IKHAROS 80mm F7 ED APO Refractor ( Ian King imaging ) opinions please

[bigal1]

Hi all well i've decided to buy a small refractor for imaging and maybe as a grab and go scope and having checked out quite a few i

came across this from Ian King imaging

IKHARUS Telescope and Accessories from Ian King Imaging

Now the spec and price look good to me especially with the reducer / corrector but i've not heard much about it and there is not a lot of info on the net so i was looking for anyones opinions on it if they have 1 or have come across them before , how does it compare to a skywatcher ed80 ( besides the focal length difference ) which was my other choice plus does it have a focus lock and mounting holes for a finder shoe ?

Regards Alan

[Deneb]

Spend another £150+ & buy the ED80 Outfit.

My Review of it can be found here

[Martin-Devon]

I think the Ikharos 80mm refractor has only been available recently - but I have had my 102mm Ikharos since May last year and it has been superb. Build quality and performance are excellent for the price and you'll see that quite a few folks in the astroimaging section of SGL now post examples of images with the 102. My 102 does have a focus lock & holes for mounting red dot finder etc, but give Ian King a call (he's really helpful and certainly knows his stuff...) to confirm if these also apply to the 80mm.

[andrew63]

Can't comment on this one, but i have the larger 102ed also - they are very nice scopes - and are a whole order of build quality above the synta type 80ed.

This william optics one has just come out which you could also do some research on.

First Light Optics - William Optics Zenithstar ZS70 2012

andrew

[datman]

Spend another £150+ & buy the ED80 Outfit.

My Review of it can be found here

Although have reviewed the ED80 how can you say spend £150 more when you have no knowledge of the Ikharos 80?

[bigal1]

Thanks for the info folks rekon i'm gonna go for the iki 80 with reducer/corrector , nice price and fast enough for me at f5.6 .

[Deneb]

Although have reviewed the ED80 how can you say spend £150 more when you have no knowledge of the Ikharos 80?

Listen I can write Memoirs about the scopes I have had in my sleep.

I have had enough scopes to tell me what to look out for even without buying the scope, even though Ikharos may offer you exceptional value for money for what they are, As a imager for that type of aperture for imaging - I know what I want, Decent Optics in that aperture size, good colour correction with faster ratios. I be very happy if Ian King sends me scope for me to test one, & I will tell you what I think of it (Just in case your viewing this Ian).

Well what do you get with Ikharos, a scope with tube rings & dovetail with using FPL-51 glass, for £295, depending on what mating glass they have used will depend on how good the star colour will be especially with reduced ratio to f/5.6 I would suspect the blue channel will show more halos/blotchness around the stars, just like how the WO 72 Megrez exhibits. The focuser is a CNC machined 2" Focuser. Nothing special, this was same designed threaded focuser I had used with my past AA115, but found after a while it starts to stick on it's rotational mechanisms. For £295 I would not expect it to be better optically then the ED80.

But Ian King service is exceptional - So before anyone comments I am not knocking Ian King.

Now lets look at the ED80, A well proven scope for imaging, equipped with FPL-53 Glass mated with Schott glass crown element. It comes with tube rings, dovetail, Case, 28mm Eyepiece (which tell you the truth is a lot better then the cheaper eyepieces you get with other Skywatcher Telescopes), 9x50 finder & 2" Di-Electric Diagonal in one package. Yes the focuser might need to be tweaked, but thats no biggy.

Even though the scope will be a tad slower the colour correction will be better. When I present images I want nice round colour corrected stars with my optics doing the hard work...

Anyway here's my 2p's worth, the OP had asked how it compares with the ED80, whatever you choose, good luck with it...

Nadeem.

[andrew63]

here's my two on synta scopes - and by the way we are talking for grab and go use also. The optics on mass production scopes and the level of tolerance is variable whether its fpl this or that is as much about marketing and it's the figuring and matching where the difference and cost and time comes in.

The synta scopes are ok optically but nothing special, in the case of the 80 a horrible oversize tube which turns it into an 100mm and a fit or finish which make some owners spending more than the cost of the scope on improvements.

But yes they do a good job, but no better than any other. We are lucky to be able to spend under £500 on reasonable quality equipment that could only been dreamed of 20 years ago.

andrew

[datman]

Well with all respect Deneb, you may well be very knowledgeble about scopes generally but most of your comments about the Ikaharos 80mm are supposition, you may well be correct but I prefer to be advised on actual rather than probable.

Also what is important to one person may not be important to another. Cost, asthetics, is it easy it fit an electric focuser, weight, application, etc, The last post about the oversize tube is enough to put me off the SW ED80 and this is the sort of thing I would like to know about, the good the bad and the ugly. Glass type is one aspect but you could still use the best glass available and make a mediocre lens.

On a slightly differnet topic I was recently asked to advise someone on the choice of a metal lathe, after asking lots of questions about cost, aspirations etc etc I did not reccomend the one I have even though it is far superior to the one that was purchassed. This was because of the reasons mentioned above.

[ollypenrice]

One of the easiest ways to get accurate information about the scope is simply to ask Ian King. It is one of his excellent hallmarks that he will tell you the truth if you ask. I must say that I was impressed by the first images I saw from the 4 inch version. I'm watchng with interest.

The other thing I'd look out for would be a second hand TeleVue Pronto. They are ludicrously undervalued on the used market but would need a flattener and the TV one isn't cheap new. There is more mechanical life left in a 20 year old TV than in most new scopes from China.

Olly

[bigal1]

Thanks for all the input its good to hear peoples opinions especially as we all have our own take on things so it makes for an interesting read . I spoke to Ian King about the iki80 and asked him how it compared to the skywatcher ed80 , he informed me the build quality is miles ahead of the synta types but it may show a little more color in the blue . I then found a picture on his website taken using one and a very nice ccd which i thought would show any inperfections more so than any other form of imaging device but to me the pic looks quite good and i'd certainly be happy enough with results like that ( i'm fairly new to dso imaging so not looking for perfection at the mo just good results ) anyway here is the pic taken by a man called Graham Smith using QSI 583 ccd .

[datman]

Thanks for all the input its good to hear peoples opinions especially as we all have our own take on things so it makes for an interesting read . I spoke to Ian King about the iki80 and asked him how it compared to the skywatcher ed80 , he informed me the build quality is miles ahead of the synta types but it may show a little more color in the blue . I then found a picture on his website taken using one and a very nice ccd which i thought would show any inperfections more so than any other form of imaging device but to me the pic looks quite good and i'd certainly be happy enough with results like that ( i'm fairly new to dso imaging so not looking for perfection at the mo just good results ) anyway here is the pic taken by a man called Graham Smith using QSI 583 ccd .

Looks good to me too, I've just order one!

[red dwalf]

i`m going to add something to this thread although i know very little about imaging so don`t bite my head off L.O.L.

but has anyone looked at the new starwave 80 ed form altair astro ?

i looked at both at the astrofest show and it looks to have a better 3" focuser compaired to the 2" on the ikhirus 80, and they are the same price with the 0.8x reducer.

would like your thoughts on it please, looks like a good entry level scope.

[paulk]

I was just looking at that too, I could get that and sell my 200P or a new mount and sell the EQ5 synscan....... decisions!

[eddy]

I was just looking at that too, I could get that and sell my 200P or a new mount and sell the EQ5 synscan....... decisions!

DIBS if you sell the mount! lol