Sky-Watcher Evostar ED 80mm APO

[oymd]

Evening everyone.

I've just received the ED80mm in the post today, and noticed a few things that I hope the experienced and savvy can clarify for me?It's my FIRST ever refractor, and my only experience is with a Nexstar 8SE.

The OTA is listed as having FPL-53 in the objective, and Schott BK-7 glass in the crown.

The product images on FLO, RVO, SW USA & SW UK (Optical Vision LTD) show the OTA with a graphic of "SCHOTT GLASS INSIDE" on the OTA?

The scope I received today has no such graphic, and has no markings at all on the objective, with 2 visible blotches of glue? Is this expected?

Also specs list that it has a crayford focuser and 2"99% dielectric diagonal, yet I feel the focuser is very rough, and the diagonal has no specs etched on it or any details written on it, and looks cheap?

Is this all normal, and I'm just having a mini panic attack, or is it possible the OTA is an inferior product?

Many thanks!!

[johninderby]

It seems that Skywatcher has just stopped putting the Shott Inside label on the outside of the tube although they are still saying in the specs that the Shott  glass is used for the crown element. You're not the first to report a small bit of excess glue on the latest scopes. 

Amazon is using the updated photo.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skywatcher-Evostar-80ED-DS-PRO-Apochromatic-Refractor/dp/B00CYHSNME

The Crayford is a low end one and the quality of it does vary a lot. Some are OK but others a bit rough although adjusting them can help. The diagonal is a dielectric one although not a high quality one although will still work fine.

https://teleskop-austria.at/information/pdf/Flex250_Skywatcher_Crayfor-Auszug_justieren.pdf

Edited January 19, 2020 by johninderby

[Merlin66]

I don't think there is anything to get worried about....

You've got yourself a great performing telescope. Enjoy it!

The small dabs of visible glue are a non event, I think these are there to lock the retaining ring, they have no impact whatsoever on the scope or it's performance.

(I have and use three ED80's - love them all!)

Edited January 19, 2020 by Merlin66

[jjosefsen]

Yeah i don't think you need to be worried either. It's a good little scope (I have one) but the focuser is the worst part. Expect to fine-tune this part a bit. I have since upgraded mine to this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-focusers/dual-speed-2-crayford-focuser-for-sky-watcher-refractors.html

It is much heftier, and smoother. It also required me to fine-tune it a little bit though and the rotation is not great as you can upset the collimation when you do it.

[John]

On the glass issue, the appearance of the Schott stickers on scopes was the result of a marketing agreement between Skywatcher and Schott. Synta (who manufacture the scopes) have always used a Schott glass mating element in these scopes even in the early days when no stickers were on the tubes.

If the marketing agreement had been with Ohara then "FPL-53 inside" would have been on the tube I guess.

 

[oymd]

24 minutes ago, John said:

On the glass issue, the appearance of the Schott stickers on scopes was the result of a marketing agreement between Skywatcher and Schott. Synta (who manufacture the scopes) have always used a Schott glass mating element in these scopes even in the early days when no stickers were on the tubes.

If the marketing agreement had been with Ohara then "FPL-53 inside" would have been on the tube I guess.

 

Well, its certainly confusing.

The manual clearly states that the objective is Ohara FPL-53 and crown is Schott BK-7, and FLO & RVO website's description also confirms that.

Beside the good reviews, that was the primary reason I bought the scope.

 

[John]

If the vendors say that then I think we have to accept that is the glass that is used. I have an ED120 that dates from the time before the stickers were used. I've no reason to suspect that the ED element is not FPL-53 or the mating element Schott BK-7. The scope certainly performs excellently which is what counts

Short of sending samples off for analysis I dont know of any way to tell what glass is actually being used

[Davey-T]

Not having objective spec' on the front makes it look "cheap" I think.

Dave

[FLO]

On 19/01/2020 at 00:38, oymd said:

The product images on FLO, RVO, SW USA & SW UK (Optical Vision LTD) show the OTA with a graphic of "SCHOTT GLASS INSIDE" on the OTA? 

