Skywatcher Equinox 80mm ED APO.

[simon84]

I was stirred from my slumber this morning by the vague murmorings of a conversation between my wife and someone who had knocked at our door at some ungodly hour of the morning.

I stood at the top of the stairs rubbing my eyes to see my wife standing in the entrance to the kitchen carrying a large brown box.

BING! I'm awake.

First came the knife and the slow deliberate cutting actions somewhat akin to a surgeon high on adrenaline carrying out some new procedure for the first time.

Peeling back the flaps of the box I see the first glimpses of the silver case thats protecting something almost as precious as my first born.

Its here, its arrived, its my new toy, its my long awaited Skywatcher Equinox 80ED Apochromatic refracting telescope.

First impressions when I opened the case were of the sheer quality that this little scope boasts. Its black and really really shiny, I love it already.

Taking out of the case I was immediatley surprised by the weight of such a little scope. It feels solid, very solid. After rolling it around in my hands a few times looking it over I mounted it onto my rather modest camera tripod which just about managed with the weight of the scope, first upgrade me thinks.

I was a little bit concerned about the "L" bracket Skywatcher have fitted for mounting the scope but upon seeing it for myself it feels very solid indeed, I think it will be fine for visual use but when I'm imaging with my dslr and a guidescope mounted on it aswell I think I will be putting it in the William Optics CNC 90mm rings on a losmandy dovetail bar.

I popped the lens cover off and the glass just looked superb, I'm used to small lenses on my camera so this looked huge in comparison and the multi coatings give it a real green oil slick kind of appearance. The dew shield next, and it slid up the tube with no effort and felt silky smooth as it did so. Popped the lens cap back on which was a really nice snug fit thanks to the lining of felt on the inside of the cap.

Back at the other end and its my first go of using a dual speed crayford and after a few seconds of trying it out I NEVER want to use a single speed crayford or R&P focuser again. It is truely awesome, the draw tube seems to glide using the main knob but using the fine focus knob gives you so much control over it.

The focuser is 360 degree rotatable and I'd heard some negative things regarding this part of the scope but I thought I'd have a look at it with an open mind.

Its not great, it does what its supposed to do but to be honest I'd rather it not be there. Its easy to use but it dosnt function as smoothly as all the other parts of the scope and after tightening it back up it seemed to still have a small amount of play in it.

That being said from what I've seen so far its a fantastic scope and I am busting at the chops to see something throught it, so on to first light.

I only had about twenty minutes in between other things tonight to have a look through the scope so I picked two targets to try the optics out on. First target was the moon and at 12% of full tonight it was a phase of the moon I'd been looking forward to seeing since getting my first scope last September.

So I popped in the 2" dieletric diagonal and my Rigel 32mm 70 degree FOV EP and had my first look. Getting the moon into focus was a breeze with the dual speed crayford and once in focus the fine focus allowed alot of adjustment around the sweet spot. I struggle sometimes with the single speed on my 300P but this was so easy in comparison. The view was pin sharp across the whole field of view and when moving the target from one side of the view to the other no amount of fine tuning was required. It was colour free and easily the best view I've ever had.

My next target was Orions sword and a look at M42 and again using the 32mm giving me a magnification of 15.6x the FOV was breathtaking. I placed M42 in the centre and had a look at the stars close to the edge of the FOV and they were pin sharp and very bright. M42 itself showed a fair amount of nebulosity and was deffinitley teasing me to put a higher power EP in, but I had to resist as I'd made promises to the little ones tonight.

I am so impressed with the Equinox 80ED, I've seen prices range from around the £449 mark upwards and I was able to pick this one up used with a 2" dielectric diagonal for £320 delivered and it is worth every penny and then some.

I cant wait to start imaging with it, its so good that I'm pretty sure I'm going to let my Explorer 300P go and invest in its big brother the Equinox 120ED.

[tooth_dr]

Great review and superbly written. All the best with it.

Regards

Adam

[AndyH]

Good stuff Sly.

Nothing beats the excitement of the ring of the doorbell and a nice brown box awaiting you.

Andy.

[A McEwan]

Hope you enjoy using it - the Equinox is a fine range of 'scopes. The 120 is definately the cream of he crop, but I'm sure that 80 will keep you happy for a long time yet!

[GazOC]

Nice review Sly. I too have heard mixed opinions on the focuser but mine seemed fine, no Moonlight but a similar quality to the WO model I have on my ED120.

You def. got a great deal at £320!!!

[johninderby]

Glad you like it. The Equinox series of scopes are very nice indeed. I too could never go back to a single speed focuser, the dual speed is just too nice.

The only thing I don't like about them is that stupid locking ring for the rotating focuser, I found that even after being tightened up it can work loose again.

John

[simon84]

Thanks all for the comments. First time I've written a review about anything and I really enjoyed writing it.

John I totally agree with you regarding the locking ring, dont know what they were thinking. I'd rather have a fixed focuser and rotate my images in photoshop.

Looking forward to some time spent imaging with it now, just got to finish machining my Losmandy dovetail for it and it will be ready to mount on my NEQ6.