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Best budget APO refractor

milkyjoe

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milkyjoe

milkyjoe

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Hi Guys,

I was wondering if anyone could suggest good apo refractor in the 60-80mm apperture range. I've looked at several including WO, Vixen, Meade, SW and Celestron.

I'm quite tempted by the WO Megrez 70 or the ZenithStar 70/80. The scopes primary use would be for astrophotography, but could also be used for normal dark sky observations of dso's and lunar/planets. :D

I appreciate apperture is an important factor, but I've heard very good things about APOs.

Thanks.

Richard.

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milkyjoe

milkyjoe

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Oh right, I take it that's a celestron? Most of the budget end of the scopes I've seen seem quite reasonable, until you get to the higher end when you would need to remortgage your house to afford one!! lol.

How do people afford all this top quality equipment?? :s

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russ

russ

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There was also a Skywatcher ED80 on the Buy'n'sell earlier this week for quite a good price, i think it was £170? You wouldn't have the focuser issues with the Skywatcher. It's also easier and cheaper to source a replacement 96mm fit focuser rather than the 86mm fit for the Celestron (as i found out myself with my Celestron).

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r3i

r3i

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Have you considered the IKI 70mm F6 ED APO Refractor : Refractors from Ian King Imaging

I've got one of these and love it. Makes a great wide field imager, guidescope and travel scope.

The basic scope costs just under £245 and comes with a hard case and an L shaped Vixen dovetail, which has threaded holes to allow it be mounted on a camera tripod.

Depending on what you've already got, you'd need to factor in the costs of a finder, diagonal, and eyepieces. If you're wanting to use it with a DSLR or large chip CCD, you'll also want a field flattener.

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milkyjoe

milkyjoe

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Have you considered the IKI 70mm F6 ED APO Refractor : Refractors from Ian King Imaging

I've got one of these and love it. Makes a great wide field imager, guidescope and travel scope.

The basic scope costs just under £245 and comes with a hard case and an L shaped Vixen dovetail, which has threaded holes to allow it be mounted on a camera tripod.

Depending on what you've already got, you'd need to factor in the costs of a finder, diagonal, and eyepieces. If you're wanting to use it with a DSLR or large chip CCD, you'll also want a field flattener.

Hi.

Looks a nice scope that, but who makes it? What do you use yours for; is it any good on the planets?

I already own a SW ST 102, which is a very nice scope, but I'm finding the CA a bit of a problem when viewing planets and the moon; It doesn't bother some people I guess, but it can be a little annoying. It's very good on DSOs though, but from an astroimaging point of view, I'm going to need something much better. :D

Richard.

P.S. Could you upload a few pics of yours to give me some idea of what it looks like?

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r3i

r3i

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It's made by a company called Kunming United Optics: 70mm F-6

A number of companies supply this scope under their own brand name such Teleskop Service in Germany and Stellarvue.

Interestingly I got the scope to replace my ST102 - I wanted a lighter scope with less CA.

I've been using it for DSO imaging rather than planetary imaging (I use my 8" SCT for that). But I did use it to get some nice views of Jupiter on a recent holiday when it was in Travel Scope mode.

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milkyjoe

milkyjoe

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Do you find the lower apperture a problem compared to your ST102, the ST being a smaller scope and having less light gathering capability?

The 70ED is just under 3" I believe and the ST 4"; that's quite a big difference! :-\

How would you compare it to other APOs, have you used any others such as the WOs, Vixens etc.?

Richard.

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John

John

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Thanks for the link and info John. I do like SWs, but I do like the look of the WO scopes. :)

I convinced myself of that a couple of years ago and went from an Skywatcher ED100 to a WO Megrez 90. Not a great move for me as, while the WO was a very nice scope, it was optically no better the Skywatcher (showing a touch more CA actually) plus I'd lost 10mm of aperture of course :D

One of the things I learned from all that was that, while they are lovely scopes, there is nothing "magic" about ED doublets or apochromats - a 3" or 4" scope is, as the end of the day, still a small aperture scope, especially for deep sky objects.

Just my viewpoint as purely a visual astronomer - when imaging comes into the equation then I appreciate that changes things.

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johninderby

johninderby

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With a £300.00 limit then a second hand 80ED doublet looks like a good bet. Although the standard focuser is not too bad, you would be able to get the scope and upgrade to a decent dual speed crayford and still stay within budget.

The Megrez 72 is also a very nice scope, and has better optics than the Zenithstar 70 or IKI70.

John

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r3i

r3i

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Do you find the lower apperture a problem compared to your ST102, the ST being a smaller scope and having less light gathering capability?

How would you compare it to other APOs, have you used any others such as the WOs, Vixens etc.?

Richard.

For me, the lighter weight and better quality glass more than made up for any loss of aperture. My IKI is the only APO I've had the pleasure of using so I can't offer any opinions on other scopes - others will be in a much better position to comment. As requested, here's a pic of my scope on a camera tripod.

post-17860-133877492296_thumb.jpg

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Beyond_Vision

Beyond_Vision

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For astrophotography a low F number would be more important than the aperture. Aperture would be more of a consideration with respect to visual observing. In terms of astrophotography the larger the aperture the greater the resolution of the image until one hits the limit of the atmospheric conditions.

Regards

Kevin

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brantuk

brantuk

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I favour the Meg 72 - purely because I have one lol. You'd need a field flattener with it for AP and it's smashing for observing as well. They're solid and quite heavy for the size - you'd need a solid mount with good tracking. £300 will just get you the ota only.

:D

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milkyjoe

milkyjoe

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What kind of mount would you suggest brant, I have an eq1?

Also, could you upload some pics of your megrez 72 as I'm thinking of getting one, but would like to know what this looks like in the flesh, so to speak? :D

Thanks

Richard.

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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For AP people recommend the HEQ5 as a minimum, the EQ6 being preferable. Neither are small and cost is significant. Remember that you will need to have it motor driven.

For the WO72 look at: William Optics - Telescopes

The Meg 72 OTA is 2.2kg, say with camera and bits etc 3.5kg.

It is said that the mount should be rated for twice the load that you are going to put on it.

An EQ5 is rated at about 10kg, so it should be sufficent for your intended use. The tripod for the EQ5 is pretty solid as well. It is also a bit smaller, cheaper and lighter then the HEQ5.

Problem is that if you decide to go up again, say Meg 90 or FLT 98 or bigger, then you will have to buy the bigger mount. So it may be false economy to get the small one at this time. Not sure what the price difference is between the EQ5 and HEQ5.

Prices (raided FLO site):

Meg 72 = £319

EQ5 = £210 (No motors add ~£100) = £300

HEQ5 = £450 (has motors already in)

So scope and EQ5 = £620.

Scope and HEQ5 = £770

Not sure what additional items you would need but better budget say £100 for sundries.

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