Aperture Fever? Skywatcher ed help.

[SiriusB]

My little Skywatcher 80ed is my favorite scope i've ever owned.

In fact i've been that impressed that...

...Sometime, not next week, not next month, but just maybe next year i'd like one of its larger brothers the 100ed or 120ed.

Is there anyone out there whos owned more than one of the three who could give me an idea of how much more i'd see with the 100ed over the 80ed, & again the 120ed over the 100ed. a little bit better or a lot?

I'll look at anything up there in the night sky, but what i like best is the visual deep sky, so its mainly there respective performances on deep sky i'm interested in, & i've no plans to get into imaging.

[GazOC]

I've owned all 3 and for visual use with secondhand prices being what they are I think the ED100 is a great deal. The difference in between the ED80 and the ED100 is a lot more apparent than the difference in between the ED100 and the ED120 IMHO.

[Whippy]

I'd go along with that Gaz. Because the ED100 is slower than the 80 & 120, it generally gets ignored by imagers and they don't tend to be much more expensive than an ED80 secondhand. I haven't had a 100 personally but I've had a couple of 'fracs of that size and objects that aren't so aperture dependent like open clusters look great in them.

Saying that though, the 120 is really nice!

Tony..

[SiriusB]

Thanks, that's exactly the sort of info i was after-you've probably saved me a few £ -err once i've earnt them that is! kinda leaning towards the 100ed now.

[John]

I've owned a couple of ED80's and an ED100 but not an ED120. The ED100 was certainly a noticable step up from the ED80 and is a great visual scope at F/9. I consider it to be one of the great bargains in astronomy - I've seen used ones go for just a couple of hundred quid !.

That said I'd probably jump at an ED120 if one came along at the right price - but they do cost considerably more than the ED100's.

[simon84]

I've had an Equinox 80 and currently have the 120 version.

Use it for visual now and again but mostly its used for imaging.

The view through the 120 is nothing short of stunning, as was the view through the 80 but for some of the fainter stuff out there the 120 really allows you to have a go at it. The other thing thats good with the 120 is with the longer focal length you can go a bit more with the higher power EP's which allows some stunning planetary views which the 80 struggled with.

There is an Equinox 100 on AB+S at about £480 at the moment which seems like a really good price as I paid nearly double that for the 120.

Good luck with whatever you go for.

[SiriusB]

Thanks, sounds like i can't really go wrong whichever i choose,from what you're all saying.

Obviously for deep sky the bigger the aperture the better- guess i could get a pretty hefty reflector for the same money- but i have various reasons for sticking with a refractor.

The 100ed sounds better in the cost versus performance stakes,

Thanks for the heads up on the s/h equinox 100,sounds a good deal, but i'm afraid its not happening just yet

I agree the 80ed struggles a bit planetary wise, but i have been amazed how well it performs on deep sky(for the aperture)-hence my wanting a bigger version.

Would you agree the 100ed & 120ed perform likewise on deep sky- ie. amazingly well for their size?