Skywatcher 80ED v WO Zenithstar 70ED

[picklesrules]

opinions?

[dannat]

for visual or photographic - the 80 would probably be the best visual, i like Wo quality though for photography

[picklesrules]

it would be for both but mainly photographic

[picklesrules]

anyone else have any views on these two scopes?

[mick pinner]

having used both, the ED80 wins in each area, the ED is IMO the best scope in this price and aperature range.

[dugnsuz]

ED80 for optics, WO for fit and finish.
To bring the ED80 up to the WO spec you might consider changing the focuser assembly. A GSO 10:1 focuser upgrade will cost around $200, the WO unit $379.
From a astrophotography perspective, I would go with the ED80 and ideally the WO focuser.
The FPL53 glass at the ED80's focal length has excellent colour correction.
2 cents worth!
Doug

[UniPol]

Having owned a Saxon ED80, SkyWatcher ED80 and Vixen ED80 I found them to perform equally as well visually and photographically however I never really liked their mechanical construction. The focusers are pretty so so and the general finish pretty ordinary. Mind you, I still have an Orion ED100 which is great for a grab and go telescope owing to its lightness and long focus travel.

Only a couple of weeks ago I took advantage of William Optics free shipping and special price on their 70ED. It also included the aluminium case which is a real bonus. The 70ED arrived about 4 days after my order and cost $460 landed and an extra $73 for their RDF complete. This was certainly a far better deal than Andrew's at $549 and no case. One has to consider the extra 10mm diameter of the ED80's however. At F6.1 (F6.2?) of the 70ED compared to F7.5 of the ED80's this also ads another factor.

I have only had one opportunity to use the 70ED last week and viewed the Moon, Jupiter and regions in Saggitarius and Scorpio. No colour on the edge of the Moon, some very small amount on Jupiter however it wasn't very high and the stars were pretty well pin point with perfect collimation. In and out focus was at variance and showed slight under correction which is probably deliberate for a balance between visual and photographic use. I used both 6mm and 12mm Radians with a WO dielectric quartz 2" diagonal.

In actual fact I bought the 70ED as a guidescope for my WO FLT-110 mainly because it has the same tube finish, gold dew cap and gold enhancements as the FLT, very superficial I know. The quality of the 70ED is outstanding and is over engineered considering its weight and size. I did look at the Megrez 72 APO however a number of reports said that although it had slightly better colour than the 70ED it wasn't quite as sharp. Factoring in that the Megrez was over a $100 dearer and no case, the 70ED seemed to be a better choice for my purposes. I also purchased a a pair of WO collimating brackets which bolt straight on the FLT's tube rings, beautifully made and at $90 they were a bargain.

Steve
Winmalee, NSW

[Big Dave]

What's 'superficial' I say, sexiest scopes arround - see attached pic

Back into context;
I have had the Saxon ED80, Megrez 88FD, Skywatcher BD ED100 and a York ED80.
All were very comparable, if I had to rank them for visual and colour I
would go York ED80, Megrez 88 and then the other two.

The WO 2" Two Speed Crayford focusser were the best, the focal length not ideal for visual but still ok.

The Saxons focusser was really crap - that's why it went.

The skywatcher (being 100mm) was the brightest, ok focusser, but to heavy for my intended dual rolls - both guider and portable scope.

The York ED80 (the only one I still have), it is a re-badged ???, but the optics are surprisingly good.

[wasyoungonce]

Hi Nicholas.

I have just been trying out my new ZS70 ED, mounted on top (as a guide scope) of an Skywatcher ED80.

Last night I had my first go at comparing between the scopes.

The ED80 gives the better image; lest colour fringing; larger image but is a little slower for photographic at F7.5. It is let down by it's focuser. I can never get my diagonal to sit square on the focuser tube...it always tilts. But none the less it is an excellent scope

The ZS70ED has some slight colour fringing most notably on brighter objects, like Jupiter. Of course this scope given it's objective size and that it's a F6.2 so it's not really a planetary scope in anycase. Colour fringing is noticeable when slightly out of focus. But it's a good package, crisp sharp views and has good rotatable focuser witn 10:1 reduction. Very nice compared to the Skywatcher. It is very easy to use for photographic as it just sucks in in the photons.

Attached is a comparison I did of M8 lagoon Nebula. I didn't drift align the scopes so I took short exposures but it does show their differences. You can see the colour around the stars in the ZS70 ED...and it really needs a field flattener.

Over all they both have their good points but the winner IMHO is the ED80. Despite it's longer FL and poor focuser it produces crisp colour free images!

Edit:
No processing on the pics...just low res jpgs.

[picklesrules]

ive decied the ED80 and im only 200 short of getting my scope now so people anyone intrested in buying my binos or neximage see my post :D would be a great help