Newbie's take on the Sky-Watcher Startravel 80 (ST80) as a first telescope

[Basementboy]

I found choosing a first telescope – particularly during lockdown when you can't see or touch anything – a real challenge, but I think I found a good one in the end ... so I wanted to offer my thoughts on the ST80 with AZ3 mount in case it's helpful for someone else considering this telescope.

I was looking for:
-a very portable telescope to take to the park, as my garden has restricted viewing
-a wide field of view (FOV), to help me find objects while I'm learning the sky
-visual only – no photography necessary right now
-cheap, so I could see if I actually enjoyed looking at the stars in the first place!

So, after plenty of great advice from everyone here at SGL (who talked me down from the ledge of my first idiotic plan – an Evostar 120 on EQ5 mount that would have been way too big and heavy for my purposes), I settled on a short tube refractor. I ruled out the Maksutovs for their narrow field of view (FOV), and the various Newtonians for their bulkiness and need for regular collimation, which I didn't want to faff with every time I moved it. I also ruled out computerised Go-To mounts, because of the weight, the need for a separate power supply, and generally the extra hassle of using Wifi and synching electronic devices. Besides, it's cheating, right? I want to find stuff myself at first.  

Luckily, the Sky-Watcher Startravel 80 appeared in stock for a brief window at FLO (packaged with an AZ3 mount). After hearing more experienced astronomers sing the praises of this basic telescope, I took the plunge.

New Scope Day was exciting: the ST80 is solid, metal, reassuringly weighty yet easy to lift with one hand. I was pleased it came with two Plossl eyepieces, and also had a 2x Barlow, a red dot finder and (somewhat annoyingly) a 45 degree diagonal for upright viewing of objects – which I immediately replaced with a secondhand di-electric 90 degree star diagonal for about £35. (Amazon sells new generic Chinese ones for about the same price.) 

The telescope fits easily into a backpack, and the AZ3 with its aluminum tripod is easy to carry with one hand, so no problem heading out to the park – with one free hand to ward off thugs.

I immediately had a bit of whatever the opposite is of beginner's luck: the lenses were out of alignment! The stars were all visible as little "V" shapes. At first I thought I was doing something wrong (EPs? focusing?), but after watching a few youtube videos and getting some SGLer advice, I managed to fix the problem myself. I carefully unscrewed the tube ring inside the dew shield a bit, gave the telescope a gentle shake – while vertical of course – to settle the lenses, and tightened it back up. Bingo: sharp points of light.

First impressions once fixed? It's a fun step up from binoculars, though admittedly not a giant leap. I used big, bright stars to navigate to smaller ones, and found the Pleiades (great), the Orion nebula (fuzzy glow, some extra stars), Mars (a large spot of pinkish light, just about visible as a disc rather than a point) and the ridges of mountains on the bottom rim of the Moon, which looked really clear and quite spectacular. To my great delight, particularly given I'm a Gemini, I was able to use the 10" EP and the Barlow to split Castor into two clearly visible stars! (I also turned the telescope on the Shard, which gave me vertigo.) 

As for the much vaunted chromatic aberration (CA), yeah there's a bit of a purplish edge on brighter objects - the moon, a few stars - but nothing too distracting. In fact it almost looks cool. (Though I can see how you'd get sick of it over time, or if you wanted to do astrophotography.) The book Turn Left at Orion helps me figure out what stars to look at; the Stellarium app help to identify where they were, although the automatic compass doesn't work very well on my Samsung S7: it keeps insisting I'm looking north when I'm obviously looking east. My phone battery also died on my first expedition – which made me glad I hadn't bought a Go-To/synscan.

A few other downsides:

-The AZ3 mount is very light and easy to whack up in under a minute, but it's paradoxically both a bit rickety and a bit stiff. Things improved once I used a wrench to slightly loosen the "friction bolt" that controls vertical (altitude) movement. But it's a bit jerky, and not very precise: you basically have to just shove it around, and often have to go a little bit past a star so that it will "snap" back into centre when you let go. The slow motion controls do help to centre stars, though, and the ST80 has such a wide FOV that you don't need to be too precise. It also holds the telescope very stable. So it's fine, it's just not very ... nice.

-The 45 degree diagonal is not great for astronomy (it's designed for terrestrial viewing), and the Barlow makes things extremely dim. But the eyepieces seem good: a step up from the stock eyepieces I've been warned against. 

