Telescope Comparison
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P vs Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P
The Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P is a complete setup. The Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P needs a mount before it's usable.
First light
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
Sky-Watcher · 150mm · £229
The maximum-aperture visual reflector
- 150mm Newtonian on a floor-standing Dobsonian alt-az rocker box
- Good for: full visual programme — planets, Moon, globular clusters, galaxies, nebulae
- No alignment required — set up and observe in under 10 minutes
- No motorised tracking — targets drift at high magnification as Earth rotates
- 13kg total — designed for a fixed garden or regular dark-sky site, not casual transport
The full picture
The numbers that separate these two scopes — and what they mean at the eyepiece.
Aperture
Equal light-gathering. Aperture won't settle this comparison — the mount, focal ratio, and observing experience are what differ.
Focal length
Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P's longer focal length reaches higher magnification with the same eyepiece — better reach for planetary detail. Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P's shorter focal length gives a wider true field — better for large open clusters and extended nebulae.
Focal ratio
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P's faster f/5 delivers wider fields with any eyepiece — better for open clusters and large nebulae. Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P's f/8 provides more magnification per eyepiece — better for fine planetary detail.
Mount type
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P has no mount — add a compatible mount before you can observe. Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P is a complete ready-to-use system.
Weight (OTA)
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P's optical tube is 2.2kg lighter. Relevant if you plan to use it on multiple mounts or carry the tube to dark-sky sites separately.
Optical design
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P is a Newtonian reflector (mirrors, needs occasional collimation); Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P is a DOBSONIAN. Different optical formulas produce different strengths — reflectors give more aperture per pound; refractors give sharper contrast and require no collimation.
At the eyepiece
| Target | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P | Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P |
|---|---|---|
| Planets | ||
| Moon | Excellent 150mm aperture delivers crisp lunar detail; the f/5 focal ratio is less forgiving at high magnification but still rewards visual observation | Excellent 150mm aperture and f/8 focal ratio reward high magnification — craters, rilles, and shadow detail are crisp and high-contrast |
| Saturn | Good 150mm resolves rings and Cassini Division; 750mm focal length falls short of the 1000mm+ ideal for high-magnification planetary detail | Excellent 150mm and 1200mm focal length put this squarely in the top tier — rings well-defined, Cassini Division visible in good seeing |
| Jupiter | Good Cloud belts, GRS, and Galilean moons visible; faster focal ratio demands quality eyepieces for clean high-power views | Excellent Multiple cloud bands, GRS, and Galilean moon shadow transits visible at 150–200x |
| Mars | Good 150mm aperture shows polar caps and major albedo features near opposition; limited focal length constrains useful magnification | Good 150mm shows the disc clearly at opposition with polar cap and dark surface markings; needs very steady seeing |
Deep sky | ||
| Orion Nebula (M42) | Excellent 150mm aperture and wide f/5 field frame the full nebula with surrounding running man region — superb both visually and for imaging | Excellent 150mm gathers plenty of light for nebulosity and the Trapezium; the 1200mm focal length crops the outermost extent but core detail is superb |
| Andromeda Galaxy (M31) | Excellent 750mm focal length captures the full extent of M31 on an APS-C sensor; visually the core and dust lanes are evident | Moderate 1200mm focal length shows only the bright core and inner halo — the full 3° extent of the galaxy is well beyond the field of view |
| Open clusters | Excellent Wide field at 750mm frames large clusters like the Double Cluster and Pleiades beautifully | Moderate Narrower field means large clusters like the Pleiades overfill the view; compact clusters like M35 and the Double Cluster fare better |
| Globular clusters | Good 150mm begins to resolve outer stars in M13 and M22; core remains granular rather than fully resolved | Good 150mm begins resolving individual stars at the edges of M13 and M92 — a clear step up from smaller scopes |
| Faint galaxies | Good 150mm gathers enough light for many NGC galaxies; imaging with stacked exposures reveals detail well beyond what's visible at the eyepiece | Good 150mm pulls in galaxies like M81, M82, M51, and M104 as soft glows with hints of structure under dark skies |
| Milky Way / wide field | Good 750mm focal length gives rich star fields but is narrower than the sub-400mm ideal for true Milky Way sweeps | Not recommended 1200mm focal length gives too narrow a field for sweeping star fields — a job better suited to binoculars or short-tube scopes |
Other | ||
| Double stars | 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 | Excellent 150mm aperture and long f/8 focal ratio produce clean Airy discs — splits close pairs like Albireo, Epsilon Lyrae, and Castor easily |
| Astrophotography (planetary) | Good 150mm provides decent planetary image scale; a 2× Barlow brings effective focal length to 1500mm which helps, but no mount is included | Not applicable |
| Astrophotography (deep sky) | 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 | Not applicable |
| Emission nebulae (wide-field imaging) | 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 | Not applicable |
The real tradeoff
Both scopes are capable. The question is which one fits the way you actually observe.
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
- You'll spend your observing sessions tethered to a laptop or tablet, watching your sensor stack frames rather than looking through an eyepiece — this scope only truly rewards you once your camera is attached.
