Telescope Comparison
Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ vs Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a complete setup. The Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P needs a mount before it's usable.
First light
Celestron · 130mm · £520
The simple alt-az visual scope
- 130mm newtonian reflector on a simple alt-az mount
- Good for: Moon, planets, bright open clusters
- No alignment required — quick to set up, intuitive to move
- Finding objects requires learning to star-hop: navigate with a finder scope and sky chart
- 7.8kg total — manageable to carry to dark-sky sites
Sky-Watcher · 150mm · £399
The custom-rig optical tube
- 150mm newtonian reflector — optical tube only, no mount included
- 750mm focal length at f/5
- Requires a compatible mount before you can observe anything
- Best for: observers who already own a suitable mount or are building a specific imaging rig
- Not a complete purchase — budget at least £100–300 extra for a mount before observing
The full picture
The numbers that separate these two scopes — and what they mean at the eyepiece.
Aperture
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P gathers 1.3× more light. On bright targets — Moon, Saturn, Jupiter — you won't notice. On fainter targets — dim galaxies, faint globular clusters — the gap is real.
Focal length
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P's longer focal length reaches higher magnification with the same eyepiece — better reach for planetary detail. Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ's shorter focal length gives a wider true field — better for large open clusters and extended nebulae.
Focal ratio
Same focal ratio — the same eyepiece gives equivalent magnification and true field in both scopes.
Mount type
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P has no mount — add a compatible mount before you can observe. Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a complete ready-to-use system.
Weight (OTA)
Similar optical tube weight. Any portability difference between these setups comes from the mount, not the tube itself.
Optical design
Both are Newtonian reflectors — the same optical formula. Any performance difference comes from collimation quality, focal ratio, and eyepiece choice, not the design itself.
At the eyepiece
| Target | Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P |
|---|---|---|
| Planets | ||
| Moon | Excellent 130mm aperture delivers crisp crater detail; the fast f/5 ratio means you'll want a Barlow or short eyepiece for high-magnification lunar work | Excellent 150mm aperture delivers crisp lunar detail; the f/5 focal ratio is less forgiving at high magnification but still rewards visual observation |
| Saturn | Good Rings clearly visible and Cassini Division detectable in good seeing, though the 650mm focal length means the disc is small without a Barlow | Good 150mm resolves rings and Cassini Division; 750mm focal length falls short of the 1000mm+ ideal for high-magnification planetary detail |
| Jupiter | Good Equatorial cloud bands and all four Galilean moons visible; a Barlow helps pull out detail from the 650mm focal length | Good Cloud belts, GRS, and Galilean moons visible; faster focal ratio demands quality eyepieces for clean high-power views |
| Mars | Moderate Small orange disc with polar cap visible near opposition; 130mm aperture and 650mm focal length limit fine surface detail | Good 150mm aperture shows polar caps and major albedo features near opposition; limited focal length constrains useful magnification |
Deep sky | ||
| Orion Nebula (M42) | Excellent Bright nebulosity with visible structure and the Trapezium resolved; the f/5 ratio and 650mm focal length frame the nebula beautifully | Excellent 150mm aperture and wide f/5 field frame the full nebula with surrounding running man region — superb both visually and for imaging |
| Andromeda Galaxy (M31) | Excellent 650mm focal length captures the core and extended halo; 130mm aperture reveals dust lane structure from a dark site | Excellent 750mm focal length captures the full extent of M31 on an APS-C sensor; visually the core and dust lanes are evident |
| Open clusters | Excellent Short 650mm focal length gives wide true fields — the Pleiades, Double Cluster, and M35 are all well-framed and richly resolved | Excellent Wide field at 750mm frames large clusters like the Double Cluster and Pleiades beautifully |
| Globular clusters | Moderate M13 and M22 appear granular but the core remains unresolved at 130mm; still rewarding targets for visual exploration | Good 150mm begins to resolve outer stars in M13 and M22; core remains granular rather than fully resolved |
