Jessops 800-80 telescope

[Peter1981]

Hi,

I would like to share my experiences of my scope. It's not gonna be a review just few thought that may can help to people before buying telescope.

I don't have any experience in astronomy I'm just keen amateur who's waiting for the clear sky at evenings.

The scope

My first thought was huge but I already know this one is almost the smallest newtonian telescope. The tripod looks solid but the mount is not. I had to have lot of patient to look through the eyepiece without touching it. If I touch it I have to wait long to get it still again.

To adjust it horizontally is quite cumbersome because if I tight the screw on the bottom of the mount then hard to move the telescope if it too lose it's wobbling.

To adjust it vertically much better thanks for the threaded rod.

I got the scope with 3 eyepices (20mm, 12.5mm, 6mm) and a 3x Barlow lens.

On the first day I could scan the moon only bot on the second day I could look the Jupiter and the 4 moon. It is amazing.

I already looked the M31 cluster but I couldn't look too much stars.

The sharpness of this scope I think is good, the Jupiter was clear and sharp and the surface of the moon as well. Of course the eyepieces got some CA but I think is not so bad. In the middle of the scope I can't see any CA.

As I've written I'm an amateur and this scope is my first one so I can't compare to another telescope and I can't judge the quality of the mirrors.

I think 40 quid for this telescope is bargain. I'm very satisfied with it and I already thinking about to buy a bigger one to look more details of the planets.

But first of all I have to save money.

Thanks

Peter

[Eastridge]

Thanks for letting us know your thoughts. It's interesting - at previous prices £80+ it was too close to better scopes but at £40 it's tempting as a 'try it and see' for youngsters & others. Pity about the mount.

[nephilim]

Good review, the main thing is that your happy with it, the issue with the mount (with less expensive scopes the mount can be dodgy) can be made a little easier to live with by getting a bag of sand and putting it on the eyepiece rack which will give you a bit more stability.

[emadmoussa]

Welcome to SGL!

Small scope is always the beginning, you'll soon find it difficult resisting a more powerful telescope

[JamesM]

I agree with nephillm above in that the scopes aren't too bad (...especially at that price) but the mounts are nearly always not up to standard which is a shame really for those starting out. Glad that you have found some objects to test out the optics but have you managed to locate and view M42 The Orion Nebula? Certainly one the brightest deep sky objects (DSO's) with a collection of 4 very young bright stars at its centre which is known as the "trapezium" due to the shape that these stars make. If you haven't done so already, you might want to take a look at a free piece of planetarium software called "Stellarium" which you can read about here. It will certainly provide you some ideas on what to look for and to help you identify objects that you discover along the way and it can configured to your exact viewing location so as to produce an identical night sky view to that seen in your scope.

Clear skies for now and keep us updated on your next discoveries!

James

[HorlicksSpaceman]

I bought one of these about a year ago - on a sudden whim, a mental state familiar to many telescope addicts - and have to report that on the whole I have been quite impressed by its performance. The mount is not exactly rock-solid as others have discovered, and the supplied eyepieces (Ramsdens) should be replaced. The odd thing about it is its optical configuration. The main tube, at 115mm diameter, is a touch oversized for an 80mm primary mirror, as also is the secondary with a 23mm minor axis. The focal plane is well outside the wall of the main tube,in fact a whopping 140mm!

All this implies that the 23mm flat is not only oversized but is positioned too far down the converging light cone in the direction of the primary mirror. This has been confirmed by running the scope's parameters through a ray-tracing program and also by a full-scale drawing (a bit sad, I know, but I am a retired engineering draughtsman).

But it works! Perhaps a demonstration of the amount of bad design the Newtonian can tolerate, and also some idea of what an f10 spherical mirror is capable of. With better eyepieces this little telescope delivers stunning results considering its size. On the Moon, the sharpness at about 80-100x is exquisite, with many small craterlets distinctly visible; Jupiter's main cloud belts are clearly rendered.

