One model, judged by its numbers
Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P Classic
The most aperture per euro anyone has yet arranged. A full-size rocker box on the floor, a tube you carry in two trips, and views that stop people mid-sentence.
Family · 150–200 mm Dobsonian
What it shows, really
These circles are simulations, computed from the aperture, the magnification and the sky — indicative, not exact. A real night also depends on the turbulence, your eyes and your experience. Closer to the truth than the photo on the box; still not a promise.
Under a suburban sky (Bortle 6), through a common 25 mm eyepiece for wide targets and a 10 mm for planets. Every circle is the true field — nothing is enlarged.
The numbers
| Aperture | 150 mm |
|---|---|
| Focal ratio | 1200 mm · f/8.0 |
| Mount | Full-size Dobsonian rocker box |
| Typical weight | 18 kg |
| Eyepieces | 25 mm and 10 mm |
| Useful magnification | 25× to 300× at 150 mm |
| Resolution (Dawes) | 0.8″ — the tightest double star this aperture can split |
| Faintest star, suburban sky | around magnitude 12.2 |
| Observed price | €357 seen 2026-08-23 |
Made for
Nebulae, clusters and galaxies, by eye · 5 out of 5
The classic answer. Aperture is what deep-sky observing is short of, and this is where it stops being expensive.
The Moon and the planets · 4 out of 5
Plenty of resolution. You will be nudging it along by hand every thirty seconds at high power.
Not made for
Sharing it with children · 2 out of 5
The eyepiece height wanders between standing and kneeling as you move around the sky.
Taking it with me · 1 out of 5
It goes in a car and nowhere else.
The family it belongs to: 150–200 mm Dobsonian
What it does well
- Enough aperture that globular clusters resolve into stars rather than staying fuzz
- No mount to align: push it, and it stays where you left it
- Nothing electronic to fail at −2 °C
What it costs you
- Two trips outside, or one heavy one. This is what decides whether it gets used
- The base is bulky in a way the tube is not — storage is the real constraint
- Useless on a balcony: it cannot swing past a railing or reach anything high
Worth knowing about this model
The archetype. The instrument every beginners' forum names first, at the price where a first telescope stops being a compromise. 1.2 m long: measure the cupboard.
Prices are observed on the date shown, never live. Links marked paid link earn us a commission and cost you nothing extra.
Where to buy
- Astroshoppaid link€357 seen 2026-08-23ships DE, FR, EU
- Amazon.frships FR
- First Light Opticsships GB
- Optique Unterlindenships FR
- Pierro Astroships FR
- Teleskop-Expressships DE, EU
1 of these 6 links earn us a commission, marked above. Sorted by price, never by what pays. How this site is funded.