-Speaking of dim, I'm viewing in London, where light is an issue – both the lights around me (even in the park) and the skyglow. The ST80 obviously has some limits in this regard, though any telescope would. Navigation can be quite difficult as a result – I get lost a lot, even with this telescope's very wide view, and I couldn't find things like the Crab Nebula. But again, it would be hard in London with any telescope. I've decided against getting a light pollution filter, given that I already need all the light in my puny 3" aperture I can get. But I'd say manage your expectations, if you're in a city. You're not going to see a lot of incredible swirly galaxies.

Nevertheless you will see lots of cool stuff, and it's certainly a huge thrill to find so many things in the sky that you can't with the naked eye. The ST80 is intuitively fun to "point and shoot", and it's easy to set up and cheap enough that I can run around the city with it without too much fear (safety is always a consideration in London). As many people have said, the best telescope is the one you use – so full marks for the ST80 there.

One piece of advice to fellow newcomers: I found it takes a few sessions of looking at the sky just to get oriented ... in fact, just to get used to looking through a telescope at all. The brain takes a while to get accustomed. Don't get frustrated, is my top tip – it does get easier with time. Starting with binoculars helped. 

Alternatives to the ST80? A bigger ST120 would help take in more light – though it would also take in more light pollution and apparently has worse CA – so I'd like to try one though. A small Mak (90? 102?) would give better views of the Moon, which is crisp through the ST80 but doesn't fill the view, and the planets – but given how difficult I've found it to navigate even with the wide-field ST80, I think a Mak would be a poor choice for a first telescope unless you had a Go-To setup.

I also must admit I've got my eye on an F7 4" ED doublet to try to do both things well: deep sky objects and planets. But they're expensive, and I want to get the hang of the basics first. 

So yeah, the ST80: a simple but effective telescope that's fun to use in the city and would be even more fun in less light-washed skies, eg the suburbs or countryside (and perfect to throw in a bag on camping trips). It's not going to blow your mind visually, but it's a great, cheap way to figure out if you like looking up. So far, at least, I've got the bug.

Chris

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Get that scope out to rural skies and it actually will "blow your mind visually". 😀 The difference really is amazing. I'm glad the ST80 has given you the bug rather than put you off. 👍

[Stu1smartcookie]

So , whats the next scope , Chris...lol ? In the short while i had that scope i was really happy with it . Its all about knowing the limitations and strength of the equipment . You , quite rightly for your observing situation , chose wisely . The ST80 is a great Wide field scope ... when Gas Giants are visible in the night sky this summer you may want something with a bit more scope (pun intended) and higher magnification capabilities , so , maybe a small Mak to complement it . Remember , the expense never ends

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Nice report ! 🙂

I'm glad all the anguish over what 'scope to buy & how much to spend eventually resulted in a good decision , and that you see the practicalities and limitations of the setup (or should I say,  your first setup ...   ) as part of a learning curve, rather than a disappointment. Given the number of people on here who have one of these little 'scopes as a quick set up option, I suspect it will  stay with you even if you buy something else .

On a bright star or the Moon, do try the option of putting the cap on the 'scope and removing the smaller cap in the centre, it really does provide a reduction in CA, and as it costs nothing to try and is immediately reversible, its a no risk option . Obviously it cuts some light out, but that's no bad thing for the Moon.

I've had a look  around, and found some discussion about the az3 mount alt problem :

http://www.spacegazer.com/index.asp?pageid=97490

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/56190-az3-mount-altitude-adjustments/

 

 

Heather

[Tiny Clanger]

That 2x barlow , is it one of the very cheap efforts with just a single lens at the bottom ? Someone 'kind' but with no idea gave me one of those a while back, shiny plastic tube , single element glass lens, no coating on the lens, truly horrible overall effect 😞

I bought a 'de luxe' SW version like this https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-x2-deluxe-achromatic-barlow-lens-125.html (but not from RVO, their delivery for such a small thing pushed the price way up ) Which worked OK, but I just didn't like in the dob or the mak with my BST starguider EPs.

However, that barlow works really well in my st80 with the couple of SW super plossls which were my first EP upgrades, making a neat little portable lightweight set to stay with the ST80, a 12.5mm plossl, a 17mm plossl , and the barlow to give 6.25mm and 8.5mm options. Using a barlow to get the magnification rather than buying a 6mm plossl has the effect of producing more eye relief than the 6mm alone would give, and eye relief on sush plossls can be a problem .  I've a 25mm LER stock EP to use too, all fitting in a 'really useful' pencil type box with a bit of foam to stop them bashing each other, making a neat little package of lightweight EPs to use in the st80.

