SkyWatcher Equinox 80ED

[John]

Very nice Neil

Tele Vue provide the stickers with each eyepiece. I have one on my Skytee II covering up a small scratch in the paint. The WO diagonal was a nice thing to have included and it's good to see the finder shoe fitted as well.

 

 

[mikeDnight]

Not a special addition I'm afraid. The TV stickers come with TV eyepieces as a sweetener to ease the pain of the expense.  The scope itself is pretty special though, so don't be too dissappointed. 

[Littleguy80]

1 minute ago, John said:

Very nice Neil

Tele Vue provide the stickers with each eyepiece. I have one on my Skytee II covering up a small scratch in the paint. The WO diagonal was a nice thing to have included and it's good to see the finder shoe fitted as well.

 

 

Thanks John. I did wonder if that might have been a later addition. He said the guy he bought it off sold it with a Nagler Zoom so I suspect that probably explains the origin of the sticker. 

[Littleguy80]

1 minute ago, mikeDnight said:

Not a special addition I'm afraid. The TV stickers come with TV eyepieces as a sweetener to ease the pain of the expense.  The scope itself is pretty special though, so don't be too dissappointed. 

Thanks Mike. I couldn’t find any mention of a special edition reading around before I bought it so I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. I’m anything but disappointmented. It’s my first frac so the beginning of a new chapter in my Astro adventure  

[Mark at Beaufort]

That is a great looking frac Neil. I always admired the Equinox series and thought about buying the 66mm so you will enjoy this scope on your travels. The scope will also become your quick grab and go scope when you only have a short period to observe.

If I remember you recently purchased a Herschel Wedge from John so all set for the Mercury Transit ?

[SamAndrew]

These were trading for around £300 when I had mine back in 2012, just goes to show quality optics don't depreciate.

[Littleguy80]

26 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

That is a great looking frac Neil. I always admired the Equinox series and thought about buying the 66mm so you will enjoy this scope on your travels. The scope will also become your quick grab and go scope when you only have a short period to observe.

If I remember you recently purchased a Herschel Wedge from John so all set for the Mercury Transit ?

Thanks Mark! I’m just a tripod and mount away from a complete setup now! I know exactly what I want for those so no more deliberations! 

Thanks for all your advice along the way. You really helped me focus my thinking on getting something properly travel focused  

Really looking forward to the Mercury transit!!

[Littleguy80]

I now have the full setup together for the Equinox 80. I removed the “Special Edition” TeleVue sticker and gave the casing a good clean. The mechanism for locking the end section with the focuser in position needed tightening but that was an easy fix. Pictures here:

 

[iapa]

On 21/03/2019 at 17:02, Nigel G said:

I have the Equinox 80ED. It has a retractable dew shield, a good smooth duel speed & rotating focuser.

No dove tail bar, just a short 4 inch bracket, so I had to bolt it to a 12 dove tail bar to be able to balance it with a guide scope, which is mounted on the finder bracket.

All in all I'm happy with it.

Nige.

Down side of that 4" bracket is that a decent thump and the single bold rips the thread out of the OTA

Trust me

I now have a dovetail and rings attached.

Otherwise, no complaints about the mechanics or optics on this.