Starwave 70ED F6 Travel Refractor opinion?

[mikeyj1]

Hi all, 

I am thinking of adding one of these to my Christmas list.  I want it primarily for astrophotography with my aps-c Canon on the Star adventurer mount, with a sturdy photo tripod (I have all of those already).   For £399 it seems like the best combination of value and performance to me, but what's your opinion?

https://www.altairastro.com/starwave-70ed-f6-travel-refractor-telescope-with-2-crayford-focuser-finder-diagonal-eyepiece.html

thanks

Mike

[Mr niall]

I had one for a while. Very nice, best views I've had through all the scopes I've owned; but surprisingly heavy for such a small scope. 

[Anne S]

I’ve got the Starwave 70mm EDT, the triplet version which I use for imaging with a OSC Atik 320e. I’m really pleased with it, colour correction is good. Previously I was trying to use a doublet which didn’t focus all 3 channels the same.  Its fairly light but still solid. 

Anne

[Chris]

2 hours ago, Mr niall said:

I had one for a while. Very nice, best views I've had through all the scopes I've owned; but surprisingly heavy for such a small scope. 

1+ for this. I've got one and it's a very well made/built like a tank ED with good optics  

[8472]

I considered it for my Star Adventurer, until i saw how it tipped the scales.

Now I'm quite happy I went for the lighter, tried and tested WO Zenithstar 61 instead (over half a kilo lighter). Which seems to be near the safe limit for that mount, if you want reasonable exposure lenght. 

Just take into account you need to budget for the dedicated flattener, which is considerably pricier than the Altair option.

[mikeyj1]

thanks for the feedback, I was thinking 2kgs would be ok for the SA mount, would I notice much difference between 61mm and 70mm on the diameter if I changed to the WO?

[8472]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Altair would be poor choice. In fact, when asked, a very well respected retailer told me the S.A. would be well up to the task of carrying the 70ED. On balance, I just didn't want the extra weight and the theoretically slightly inferior optics of the 70ED over the Z61 (51 vs 53 lens).

I'm sure the 70ED is a fine scope, in it's own right. Just my personal choice.

[Louis D]

8 hours ago, 8472 said:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Altair would be poor choice. In fact, when asked, a very well respected retailer told me the S.A. would be well up to the task of carrying the 70ED. On balance, I just didn't want the extra weight and the theoretically slightly inferior optics of the 70ED over the Z61 (51 vs 53 lens).

I'm sure the 70ED is a fine scope, in it's own right. Just my personal choice.

Astronomics just changed up their AT72ED (now AT72EDII) with FPL53 instead of FPL51 glass.  I have the FPL51 version and love it.  There is just a bit of purple around bright objects above 100x.  Below that, I can't see any.  The new FPL53 version sounds like a nice improvement.  Perhaps someone in Europe is selling an equivalent.

[mikeyj1]

8 hours ago, Louis D said:

Astronomics just changed up their AT72ED (now AT72EDII) with FPL53 instead of FPL51 glass.  I have the FPL51 version and love it. 

That sounds like a nice scope!  Dont know where it retails in Europe..