My barlow appears identical to this one https://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlows/astro-essentials-125-2x-barlow-with-t-thread.html which is miraculously in stock ...  and only £25 .... actually the astro essentials plossls https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astro-essentials-eyepieces/astro-essentials-super-plossl-eyepiece.html look remarkably similar to my SW 'super plossls ', I might perhaps buy the ST80 its very own 32mm plossl, the SW one is so good I still use it alongside the BSTs in the other 'scpes ... 

[wibblefish]

Nice review, thanks! Look forward to hearing any more thoughts or further telescope reviews in future  Enjoy your scope and clear skies!

[happy-kat]

Lovely report on the ST80, good to read it's worked out well for you.

This member posted many observing reports using it, this is one but many where from London and just like you in a park.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/226361-the-stars-were-bright-fernando/

I added a counter weight bar to my az3.

[Basementboy]

10 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

Get that scope out to rural skies and it actually will "blow your mind visually".

As soon as the lockdown chains are off!

9 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

So , whats the next scope , Chris...lol ?

Haha you guessed it, already have my eye on the second (and third!) ones. I reckon a small Mak? Last night I got access to the roof of my building, which was amazing - it makes it MUCH easier and safer for me to take multiple scopes if needed – not to mention maybe investing in something a little pricier in future (that F7 ED doublet?) that I would otherwise worry about losing to one of Camberwell's many enterprising young gang members

But for now I really need a better mount. The AZ3 is not a lot of fun to use.

8 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I've had a look  around, and found some discussion about the az3 mount alt problem :

 

Thanks! These are really helpful links. I'm going to try taking it apart and using lithium grease, instead of the "glue and molasses" that's in the there – this sounds like it makes the action a lot smoother. But as one of the commenter says, "This thing has been around since Herodotus was a cheerleader and hasn't changed for the better." He notes it is basically designed to  be forcibly shoved around, which is why it has the slow-mo controls to fine tune. Look, it's a light, cheap mount and I got the whole package with decent eyepieces for under £200. I'm not complaining. Though I am eyeing up an AZ5...

 

6 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

That 2x barlow , is it one of the very cheap efforts with just a single lens at the bottom ? Someone 'kind' but with no idea gave me one of those a while back, shiny plastic tube , single element glass lens, no coating on the lens, truly horrible overall effect 😞

 

Awful. Hideous. Like you're barely looking at the sky at all. Definitely eyeing an upgrade! But, given the ST80 is really a widefield scope, I wonder how much magnification it can take anyway? My 26" Plossl is great but the 10" definitely not quite as bright (though I suppose that's a given – the higher the mag, the less light, correct?)

 

5 hours ago, happy-kat said:

I added a counter weight bar to my az3.

Interesting! I see one of the other commenters did the same. What kind of telescope do you have on it? The tricky bit for me is that I want/need portability, so I was very keen to avoid counterweights

 

5 hours ago, wibblefish said:

Look forward to hearing any more thoughts or further telescope reviews in future

You may live to regret this statement

[Tiny Clanger]

2 hours ago, Basementboy said:

 ...... I reckon a small Mak? Last night I got access to the roof of my building, which was amazing - it makes it MUCH easier and safer for me to take multiple scopes if needed – not to mention maybe investing in something a little pricier in future (that F7 ED doublet?) that I would otherwise worry about losing to one of Camberwell's many enterprising young gang members

I see a swift escalation from a humble st80 to a stealthily camouflaged illicit rooftop observatory cunningly disguised as part of a ventilation system, and  housing 'multiple scopes ' 🙂

[Louis D]

I've found 60x on my ST80 is about the highest useful magnification due to my scope's spherical aberration and false color.  I can push my 72ED to over 100x by comparison thanks to the better color correction and lens figure.  Moving up from a fast achromat to at least to an FPL-51 doublet makes a huge difference in the purity of the views.  Moving up from that to an FPL-53 doublet or triplet is more of an incremental step in comparison.

Those old school AZ3 alt-az mounts are pretty horrible, but still better than the $15 photo tripod that came packaged with my ST80 20 years ago.  It is absolutely dreadful.  I now use it as a light stand for portraiture photography, and even then it's hard to set a fixed lighting angle.

[Oat]

@Basementboy

I just got an ST80 this week too.

