SkywatcherEvostar 80 Apo Doublet Refractor – Compact And Portable Optical Tube For Affordable Astrophotography And Visual Astronomy (S11100)

I ordered a telescope from Amazon for my son on his birthday. I was waiting eagerly for this product. We opened the box with excitement and found the product as shown in the picture above (damaged box). I have previously had good experience with Amazon so therefore I returned the product for an exchange. I was again waiting eagerly for my telescope. Opened the box again and found an even bad condition product see picture 2. This is an example of a really bad product quality assurance by Amazon. The telescope itself is great. Sadly, I will be returning this telescope too and will be looking at other options to buy this. My son is still waiting for his birthday gift.

I chose this scope after weeks and weeks of going back and forth trying to decide between an APO refractor or cheaper reflector. All and all, I am happy with my purchase but have a couple suggestions for any newbies like me considering this (or any other "first" telescope). First, go on to stellarium website and punch in the specs for the scope and then use the program to show you what different objects (planets, stars, nebluae, etc) will look like with your scope and eyepieces. I was a bit let down that this scope couldn't really resolve the rings of Saturn (because of its small aperture) and would have realized this if I had looked on stellarium first. Second, the focuser on here will probably need to be upgraded if you are doing a lot of photography. The focuser slides a lot with a DSLR attached, so have to use the focus lock a lot. Finally, like all the magazines say, you should be spending just as much (if not more) money on your tripod and mount. I started with this scope on a cheap 100$ alt/az mount and was discouraged by the difficulty in adjusting the scope as it was really too heavy for the mount. I switched to a HEQ5 and am now really happy with the setup. The Orion nebula picture is taken from my back porch which is in an area with lots of clouds and light.

It's a great looking scope with great optics. Understand that now they are renamed EVOSTAR which is written on the side and comes with a green dovetail mounting plate. Optics are good. Well worth it for a 100mm apo on a budget. The case is just a case. Eyepieces are of regular eyepiece quality. The 5mm is a nice planetary EP if you don't own many eyepieces. Downfalls really only include that with the case, where the foam inserts are, you have to move your rings so that it will fit, rather than keeping them where you know you're balancing point is, makes setting up a few minutes longer.Edit. This is an amazing telescope. Seriously. The views are superb. Had it for almost two months now. Greatest under a 1000 dollars. The case isn't that bad. The eyepieces are actually quite good. You'll want better though. This scope deserves it. The planets are awesome through this scope. Wide field 2" eyepieces have stars looking pinpoint. Love itMy second editSince purchasing the 100ED, I went ahead and purchased the 120ED. This scope is amazing. Slightly more light gathering brings in slightly more planetary detail, slightly more stars, does amazing with doubles. By far my favorite scope I’ve purchased behind a 10” dob. Mounting is easy as it doesn’t take much more than what you needed for the 100ED. If you can afford the 120ED, I’d take it over the 100ED any day.

This telescope will provide beautiful views of the night sky with pinpoint stars. It is easy to transport and doesn't require a long time to cool down. In addition to a nice right-angle finder, it comes with a 2" diagonal and a 1-1/4" adapter for eyepieces. I liked the telescope so much that I bought a high-quality 2" Televue eyepiece to go with it. Although the focuser is smooth and is dual-speed, it can't handle a heavy 2" eyepiece without major slipping, unless the telescope is pointing near the horizon. When pointed near the zenith, the focuser slips with even some 1-1/4" eyepieces. Fortunately, the focus lock works well so you can focus on something near the horizon, lock focus, and then reposition the telescope to look at something overhead--although even this is not enough to use the heavier eyepieces looking towards the zenith. I believe that this is a design limitation that would affect all sizes of Sky Watcher EvoStar refractor telescopes. If you would be using only lighter eyepieces, this probably won't be an issue for you. However, if you would like to have a "spacewalk" experience using a high-quality eyepiece, you should probably consider a telescope that has a better focuser.

I have a Celestron 9.25 Evo which is a great scope but very large and heavy I got this for a grab and go. I really like this scope. The views, since it is a refractor are close to that of my 9.25. But, it is much lighter and more portable. Comes in a great aluminium case to carry it in. Build quality is good. Large enough to capture plenty of light for faint objects. At 900mm focal length it gives a fairly wide view of objects, but can still easily give high mag views of planets, etc. with a good quality eyepiece and barlow. The eye pieces it comes with are good quality and give clear views. This scope will definitely get more use than my 9.25. Highly recommend for anyone looking to get a good all round scope capable of both high mag and wider views of nebulae and star clusters. It does have some fringing on really bright objects, but is much less than with a standard achromatic scope. So far I really love this scope!