| Faint galaxies | Moderate Galaxy pairs like M81/M82 are visible as soft glows from a dark site; StarSense app makes locating them easy, but detail is limited at 130mm | Good 150mm gathers enough light for many NGC galaxies; imaging with stacked exposures reveals detail well beyond what's visible at the eyepiece |
| Milky Way / wide field | Good 650mm focal length is slightly long for panoramic sweeps but the f/5 ratio keeps fields bright; rich star fields in Sagittarius and Cygnus are rewarding | Good 750mm focal length gives rich star fields but is narrower than the sub-400mm ideal for true Milky Way sweeps |
Other | ||
| Double stars | Good 130mm aperture resolves sub-arcsecond doubles in theory; the fast f/5 ratio makes tight pairs slightly harder than a longer focal ratio scope | Good 150mm resolves sub-arcsecond pairs in theory, but the f/5 focal ratio is less forgiving than long focal ratio refractors for clean splitting |
| Astrophotography (planetary) | Moderate Planetary webcam imaging is possible but the lack of tracking means you must constantly re-centre; short video bursts with stacking can still yield results | Good 150mm provides decent planetary image scale; a 2× Barlow brings effective focal length to 1500mm which helps, but no mount is included |
| Astrophotography (deep sky) | Not applicable | Not recommended No mount or tracking included — the OTA is designed for deep-sky imaging but requires a separately purchased equatorial mount to function as an astrograph |
| Emission nebulae (wide-field imaging) | Not applicable | Excellent The f/5 speed and 750mm focal length are ideal for large emission targets like the Rosette, Veil, and North America Nebulae when paired with a suitable mount and narrowband filters |
The real tradeoff
Both scopes are capable. The question is which one fits the way you actually observe.
Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ
- You'll unbox this, clip your phone into the dock, and be staring at the Orion Nebula within fifteen minutes — no star charts, no alignment routines, no separate mount to buy.
- You'll spend your sessions nudging the tube to follow objects as they drift out of view, which feels interactive and hands-on at low power but becomes genuinely annoying at 150× on Jupiter.
- You'll be rewarded with wide-field sweeps through open clusters and bright nebulae that look great at f/5, but you'll never attach a camera for anything beyond a quick lunar snapshot through the eyepiece — there's no tracking to hold anything still.
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
- You'll open the box, find a bare optical tube, and then spend weeks researching and budgeting for an equatorial mount, coma corrector, guide scope, guide camera, and imaging software before you capture a single frame.
- You'll be rewarded with wide-field deep-sky images that reveal nebula filaments and faint galaxy arms invisible to the eye — the fast f/5 ratio cuts your exposure times in half compared to an f/7 scope, which buys you real margin against tracking errors and light pollution.
- You'll spend the first hour of every session on polar alignment, focus calibration, and collimation checks — the imaging workflow is the hobby here, not casual stargazing.
The dark side
Every scope has a personality. Here’s where each one gets difficult.
Celestron
Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ
The alt-az mount is functional but wobbly — every time you nudge the tube to re-centre an object, you'll wait a few seconds for vibrations to settle, and the scope can feel unsteady at magnifications above about 130×.
The StarSense system requires a compatible smartphone with a working rear camera; the phone dock adds weight to the tube and shifts the balance, which compounds the mount's stability issues.
The f/5 focal ratio demands good collimation to deliver sharp views — if the mirrors drift out of alignment you'll see degraded star shapes, and beginners may not recognise or know how to fix this.
Sky-Watcher
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
Nothing is included beyond the tube itself — no mount, no finder, no eyepieces, no coma corrector — so the real cost of a working imaging rig is easily three to five times the £399 OTA price.
Coma at the field edges is severe without a dedicated coma corrector, and this isn't optional for imaging — stars at the periphery will look like little comets in every frame until you add one.
