Astrotech Refractor Telescopes

[sojourneyer]

Up until 5-6 years ago this brand had a great market niche for lower end ED refractors in the USA.  Then Svbony entered the market and impacted the AT cash cow for Astronomics, who by the way owns Astrotech.  As a consequence it is most likely that AT profits margins have dropped significantly.

Now those of you card-carrying CN Astrotech aficionados will take umbrage to this post but so be it.  This is just one person's humble opinion.

In order to protect the Astrotech brand, whenever new Svbony posts are made about their telescopes, in particular the refractors, some moderators/administrators and card-carrying CN Astrotech affectionados will undertake protective measures to dissuade members from considering a competitor brand.  Posts will be removed, new posts will promote AT scopes, other posts will try to change the subject.

 

But the Cloudy Nights website is owned by Astrotech so they have the controls no matter how biased they can be.   Astrotech scopes are good scopes. In fact they just added a rotating focuser to their 80ED.

I have both an Astrotech 80ED and a Svbony SV503 80ED.  I definitely prefer the latter.

Edited September 16, 2023 by sojourneyer

[Backyardscope]

Good write up. I am considering a SVBony 70ED I would like to compare say a 72ED from skywatcher and a Evolux 62ed and see if I can notice any difference in quality in optics. I can remember visually how the 72ED performed and how my current 62ed performs. 

How to do find the QC on the SVBony refractors?

Edited September 15, 2023 by Backyardscope

[RobertI]

Interesting to hear what’s happening on CN, but making these kinds of claims is always going to be contentious, and probably best avoided on SGL in my opinion. 

Although Stellamira are very good, I’d point out that there are a wide variety of excellent refractors available in Europe that could be added to the list! 

What is it you prefer about the  Svbony 80 to the Astrotech? 

[sojourneyer]

8 hours ago, Backyardscope said:

Good write up. I am considering a SVBony 70ED I would like to compare say a 72ED from skywatcher and a Evolux 62ed and see if I can notice any difference in quality in optics. I can remember visually how the 72ED performed and how my current 62ed performs. 

How to do find the QC on the SVBony refractors?

The QC is not like the higher end scopes. They did have a problem with the 48P refractor. It was the focuser but none with their ED or APO scopes.  Apparently the screws to the focuser (I think that there are 4 or 8 of them) were too tight.

[sojourneyer]

4 hours ago, RobertI said:

Interesting to hear what’s happening on CN, but making these kinds of claims is always going to be contentious, and probably best avoided on SGL in my opinion. 

Although Stellamira are very good, I’d point out that there are a wide variety of excellent refractors available in Europe that could be added to the list! 

What is it you prefer about the  Svbony 80 to the Astrotech? 

Rob, it is not a claim but a fact.  Book closed.   😀   But onto the other items in your post.  Certainly there are many great refractors out in the European market.  I was using Stellamira because it was in the same price range as AT and Svbony. The others are much more expensive.

The principal reasons why I liked the Svbony 80ED over the AT 80ED :  it has a rotating focuser and better glass - one S FPL-51 ED Glass and one Lanthanide glass showing less CA when I compared them.  I think they are manufactured by the same company.   The quality build of both are excellent.

As a side note, AT has been retooled with a rotating focuser.  This is a very recent occurrence.  The price also went up by $50 and the webpage for the scope was also revised.   So now the two are becoming twins.   The AT is a bit fatter than the Svbony but that is a just an observation not a distraction fro the scope.

Edited September 15, 2023 by sojourneyer

[Backyardscope]

Have you used the Svbony 80ED in the cold yet? Meaning temperatures below 5c?

[dweller25]

@sojourneyer

In my opinion you are border line bashing both a supplier and CN - I wonder why ?

You seem to be trying to discourage people to buy a particular make of scope but at the end of the day it’s their choice what they do.

Perhaps it would be better to just move on from the issue you have ?

Edited September 17, 2023 by dweller25

[sojourneyer]

1 hour ago, Backyardscope said:

Have you used the Svbony 80ED in the cold yet? Meaning temperatures below 5c?

Luckily for me it does not get that cold here. I do not know any reason it would be different from other refractors

[sojourneyer]

3 hours ago, dweller25 said:

@sojourneyer

In my opinion you are border line bashing both a supplier and CN - I wonder why ?

You seem to be trying to discourage people to buy a particular make of scope but at the end of the day it’s their choice what they do.

Perhaps it would be better to just move on from the issue you have ?

Sadly this is based on personal, documented experience with CN and its owner by myself and others.  

I am not trying to discourage anyone from anything. I am just stating facts that are true.  But I felt it would be good to convey to people when making their telescope purchase decisions.

I like the service and products from FLO and will always recommend them. 

At the end of the day each to his/her own. 

Yes, this matter is now closed.  I see you have been a CN card carrier since 2007.  Congratulations!

Edited September 15, 2023 by sojourneyer

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, sojourneyer said:

 I will bash anyone who is unfair and unjust and such is the case.

SGL does not allow bashing of any kind. Please refrain from such actions. Thanks.

[Albir phil]

Everyone play nice 🙂🙂

[sojourneyer]

Okey Dokey Artichokey  ..............................................................................................  sorry😇

Edited September 15, 2023 by sojourneyer

[dweller25]

On 15/09/2023 at 17:00, sojourneyer said:

 I see you have been a CN card carrier since 2007.  Congratulations!

Thats right 👍

I see that you are also a CN card carrier and a vendor affiliate.

In my opinion it’s a poor practice for one vendor to try to undermine another one publicly.

[The60mmKid]

This thread makes less sense than most of the stuff that I post. And that's saying a lot.

👎🦁

[The60mmKid]

Look, everyone: It's an alien mummy! https://www.space.com/alien-mummies-nasa-uap-study-team

[sojourneyer]

I am not a vendor affiliate and that’s the whole point of my thread. It is the practice that they are employing. That is the issue. Someone who points out a problem becomes a vendor or a vendor affiliate or is banned as a result.
As Mr Spock wrote, this is a dead issue

Edited September 17, 2023 by sojourneyer

[Louis D]

I believe most of the rebranded refractors from China/Taiwan are all made by Long Perng, SharpStar, KUO, Synta, JOC, and maybe one or two others.  I say find the one with the features you like best at the price you like best and just enjoy your scope.

[dweller25]

1 hour ago, The60mmKid said:

This thread makes less sense than most of the stuff that I post. And that's saying a lot.

👎🦁

Yup, time to move on ……