Equinox 80 Pro vs Evostar 80 Pro

[Earl]

Has anyone done a shoot out on these?

What are the Pros and Cons?

[Stephen]

Not a shoot out but I recently had to pick between the two. They optics are the same (IIRC) bar the focal length and of course the speed.

Whilst the Equinox has a better build quality, the focuser still has issues (swag72 most recently posted about it I think.)

The equinox has a wider FOV, but there isn't a dedicated flattener/reducer for it. I think the best results have been achieved with a TRF-2008 (pricey!) : the SW ones (either the cheapo one or the Evostar ones) don't seem to work (from the research I did.)

If you don't want the really wide FOV of the Equinox, and can live without the diagonal/case, you can get the cheaper single speed ED80 from TS (~£280) and save some pennies for the focuser/reducer

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1060_Skywatcher-EVOSTAR-ED80---ED-APO-80-600mm---2--Crayford.html

[Earl]

If you don't want the really wide FOV of the Equinox, and can live without the diagonal/case, you can get the cheaper single speed ED80 from TS (~£280) and save some pennies for the focuser/reducer

Skywatcher EVOSTAR ED80 - ED APO 80/600mm - 2' Auszug

I have been pondering this, as i intend to motorise it i can probably just use the single speed crayford and fix the issues with it (slippage)...

to many options...

[SamAndrew]

That price difference makes it a difficult decesion for me at the moment, the evostar seems such good value. Do they both come with the same focuser ? how much was your upgrade Kheldar?

The fov on the equinox is pretty much spot on what I'm after though :S

I was advised to get a William Optics reducer over the Skywatcher ones.

[Stephen]

That price difference makes it a difficult decesion for me at the moment, the evostar seems such good value. Do they both come with the same focuser ? how much was your upgrade Kheldar?

The fov on the equinox is pretty much spot on what I'm after though :S

I was advised to get a William Optics reducer over the Skywatcher ones.

The Evostar comes with either a single speed crayford (the TS budget one) or a dual speed crayford (the more expensive version.)

The Equinox comes with a dual speed crayford, but it's different (I think!) to the Evostar one.

I initially bought a Steeltrack (£240) but decided to return that and am in the process of buying a motorised Moonlite (£lots)

Yes I know buying a focuser that's more than scope may be a little barmy! However it's an investment and will migrate to a new scope should I ever part ways with the Evostar

May I ask who advised you to go with WO over SW? To be honest the SW ones are optically matched to the Evostar in question. Putting a non matched WO (whilst it may work perfectly fine) seems even more barmy than me and my focuser fetish

[SamAndrew]

Did you give the standard focuser much testing before upgrading or had you decided to upgrade when you got the scope ?

The WO reducer was recommended for the equinox by The Widerscreen Centre.

I was initially looking at the Megrez 72 but they advised me to consider the equinox for superior optics.

I've been playing with the the Evostar in Cartes du Ceil and the fov might be sufficient for a lot of the larger targets; I'll have to create a tick list and see which scope can fit which targets.

[Stephen]

I had already decided before I even purchased the scope. There are some on here who have the skill and will to tweak the SW stock ones, I'm not one of them.

Every SW focuser I have had has not been up to the job (in my opinion.)

Well the Equinox is a different kettle of fish (the reducers I am referring to are the ones matched to the Evostars, not the Equinoxes) but I'm not convinced to be honest about the WO on an Equinox.

I'd have to search the forums (and I'm hitting the sack soon so I won't!) but I think there's a few negative reviews of the combo? The Equinox seems to be difficult to match a reducer to.

[ollypenrice]

Not a shoot out but I recently had to pick between the two. They optics are the same (IIRC) bar the focal length and of course the speed.

QUOTE]

Hang on, if the focal length and focal ratio are different what do you mean by the optics being the same? It's surely a completely different objective lens? (BTW I don't think you're barmy buying a good focuser. If the focuser isn't orthogonal and doesn't hold its position the best objective in the world will give a mushy image.)

From what I've seen, which I must stress is not a lot, the faster scope maybe seems to lack the excellent colour correction of the older one and show a little blue bloat. I might be wrong so a shoot out would be great. The faster one is a smashing scope but if you push a doublet towards too short a FL you are going to struggle with correction. I often think it's best to settle for a slower F ratio unless you want to sign some scary cheques!

Olly

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/22435624_WLMPTM#!i=1793644788&k=r8HTK72

[Stephen]

Sorry olly I didn't explain myself too well did I

By "the same" I meant FPL53 / Schott, and I believe you are quite correct regarding the correction.

The Equinox 100 seems to have a funny focal ratio (f9?) compared to the 80 and 120, but that's actually one that isn't "stretched" as hard as the 80 or 120 are.

It's my understanding (of course I am happy to be told I am wrong!) that as a result the 100 is the best corrected of the three Equinoxes.