EQUINOX ed 80 APO PRO?

[paul j]

Hi im looking into getting a new scope for astrophotography,ive been recommended the equinox ed 80 pro priced at £519 could someone please tell me would the upgrade to the ed 100 be worth the price difference of £300?

also what are these scopes like for visual viewing such as the moon, saturn ?any help gratefully appreciated

[JohnC]

The 80 will serve you better having a shorter FL.

It will enable you to image more targets and be more forgiving

[Bizibilder]

As said the ED100 is a much "slower" scope than the ED80 - f/9 rather than f/7.5 (or f/6.4 with the reducer flattener). "Slower" means, in simplified terms, that to get the same image you would have to take a much longer exposure with the ED100 than the ED80. The field of view of the ED80 is also larger which can have benefits when imaging nebulae and some galaxies - some of which are very much larger than you may at first realise! For viewing the Moon and planets you would most probably need a decent Barlow lens of x2 or x3 - this effectivly doubles (or triples) the nominal magnification of your eyepieces. If you are rich you may prefer a Teleview Powermate - does the same as a Barlow but is of higher optical quality.

PS You can get the ED80 for £459 here: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-outfit.html The £60 saved would get you a decent Barlow.

[paul j]

Many thanks to all and thanks roger for the link,i thought with the ed 80 being a f500 be better but i couldnt understand the 100 being a f9.i thought it be around the same as its priced more and thought it be a better scope,no wonder my mates told me to get the ed 80 im glad i asked the question :-) i buy the ed 80.im fairly new to this hobbie but i absoulutely love it.ive just finished building a nice roll of/part flip top roof shed observatory. thanks

[paul j]

Blimey them Teleview Powermate barlows arnt cheap, although im finding out nothings cheap in astronomy

[Bizibilder]

Astronomy is not a cheap hobby and astro-imaging can easily become a bottomless money pit unless you are careful! Take things one step at a time and buy wisely - ask for advice on the forum as there are many folk here who have spent their hard-earned cash and regretted it later - simply for want of a bit of knowledge.

One thing you can do is buy second-hand - you can already see the SGL classifieds as you have over 50 posts, or use sites like http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/ Most astronomers look after their kit and second hand kit can be a real bargain (obviously take the usual precautions when buying second hand!).

[Zakalwe]

The Equinox is a different beastie from the ED80. The Equinox is f6.25 for a start, and has a better Crayford (way better than the Crayford on the ED80). Plus, there is a different flattener for it.

The Equinox80 is a great scope for DSO imaging. The weakest part of it is probably the Crayford, but the standard one can be tweaked to improve it.

[riklaunim]

There is a lot of other ED scopes on the market right now. Old SkyWatcher EDs (those dark ones) doesn't look good when compared to the newer ones.

[TheNorthernMonkey]

Equinox80 is a lovely little scope, I use mine mostly visually as its easy to transport and can be used on a photo tripod.

The ed80 and equinox80 are different scopes and use different optics, unlike the larger ed scopes which share te optics with the equinox

[Xlracer]

Hi

I have and EQ80 and really like it, good with a DSLR on the end, and excellent visually.

Dave Smith

[Newfie]

I'm looking at geting one myselfyou will have to post how you get on with it !

[glowjet]

SkyWatcher produced a dedicated reducer/flattener for the 120ED, 100ED and the 80ED, if I recall the 100ED comes down to something in the order of f/7.7, and the other two something less. There has been some lovely images taken with all three scopes, but the 80ED seems to be the most popular, probably because of the wider field, ease of transportation and less weight and stress on the EQ mounts for imaging purposes

John.