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Skwatcher Esprit ED80 Vs Esprit ED100


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OK I'm not exactly a beginner at AP but so far I have shied away from refractors, other than my trusted ST80 guide scope which has impressed me hugely.

I have a few newts which do good jobs of imaging most things but at 1000mm have relatively narrow FOV with my APS-C camera (1 degrees 16' at the widest dimension if I've got the calculaton right for the Quattro 10S), they are also a bit of handful to travel with and the optics although OK for imaging are not so hot when you swap in an eyepiece (not that I do much visual observing with this scope).

I'm at the point where I'm thinking my next scope (for AP and / or visual) needs to be a hell of a lot more compact and I have been looking at various refractors. I have looked at doublets, including the much liked Evostar ED80 pro but have come down on the side of a triplet because I only want to be doing this once and as good as the Evostar & Equinox EDs are I think I will get better contrast and sharper stars with a triplet, especially with a camera on board.

The SW Esprit's are appealing in part because they have kit bundled that I don't currently own and would need to source if I went for some other makes (like diagonals for a kick off). Of the two the 100 appeals to me most, I like the retracting dew shield to keep the size down and the slightly bigger aperture / longer focal  also appeal for those times that I will be using the scope visually. Obviously the 80mm version gives a wider field of view (something like 3d 11m Vs 2d 20m for the 100mm) but the 100mm will give slightly brighter images, especially for visual use but has anybody tried either of these scopes (or both) for AP and Visual and what are they like to live with? What is that fixed mount like to live with on the 80mm?

Also I note in all the reviews from US the Esprit range all seem to be bundled with the field flattener and camera adaptor but they are separate in the UK  despite being roughly the same converted price, why is this ? (not aimed at the sponsor but everybody this is more of a comment on the importer)

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I ordered my Esprit 100 last week i don't have it yet, but i look forward to hear what the experts would say, 

may i ask you what would you use for guiding if you don't mind, i bought a 66mm Equinox for guiding but not sure what to use with it, i did buy skywatcher Synguider, but didn't get the chance to try it yet, so all help is welcomed :)

Thanks

Anas.

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The only thing I would be looking at in selecting between the 80 and the 100 would be the focal length. The field of view will be a little wider in the 80, the resolution a little higher in the 100. No big deal either way. Which FOV would you prefer? That's about it.

Olly

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Thanks for the feedback guys.

I had more or less decided that the wider field of view of the 80ED was going to be the winner and was just about to put an order in to FLO when my e-bay alerts went "ping" and a three month old Esprit 80ED was listed. I found the same scope on Gumtree, so rather than get in a bidding war on e-bay I put in an offer via Gumtree and picked it up Saturday, I suspect to the annoyance of those watching it on e-bay. So I am now the proud owner of an Esprit 80ED, the EQ5 mount it came with plus a few cheap eyepieces all for less than the price of a new one!

Naturally enough Saturday was gloriously sunny until I got home, but I managed to use it for some Moon gazing and was suitably impressed by the clarity and contrast. Other than a few snaps of the moon I have done no imaging with it yet, the clouds still want to know what's in the big box in the conservatory and are hanging around for a look!

To answer Anas' question, the plan for guiding is either to use a converted 9 x 50 finder that I have converted that works well with my 12" newt (this is likely to be the test set-up and possibly the EQ5 "Lightweight" set-up) or buy a dual saddle plate and set-up on the NEQ6 with my usual ST80 guider next to it the latter is probably my preferred option although I'm not sure if having a guider with the same focal length as the main scope is a particularly clever idea, we will see how it goes.

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Funny enough I have been looking to upgrade from a skywatcher 150 reflector to either the equinox 80 or the esprite, does it justify the extra amount of £££s. I am relativly new to astrophotgrapy/astronomy but been bitten by the bug big time. My heart says esprite my wallet says equinox. But whatever I get its got to last me a few years I cant be upgrading every so often I will end up remortgaging the house

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Funny enough I have been looking to upgrade from a skywatcher 150 reflector to either the equinox 80 or the esprite, does it justify the extra amount of £££s. I am relativly new to astrophotgrapy/astronomy but been bitten by the bug big time. My heart says esprite my wallet says equinox. But whatever I get its got to last me a few years I cant be upgrading every so often I will end up remortgaging the house

 I went through the same questions and decided on the triplet over the doublet for more or less the reasons you stipulate, it cost more but I'm not going to be sat here wondering about an upgrade in 12 - 18 months time, although I did consider a used Evostar 80ED as they seem to hold their prices pretty well so would be a lower risk.

There are good reviews on the Evostar and Equinox ED80 and some nice photos produced by each one, in the end I went for the Esprit because as a triplet the overall picture contrast is meant to be better and virtually no Chromatic aberration, the Equinox and Evostar are also said to be very good at eliminating CA, but I read some review comments where it was visible on bright stars and I can certainly see it on some images I've seen (although CA can be eliminated in post processing). I don't have an Equinox to compare but visually the Esprit is crystal clear and there is not even a hint of CA on the Moon photos so far taken. I think the clincher for me (apart from seeing this one at a good price on Gumtree / e-bay) was that a lot of Evostar and Equinox owners seem to upgrade the focusers eventually, complaining that the stock focuser struggles with heavier cameras.  I only use a DSLR but do use a battery grip which adds to the load quite considerably. Also, compared to the Equinox, which was my second choice the Esprit comes with a 2" dielectric diagonal, which as 100% Newtonian owner up to now, I didn't own and would be adding to the cost and for some reason the Equinox does not come with a carry case, OK a  minor thing but I do a lot of imaging away from my home where there is less light pollution so safe transport of my scopes is always a factor.

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For some reason the Esprit range sold in the UK does not come with a flattener (unlike the US). This is odd because without some form of spacer or using the diagonal a camera won't focus if connected in line. I did query this with FLO and they very nicely started to "bundle" the flatteners with a bit of a discount, I almost ordered the full bundle but then my phone pinged that an Esprit was available on ebay so I only bought the flattener from FLO in the end. I have to admit, it's a very solid bit of kit and makes using the Esprit a doddle, if using a 48mm T ring the adaptor includes a 2" filter holder.

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