The 750mm focal length limits planetary image scale significantly; if you want to image Jupiter or Saturn at useful resolution, you'll need a Barlow or a completely different telescope.
Which is right for you?
Two different buyers. Two different right answers.
The simple alt-az visual scope
Celestron · Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ
You want to look through an eyepiece tonight, not next month. You're new to astronomy — or buying for a family — and you've heard that the hardest part is finding things in the sky. You don't want to learn polar alignment, buy a separate mount, or build an imaging rig. You'll love the StarSense system's ability to point you straight at M31 or the Ring Nebula without any prior knowledge. This isn't for you if you want to photograph anything beyond the Moon, or if the idea of constantly nudging the scope to keep objects centred sounds more like a chore than part of the fun.
The custom-rig optical tube
Sky-Watcher · Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
You've already decided you want to photograph the night sky, and you're ready to invest in the full imaging chain — mount, coma corrector, guide camera, software. You understand that this OTA is just one piece of a system, and you're comfortable spending several times its price to make it work. The Quattro 150P will reward you with wide-field deep-sky images that a visual-only scope simply cannot produce. This isn't for you if you want something you can set up and observe through on a weeknight, or if you haven't yet learned the basics of polar alignment and autoguiding — you'll end up with an expensive tube gathering dust.
Our verdict
This comparison has a catch: the Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P is a bare optical tube. You cannot use it without a separate mount — which adds meaningful cost and complexity. The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a complete, ready-to-observe package.
For most buyers, the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is the right choice — you can observe the same night it arrives. The Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P makes sense if you already own a compatible mount, or are deliberately building a specific imaging setup piece by piece. If I had to choose for a first telescope: the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ, without hesitation.
Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ
View Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ →Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
View Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P →Deep field: Full specifications
Every data point, for those who want to go further.
Full specifications
Fields highlighted in blue or amber indicate the better value for that spec. Data is manufacturer-stated and may vary.
How much can it see?
| Spec | Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P |
|---|---|---|
Apertureⓘ The most important spec — bigger = more light = better views | 130mm | 150mm |
Focal Length Longer = more magnification potential | 650mm | 750mm |
Focal Ratio Lower f-number = wider field of view; higher = more magnification per eyepiece | f/5 | f/5 |
Optical Design The type of optics — each design has different strengths | Newtonian Reflector | Newtonian Reflector |
Coatings Better coatings = more light transmission through the optics | Fully multi-coated optics | Parabolic primary mirror, fully multi-coated |
How do you point it?
| Spec | Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P |
|---|---|---|
Mount Type The mechanical system that holds and moves the telescope | Alt-Az | None (OTA only) |
GoTo Computer-controlled pointing — finds any of thousands of objects automatically | ||
Tracking Motor keeps objects centred as the Earth rotates — essential for astrophotography |
The focuser
| Spec | Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P |
|---|---|---|
Focuser Size 2" accepts wider eyepieces and gives better low-power views | 1.25" | 2" |
Focuser Type Rack-and-pinion is standard; Crayford and dual-speed are smoother | Rack and pinion | Dual-speed Crayford (10:1 reduction) |
Size & weight
| Spec | Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P |
|---|---|---|
OTA Weightⓘ Optical tube only — useful for comparing mount load capacity | 3.6kg | 4.6kg |
Total Weight Full setup including mount — this is what you lug to the car | 7.8kg | — |
Tube Length | 600mm | — |
Tube Material | Steel | Steel |
What's in the box?
| Spec | Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P |
|---|---|---|
Eyepieces Included eyepieces — more is better, but quality matters more than quantity | 25mm and 10mm Kellner | — |
Finder Scope Helps you locate areas of the sky before switching to the main eyepiece | StarSense sky recognition dock (uses your smartphone) | — |
Diagonal Tilts the eyepiece 90° for comfortable viewing — useful on refractors |
Blue highlight: Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ advantage · Amber highlight: Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P advantage · Greyed cells: equal or subjective.