I may at some time rebuild the scope with a longer, narrower tube, a recently-aquired 19mm flat mirror and a low-profile focuser. A lot of bother for a fairly insignificant scope? Almost certainly. But if you have one of these - enjoy it! Not all so-called department-store telescopes are necessarily lemons.....

[brantuk]

You might get a Jessops scope dirt cheap now they've gone into receivership. But you might not get the after sales service. According to the news they're already blocking gift vouchers and not accepting returns. Shame - yet another high street name gone to the dogs.

[E621Keith]

You might get a Jessops scope dirt cheap now they've gone into receivership. But you might not get the after sales service. According to the news they're already blocking gift vouchers and not accepting returns. Shame - yet another high street name gone to the dogs.

I don't mind Jessops going. I prefer buying online if I want to save money or from a small independent camera shop if I think I need after sale support. Staffs at independent shops are far more knowledgeable.

[brantuk]

Absolutely Keith - very fair point - I couldn't agree more. I just feel it's a shame the high street is dying gradually. It'll soon be like services (gas, elec, etc) - just half a dozen suppliers left - no real competition - and everyone dependent on them paying through the nose - not looking forward to that lol

[Peter1981]

Hy

Me again. Unfortunately the sky is too cloudy so I can't go out and it's not going to be better in the next days. But against this I ordered a webcam and I try it to attach to the eyepieces and make videos.

As Vacuum's seen the Jupiter's main cloud belts as I could have seen them. It's really amazing.

Thanks for your comments.

[betweeno]

Hi all,

I just want to ask what am I doing wrong.

I also bought Jessops 800-80 and I thought that it was as simple as: you assemble it and then you can look at the moon. I assembled it (not too many things to put together ;o) and I can see only with the barlow which is 3x. I can see a very small image but I can see something. Once I put the eyepiece 20mm then the only thing I see is a big blur. What am I doing wrong? I tried "focusing" but it doesn't help at all. I know there is enough light coming it. Any ideas?

Peter1981 did you face something similar?

[flashbennett]

Hi, Peter I got this telescope at Christmas it's my first and I think it's brilliant, seen Jupiter and four moons and the surface of moon in very good detail, as you would know it was a bargain at £40 and is a shame that it has closed how. Not had much viewing time myself thanks to the weather but we will get there eventually

George

[E621Keith]

Hi all,

I just want to ask what am I doing wrong.

I also bought Jessops 800-80 and I thought that it was as simple as: you assemble it and then you can look at the moon. I assembled it (not too many things to put together ;o) and I can see only with the barlow which is 3x. I can see a very small image but I can see something. Once I put the eyepiece 20mm then the only thing I see is a big blur. What am I doing wrong? I tried "focusing" but it doesn't help at all. I know there is enough light coming it. Any ideas?

Peter1981 did you face something similar?

Did you try it with just the eyepiece and without the barlow.

[ctudor]

hi, another newbie here

we've recently moved to Oakley in Basingstoke and noticed how amazing the sky looks from here so we bought the Jessops 800-80 in an attempt to just look at the stars, planets, just the sky in general and admire its beauty. upon setting up the scope tonight we also seem to be having problems with seeing anything at all in the sky, it's 100% clear tonight and It's so frustrating the telescope isn't even showing what we can see with our own eyes. we know it works as we saw trees through the telescope earlier today when pointing it out the window, can anyone suggest anything here?

thanks in advance

[John]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Have you tried the scope with the lowest power eyepiece in it ?, Thats the eyepiece with the largest focal length in mm marked on it - something like 20mm or 25mm. Also, if one is supplied, don't use the additional barlow lens with the scope, for now at least.

It's also important that the finder scope lines up as accurately as possible with what the main scope is showing. This is best sorted out in the daytime using a distant object such as a tree top or chimney stack - something a good few hundred metres away at least.

When viewing the stars it's best to take the scope outside rather than to view through glass - wrap up warm tonight !