I had previosuly had an 8" dob, and a couple of newts. The newts were a pain to set up on the EQ mount (i never did master that), and the dob was just too big to store and move outside. This ST80 packs quite a punch - i really wish it had been my first scope, it's awesome 😀

I have upgraded the diagonal to a 90 degree SVBONY Dielectric one and the improvement is huge. It appears to be really well made and of great quality.

I have also got an SVBONY SV171 zoom eyepiece which i saw recommended here it is also great quality and perfect for grab and go astronomy, saves changing eyeieces and honestly is probably all i'll ever use. It is quite a big lump, but i like that and find it easier to align my eye with than the plossl's that came with the scope. It gets a big recommendation from me.

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Oat

[happy-kat]

The thread on my first light on the ST80 and what I had used for the counter weight bar. There are other weight options that have their own tension knobs for sliding and holding position on a bar, I fashioned what I could do with what I could get at the time.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/208717-new-arrival/?do=findComment&comment=2499571

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by happy-kat

[KP82]

11 hours ago, Basementboy said:

Haha you guessed it, already have my eye on the second (and third!) ones. I reckon a small Mak? Last night I got access to the roof of my building, which was amazing - it makes it MUCH easier and safer for me to take multiple scopes if needed – not to mention maybe investing in something a little pricier in future (that F7 ED doublet?) that I would otherwise worry about losing to one of Camberwell's many enterprising young gang members

But for now I really need a better mount. The AZ3 is not a lot of fun to use.

The AZ3 is now the weakest link in your rig. That would be the first upgrade to look for if I were in your position. If you get another scope for high mag on this horrible mount, their performance would be seriously hindered.

If you're going for a Mak, I'd strongly recommend getting it with the AZ5 as a bundle. Then you can get rid of the AZ3. The 4" ED doublet comes as OTA only, so if you're going that route, make sure you sort out the mount first. It needs an AZ5 on a steel tripod as the minimum.

[Pixies]

4 minutes ago, KP82 said:

The AZ3 is now the weakest link in your rig. That would be the first upgrade to look for if I were in your position. If you get another scope for high mag on this horrible mount, their performance would be seriously hindered.

If you're going for a Mak, I'd strongly recommend getting it with the AZ5 as a bundle. Then you can get rid of the AZ3. The 4" ED doublet comes as OTA only, so if you're going that route, make sure you sort out the mount first. It needs an AZ5 on a steel tripod as the minimum.

Doesn't necessarily need to be steel. Just avoid the 'budget' aluminium SW ones. I use a Manfrotto 055B and it's as stable as a stable thing. Picked it up secondhand for under £40

I love my new AZ5. It's such a revelation having decent slo-mo controls on a stable AltAz mount.

[KP82]

3 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Doesn't necessarily need to be steel. Just avoid the 'budget' aluminium SW ones. I use a Manfrotto 055B and it's as stable as a stable thing. Picked it up secondhand for under £40

I love my new AZ5. It's such a revelation having decent slo-mo controls on a stable AltAz mount.

I was referring to using the AZ5 with a 4" ED doublet. The Manfrotto 055 (I've got a 055CL myself) will be overloaded in this case.

Edited March 18, 2021 by KP82

[Pixies]

1 minute ago, KP82 said:

I was referring to using the AZ5 with a 4" ED doublet.

Ooops. Sorry

[Aquavit]

Nice report.

I was in your position a few months ago and took the plunge with a SkyMax 102 Mak on an EQ1 mount, the scope is great for the moon and I bought it just prior to the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction so was thrilled to witness that. I soon came to realise that the EQ mount was a lot of hassle and objects outside the Solar System were hard to find with the Mak.

So I convinced myself I needed a 'Frac and bought an ED80 from TS-Optiks along with their AZT6 mount as a grab and go setup that will travel easily. I'm in Bortle 4 skies and right from first light the ED80 has wowed me, lovely high contrast views with a black velvety background that amazes with the amount of stars that are visible. I've become obsessed with Orion and keep going back to it as it's so easy to locate and is just an incredible thing to see. My favourite EP with this scope is the Explore Scientific 26mm 62º that I use to surf the sky and revel in the wonder of it. I switch to an OVL zoom lens to view objects in more detail so have most bases covered with just the two eyepieces.

I'm amazed how good an 80mm refractor is and given better skies I think you will be too but, like you, I'm already planning a route to larger aperture scopes!

[Louis D]

14 hours ago, KP82 said:

I was referring to using the AZ5 with a 4" ED doublet. The Manfrotto 055 (I've got a 055CL myself) will be overloaded in this case.

