Andmy New Ikharus 80mm ED and Skywatcher Panaview 38mm lens

[jfox61]

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I would just put my thoughts on the Ikharus 80ED Doublet.

I purchased it yesterday from Iankingimaging whilst at Astrofest. I paid £275 for it. Just the OTA and tube rings, no findersope or finderscope mount. Also fitted with a very nice 2" Crayford focuser.

Apparently it is the same scope as the Starwave just rebranded and slightly cheaper.

I did actually purchase it on the Friday but on returning home and opening the box

there was a worriesome rattle inside. This turned out to be a grub screw in the tube. It had damaged the coating on the inner lens. Bummer!!

As I was returning to Astrofest on the Saturday it was no big issue. I took it back explained the problem and Ian swapped it over for me. The grub screw apparently cover the opening for the red dot finder scope for the scope.

The screw had worked itself loose and dropped into the tube. For me, this is a bit of

a dodgy design defect the grubscrews in a ziplock would have been better and then you can use as and when needed.

I also purchased a Skywatcher 2" Panaview 38mm Lens. I mounted it into the Tube with a 2" diagonal taken form my 120 Evostar. Just starting out I only have the one diagonal so will have to make do for the time being.

First slight problem was balancing..... You can't!! The combined weight of the diagonal and the lens makes it a J Lo rear. Suggestions on a postcard please. However since the tube is fairly light and it's on an EQ3 mount, it doesn't put too much strain on the bearings. Still it would be nice to have it balanced.

The Crayford focuser is a nice piece of engineering and is light and smooth, even with that hefty chunk of metal and glass and a big 2" diagonal attached. Nothing more to say on that really.

Onto first light. Luckily last night we had some clear skies and I literally just set it up on my decking and quickly found Jupiter. I used jupiter as it's easy to find with the naked eye through the scope (couldn't wait to ty it so didn't fit a finderscope).

The view was crystal clear and a fantastic wide view using the Panaview. Pretty much pin sharp to the edge of the lens. None of my other 2 scopes have a Crayford, and being a newbie, this was the first time I had used one and I have to say comparison of a Crayford to a rack and pinion, in my opinion, is a no brainer.

I then tried it on the Orion Nebula and the detail that came out at me with such a small scopewas amazing. With such a wide FoV this lens is going to get some serious use from me.

In summary I have to say for £275 for the Scope and £99 for the lens this is a bargain for such high quality.

I know there are much more exotic and expensive items out there but on a budget I tink this set up has to be worth looking at.

[andrew63]

Thanks for posting the review - you will get some fantastic panoramas with that setup.

andrew

[MjrTom]

A couple of ankle weights velcroed around the tube make a good method of counterweighting the heavy eyepiece

[jfox61]

Blimey how thick are your ankles:eek: I will think about that, thanks.

On another note and as stated in my review I didn't have a finderscope. They seem to mount where the grub screws are, on the Crayford, not on the tube. Are there any mounts for this and what finderscope would you recommend?

[Chris]

I'm thinking of getting one of these for imaging, very tempting at this price, and the cheap matched focal reducer makes it even more tempting:)

thanks for posting your review:)

[FrankieValley]

Thanks for the review. I have seen some other favourable postings for this scope. I guess they are generated by the great price with/without focal reducer. I am sorely tempted to add a short f/l refractor to my arsenal.

[andrew63]

This should work fine - on my ikh 4" i have this it just screws in to one of the holes on the focuser and i mount a regular 6x30 synta finder. Some people find them handy on the megrez 72 on on scopes with know dedticated shoe fitted.

First Light Optics - Finder Mounting Shoe

andrew

[jfox61]

Well, the focal reducer is another £50 if bought as a kit. On their retail site seperately, it is £89 I believe. So well worth getting it all together. I didn't, but as I bought it at Astrofest and had pretty much spent all my money, Ian has kindly offered it to me at the show price when I get paid. Now there's service for you.

One Thing I would say for anyone thinking of buying an Ikharus scope, ask Ian to send the scope with the grub screws taken out of the tube, and place them in a bag.

Both of my scopes, the orginal and the replacement had a grub screw rattling around inside the tube. Also ask to make sure the reducer is packed well and secured as there are reports of this buming around loose inside the box.

[red dwalf]

great report and highly tempted, i also noticed these at the astrofest along with the starwave version, not realising that these where the same scope rebaged at the time.

[jfox61]

Just a quick update. I can't post this in the Retailers review as I haven't been a member for a month. However it is relevant to this Thread so i'll post something here for the time being.

As stated in my original post I didn't have the cash to buy the full kit with Flattener/reducer but Ian from IanKingImaging kindly offered the same deal but allowing me to buy the flattener when I next had the cash. That was yesterday. I ordered just before lunchtime 29th feb so imagine my surprise to find the item already delivered on my return from shopping today at 1pm.

The flattener/reducer looks very good quality, no markings just plain Black. Lens looks to be multicoated, perhaps someone who owns one can confirm this. I will let you know how it perorms when I actually get the chance to get outside with it.

[peonic]

Ian's one of the good guys, eh

Loving mine to bits - had a scan around the moon with it last night (was too cloudy for anything else).

Tack sharp views. Excellent kit for a knock down price.

Now - to save for the 110!