We haven't been advised of any change to the specification 🤔 

Having said that, we retailers often first hear of changes from our customers. Not from Sky-Watcher or their distributor. 

Is it one of ours? 

3 hours ago, John said:

On the glass issue, the appearance of the Schott stickers on scopes was the result of a marketing agreement between Skywatcher and Schott. 

John's right ^ 🙂 

Steve 

[FLO]

On 19/01/2020 at 01:01, johninderby said:

Amazon is using the updated photo.

The photo you link to is not new or updated. It was first used several years ago, before they added the Schott logo and switched to green anodising. 

[John]

19 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Not having objective spec' on the front makes it look "cheap" I think.

Dave

Well they are low cost for their performance. If you want the same or similar optics with an engraved bezel I'm sure there is a scope out there for a few quid more that has that

 

[oymd]

33 minutes ago, FLO said:

We haven't been advised of any change to the specification 🤔 

Having said that, we retailers often first hear of changes from our customers. Not from Sky-Watcher or their distributor. 

Is it one of ours? 

John's right ^ 🙂 

Steve 

Hi Steve

Not from FLO, it was ordered from RVO. But I could see on the outer box the order information, which shows it was shipped from OVL to me directly, who are SW distributors in the UK, so in all likelihood would be the very same scope you stock.

And I agree with Davey-T that having no spec on the objective makes it look very cheap.

Either way, its the performance what matters, and with the current weather, there is no way to find out!

If I were you, I would confirm with SW the specs, to avoid any confusion with future customers.

[Redscouse]

4 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

but the focuser is the worst part. Expect to fine-tune this part a bit. I have since upgraded mine to this one:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-focusers/dual-speed-2-crayford-focuser-for-sky-watcher-refractors.html

Yep, me too. About two days after i bought the 'scope I upgraded the focuser. 

[oymd]

Since we are discussing this scope, can someone please advise me what replacement dovetail I can use?

With the 2" diagonal and 2" eyepiece, the scope is VERY back end heavy, and I had to push the OTA all the way forward to the point that the retaining rings are flush with the focuser, and also pushed the dovetail all the way forwards in the saddle, to achieve any sort of balance, but it's still very back heavy?

Is there a LONGER compatible dovetail I can use?

Thanks

[FLO]

1 hour ago, oymd said:

Not from FLO, it was ordered from RVO. But I could see on the outer box the order information, which shows it was shipped from OVL to me directly, who are SW distributors in the UK, so in all likelihood would be the very same scope you stock.

Not necessarily because at FLO most orders are fulfilled from stock held at our warehouse. We will check our Evostar 80ED scopes when we reopen in the morning. 

Steve 

[willcastle]

I don’t know if you have been following my post about “glue on my lens” or what ever I called it, but I have literally just received mine and it came with a few issues. The two dobs of glue were far more messy on mine and they had actually got glue on the lens itself. See my attached picture. 

As for the focusser: mine is super smooth... I couldn’t believe how nice mine felt 😕 so i guess others above are correct: they must vary in quality. 

As for the schott logo, I emailed OVL and they confirmed that the logo has disappeared because the advertisement deal with schott has ended. They did ignore me when I asked them to clarify if the scope still

 contains schott glass however. I will press it again after they replace my current scope ( unless someone else asks first)

[willcastle]

5 minutes ago, oymd said:

Since we are discussing this scope, can someone please advise me what replacement dovetail I can use?

With the 2" diagonal and 2" eyepiece, the scope is VERY back end heavy, and I had to push the OTA all the way forward to the point that the retaining rings are flush with the focuser, and also pushed the dovetail all the way forwards in the saddle, to achieve any sort of balance, but it's still very back heavy?

Is there a LONGER compatible dovetail I can use?

Thanks

That’s strange.... I managed to get perfect balance with mine by pushing the scope forwards and moving the dovetail bar. I had even more weight on the back because I attached a DSLR. I wonder if my guidescope on top helped to somehow balance the weight towards the front?