Then pick up a second hand Manfrotto 3068.  They have a 40 pound capacity and have variable leg angles along with a geared center column.  I use mine with a DSV-2B mounting a 90mm triplet APO on one side and a 127 Mak on the other with no issues.

[Basementboy]

On 18/03/2021 at 07:25, Oat said:

I have also got an SVBONY SV171 zoom eyepiece

Congrats on the new ST80 and welcome to the club! Innteresting about the zoom eyepiece – have you tried any others, like the Baader Hyperion I see mentioned?

 

23 hours ago, KP82 said:

The AZ3 is now the weakest link in your rig.

Yeah, definitely. I'd almost be tempted to buy it even without getting another telescope. That said, I am thinking of picking up a used Skymax 90 that I think/hope will be OK on the AZ3? Or is that wishful thinking?

I wish those slow boats from China would hurry up ... I don't see any AZ5 mounts for sale secondhand.

22 hours ago, Aquavit said:

So I convinced myself I needed a 'Frac and bought an ED80 from TS-Optiks along with their AZT6 mount as a grab and go setup that will travel easily.

Haha yeah I can see why. I'm looking at eventually getting a 4" given I've already got the 3". How's the AZT6? 

 

On 18/03/2021 at 08:41, happy-kat said:

The thread on my first light on the ST80 and what I had used for the counter weight bar.

Nice hack!

 

22 hours ago, Pixies said:

I love my new AZ5. It's such a revelation having decent slo-mo controls on a stable AltAz mount.

Jealous

[Stu1smartcookie]

9 minutes ago, Basementboy said:

I love my new AZ5. It's such a revelation having decent slo-mo controls on a stable AltAz mount.

Glad you are happy with the mount , Neil .

[Basementboy]

Haha I should have bought it off you after all, Stu!

[Aquavit]

27 minutes ago, Basementboy said:

Haha yeah I can see why. I'm looking at eventually getting a 4" given I've already got the 3". How's the AZT6? 

The AZT6 is lovely, very well built with a smooth action and weighs less than 1Kg. Copes well with the ED80 without any counterweight on my Manfrotto tripod for quick sessions but adding a couple of kilos on a bar scavenged from an EQ1 mount does give it better balance, more refined motion on the azimuth and a feeling of greater stability.

[Stu1smartcookie]

1 minute ago, Basementboy said:

Haha I should have bought it off you after all, Stu!

lol I feel like i am a shop sometimes  

[KP82]

32 minutes ago, Basementboy said:

Yeah, definitely. I'd almost be tempted to buy it even without getting another telescope. That said, I am thinking of picking up a used Skymax 90 that I think/hope will be OK on the AZ3? Or is that wishful thinking?

I wish those slow boats from China would hurry up ... I don't see any AZ5 mounts for sale secondhand.

If you plan to get a 4" ED eventually, my suggestion is don't bother with a 90 Mak unless you can find a really cheap used one. It should be ok on the AZ3 as it's a really compact and light scope.

To complement your frac with a Mak for high-res planetary views, I'd suggest a 6". If Skymax 150 is out of your budget, you can always go for a 6" f/8 dob instead.

[SuburbanMak]

Great choice for getting out under the stars & a great review thank you, really enjoyed reading it.

I bought my ST80 as a complement to a 127 Mak to give those wider fields and am currently enjoying the best of both worlds (or other worlds!). Both are portable, the ST80 even more so & I find lends itself to quick sessions when I am not sure of the weather and also the second session of the night when I've already done some quite detailed concentrated observing/object hunting & just fancy getting out and looking at some sparkly things. 

Mount wise, I am using the SW AZGTi on a Star Adventurer tripod which works very well across both and is bomb-proof for the ST80.  Currently in two minds on mount upgrade path - 1 option is the Manfrotto type photo-tripod + AZ5 as dedicated grab n go, the other is something heavier in the tripod department & a SkyTee for both scopes, leaving the AZGTi/Star Adventurer for grab & go.    

(BTW my experience so far has been that its an easy misconception that Maks are only any good for the planets and moon - the 127 resolves some very tight doubles and I am finding superb on the tight Messier clusters, both of which are good target types from an urban location. I am even having some joy with spring galaxies, although more locating & "ticking off" than seeing detail. Telrad + finderscope solved for the narrow field & there are only a few objects that don't fit the field - but you'd have the ST80 for those...).

Clear skies and have fun!  

Edited March 19, 2021 by SuburbanMak