Sky-Watcher SkyTee review

The SkyTee is sleek with a black and silver livery that matches Sky-Watcher’s Equinox refractors.

Our rating

4.5

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Published: January 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Price: £249.00

Weight: 8kg

Supplier: Optical Vision Ltd

Telephone: 01359 244200

Website: www.opticalvision.co.uk

The SkyTee mount comes with a strong tubular steel tripod and has two dovetail clamps on either side of its T-shaped head.

This lets you attach up to two scopes pointing at the same place in the sky.

Its appearance is sleek with a black and silver livery that matches the style and design of Sky-Watcher’s Equinox series of refractors.

We found the tripod very sturdy; any vibrations quickly dampened down.

The tripod also came with a useful accessories tray with eight holes for placing your eyepieces ready for use.

The official load capacity quoted by Optical Vision is up to two 3kg (6.5lb) telescopes, but we found it could easily cope with the 10kg (22lb) bulk of the 5-inch refractor as well as the 3kg Sky-Watcher Equinox.

Even with this weight, the SkyTee was easy to move around the sky and we could aim the scopes at the zenith by rotating the tripod so that the tubes lay on either side of one of the tripod legs.

The knobs that controlled and clamped the axes were effective but, being bare metal, our fingers often slipped on their bare, cold circumferences when tightening them up.

Overall, both axes had a smooth motion and we had no trouble balancing the scopes on either axis when they were horizontal.

When observing, we were able to move the scopes smoothly to keep objects in view, even with medium to high magnification eyepieces fitted.

So the SkyTee provided enjoyable observing.

This review appeared in the December 2008 issue of Sky at Night Magazine

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