[oymd]

2 minutes ago, willcastle said:

That’s strange.... I managed to get perfect balance with mine by pushing the scope forwards and moving the dovetail bar. I had even more weight on the back because I attached a DSLR. I wonder if my guidescope on top helped to somehow balance the weight towards the front?

I would be very interested to hear what the balance is like when you remove the guidescope? Would be great if you could try?

[oymd]

6 minutes ago, willcastle said:

I don’t know if you have been following my post about “glue on my lens” or what ever I called it, but I have literally just received mine and it came with a few issues. The two dobs of glue were far more messy on mine and they had actually got glue on the lens itself. See my attached picture. 

As for the focusser: mine is super smooth... I couldn’t believe how nice mine felt 😕 so i guess others above are correct: they must vary in quality. 

As for the schott logo, I emailed OVL and they confirmed that the logo has disappeared because the advertisement deal with schott has ended. They did ignore me when I asked them to clarify if the scope still

 contains schott glass however. I will press it again after they replace my current scope ( unless someone else asks first)

ouch...yes, that's a bit too much glue...

You reckon I can give RVO a call and complain about the focuser? Mine is horribly stiff and clunky? I was even considering putting a drop or 2 of lubricating OIL on the gears?

 

 

[willcastle]

1 minute ago, oymd said:

I would be very interested to hear what the balance is like when you remove the guidescope? Would be great if you could try?

I would literally go and do it right now if I was home. Also, I just boxed it up. Due to the glue on my lens, OVL are collecting it tomorrow to (hopefully) replace it. When I receive the new one I can totally check for you though. I am fairly sure that I might have read on another thread here that some people have struggled to balance this scope due to the weight at the back. Ohhhhh no hang on I think it was in a YouTube video . Let me see if I can find it.

Just a word of caution: it was a little bit tricky to find the right bolts and to make sure the holes were correctly spaced to attach a new dovetail bar. It’s not thaaaat hard, but more fussy than it needs to be. 

[johninderby]

4 minutes ago, oymd said:

ouch...yes, that's a bit too much glue...

You reckon I can give RVO a call and complain about the focuser? Mine is horribly stiff and clunky? I was even considering putting a drop or 2 of lubricating OIL on the gears?

 

 

Have you looked at the focuser adjustment guide I linked to in my earlier post?

[oymd]

1 minute ago, willcastle said:

I would literally go and do it right now if I was home. Also, I just boxed it up. Due to the glue on my lens, OVL are collecting it tomorrow to (hopefully) replace it. When I receive the new one I can totally check for you though. I am fairly sure that I might have read on another thread here that some people have struggled to balance this scope due to the weight at the back. Ohhhhh no hang on I think it was in a YouTube video . Let me see if I can find it.

Just a word of caution: it was a little bit tricky to find the right bolts and to make sure the holes were correctly spaced to attach a new dovetail bar. It’s not thaaaat hard, but more fussy than it needs to be. 

Good luck with the return....hope you receive a pristine sample!!

On second thought, maybe you had perfect balance due to the EXCESS glue on the lens!!

 

[willcastle]

3 minutes ago, oymd said:

ouch...yes, that's a bit too much glue...

You reckon I can give RVO a call and complain about the focuser? Mine is horribly stiff and clunky? I was even considering putting a drop or 2 of lubricating OIL on the gears?

 

 

Yeah I would def consider that because mine was like dream quality smoothness. This is my 5th (and most expensive) scope and this has by far had the nicest focussed I have ever seen. I honestly was blown away by the smoothness. Particularly of the fine focuser. The larger wheels were a bit stiffer / more imprecise (as you would expect), but otherwise fine.

[oymd]

Just now, johninderby said:

Have you looked at the focuser adjustment guide I linked to in my earlier post?

I have indeed, and many thanks for that....

But I would be terrified to do that on my own!!!

I'm an absolute, total newbie!!

[willcastle]

Just now, oymd said:

Good luck with the return....hope you receive a pristine sample!!

On second thought, maybe you had perfect balance due to the EXCESS glue on the lens!!

 

Hahaha ouch. Kinda funny and also made me want to cry :’) 

is this your first scope?