight. The rig on the mount ↓
Which camera suits the Skymax 180? For deep sky, not a small-pixel one. My ZWO ASI183MC has 2.4 micron pixels, which at 2,700 mm works out at about 0.18 arcseconds per pixel, far finer than the sky allows on most nights. What is it for ↓
What comes in the box? First Light Optics lists a 9x50 finder in a centring bracket, a 2 inch star diagonal with 1.25 and 2 inch adaptors, SP 10 mm and 25 mm LET eyepieces and a fitted 45 mm dovetail bar. Sky-Watcher USA lists a 28 mm 2 inch eyepiece instead. No dew shield is included. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
How does the Skymax 180 compare with the RedCat 51? They are opposites. The RedCat 51 shoots at 250 mm and f/4.9 for wide deep sky fields; the Skymax 180 shoots at 2,700 mm and f/15 for small, distant targets. I pointed both at M13 on the same night, 15 one-minute subs each. Watch the review ↓
What magnification does the Skymax 180 give? Magnification is the focal length divided by the eyepiece's: with 2,700 mm, a 25 mm eyepiece gives 108x and a 10 mm gives 270x. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
What have I not tested on the Skymax 180? I have not tested the Skymax 180 on the planets or the Moon, visually through the eyepiece, with guiding, or with a cooled or larger-pixel camera.