- You'll chase wide-field targets: the full sprawl of Andromeda, the Veil Nebula complex, the Heart and Soul — anything that demands a large canvas benefits from your short focal length and fast f/5 ratio.
- You'll accept that setup is complex and expensive; the OTA is only the beginning — you'll budget separately for a mount, coma corrector, guidescope, and filters before your first photon hits the sensor.
Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P
- You'll stand at the eyepiece for the entire night, manually tracking targets by hand, rediscovering them every minute or so at high power — but you'll be genuinely observing, not monitoring a computer screen.
- You'll gravitate toward the Moon and planets: Saturn's rings snapping into focus, Jupiter's cloud bands resolving, lunar craters revealing their three-dimensional structure — details that demand magnification and a stable, patient platform.
- You'll unbox a complete, ready-to-observe telescope for £229, clip in an eyepiece, and start learning the night sky within minutes, with no mount selection, polar alignment, or accessory rabbit hole to navigate.
The dark side
Every scope has a personality. Here’s where each one gets difficult.
Sky-Watcher
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
Arrives as an OTA only — mount, coma corrector, and essential imaging accessories will cost several times the telescope's purchase price.
Fast f/5 focal ratio produces uncorrected coma at field edges without a dedicated coma corrector, making this non-optional for any serious imaging.
Requires frequent collimation and demands precision at f/5; a laser collimator is strongly recommended, adding further cost and complexity.
150mm aperture and 750mm focal length severely limit planetary image scale — you'll need a Barlow or entirely different scope to compete with dedicated planetary imagers.
Ships with no finder scope, eyepieces, or visual accessories — purely a camera tool out of the box.
Sky-Watcher
Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P
No tracking or GoTo means objects drift out of view every 30–60 seconds at high magnification, requiring constant manual re-centering.
1.2-metre tube length makes storage, transport, and backyard maneuvering genuinely awkward compared to shorter or collapsible designs.
Periodic collimation required, particularly after transport — unfamiliar territory for visual observers who've never maintained a Newtonian.
Included 25mm and 10mm eyepieces are basic Plössl designs; noticeable improvement requires purchasing better eyepieces separately.
1200mm focal length limits true field of view to approximately 1 degree — too narrow to frame the full extent of Andromeda or sweep large nebulae.
Which is right for you?
Two different buyers. Two different right answers.
The custom-rig optical tube
Sky-Watcher · Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
You'll love the Quattro 150P if you're already committed to astrophotography, own or plan to own a camera tracker and a guidescope, and your target list is dominated by large nebulae like the Rosette, North America, and Heart and Soul — where short exposures at f/5 and wide field of view translate directly to more photons in less time. You're not after visual views; you're after images, and you're willing to absorb the cost and complexity of a full imaging rig.
The maximum-aperture visual reflector
Sky-Watcher · Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P
The Skyliner 150P is for you if you want to start observing the night sky tonight with a complete, stable telescope that requires no additional equipment, no computer, and no alignment routines — you'll learn planets and deep-sky objects by hand, at your own pace, and you'll genuinely enjoy the mechanical simplicity of a Dobsonian's push-to motion. You're not trying to image the sky; you're trying to see it clearly and develop your observing skills on a budget.
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 Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P is a complete, ready-to-observe package.
For most buyers, the Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P 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 Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P, without hesitation.
Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P
View Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P →Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P
View Sky-Watcher Skyliner 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 | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P | Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P |
|---|---|---|
Aperture The most important spec — bigger = more light = better views | 150mm | 150mm |
Focal Length Longer = more magnification potential | 750mm | 1200mm |
Focal Ratio Lower f-number = wider field of view; higher = more magnification per eyepiece | f/5 | f/8 |
Optical Design The type of optics — each design has different strengths | Newtonian Reflector | Dobsonian |
Coatings Better coatings = more light transmission through the optics | Parabolic primary mirror, fully multi-coated | Parabolic primary mirror, fully multi-coated |
How do you point it?
| Spec | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P | Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P |
|---|---|---|
Mount Type The mechanical system that holds and moves the telescope | None (OTA only) | Dobsonian |
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 | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P | Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P |
|---|---|---|
Focuser Size 2" accepts wider eyepieces and gives better low-power views | 2" | 1.25" |
Focuser Type Rack-and-pinion is standard; Crayford and dual-speed are smoother | Dual-speed Crayford (10:1 reduction) | Rack and pinion |
Size & weight
| Spec | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P | Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P |
|---|---|---|
OTA Weightⓘ Optical tube only — useful for comparing mount load capacity | 4.6kg | 6.8kg |
Total Weight Full setup including mount — this is what you lug to the car | — | 13kg |
Tube Length | — | 1150mm |
Tube Material | Steel | Steel |
What's in the box?
| Spec | Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P | Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P |
|---|---|---|
Eyepieces Included eyepieces — more is better, but quality matters more than quantity | — | 25mm and 10mm Super eyepieces |
Finder Scope Helps you locate areas of the sky before switching to the main eyepiece | — | 6x30 optical finder |
Diagonal Tilts the eyepiece 90° for comfortable viewing — useful on refractors |
Blue highlight: Sky-Watcher Quattro 150P advantage · Amber highlight: Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P advantage · Greyed cells: equal or subjective.