Apogee 80mm ED Refractor

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Apogee 80mm ED Refractor
This telescope looks like a smaller version of the Astro-Physics Traveler. It has a 3.5" diameter tube, with an anodized black finish and has silver trim. It has a 2" crayford focuser and a rotabable bracket that allows the scope to be attached to a camera tripod. The lens is of ED glass, and accordingly I had high expectations for this scope. Unfortunately the lens in this particular model was very very poor, being compared directly to one of the University Optics scopes also reported to have ED glass and of the identical aperture and focal length. The images were very soft and uneven. A problem was suspected even at very low power.

The first lens was returned to Apogee, and to their credit they did report that some of the lens in the 2nd batch were poorly figured. They quickly sent out a second lense and cell. The 2nd lens was much better than the first. This telescope gives a much nicer image than either the Orion Short Tube 80 or 90, but still falls far short of the University Optics 80 mm f/6.25. The primary problems noted are a lot of light scatter on Jupiter and brighter stars, as well as a lot of false color (chromatic problems) on brighter objects such as Jupiter and the moon. Double star splits are acceptable (Castor @ 40x with a 12mm orthoscopic), however the 80mm University is discernably better.

The 2" crayford focuser is a joy to use. Very smooth! Better even than TeleVue focusers. It is great and is available separately from the scope for either newtonian, refractor or schmidt-cass (which is rotatable). If Apogee can improve the lens, this will be a great moderately priced scope!

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Apogee 80mm ED Refractor
Great looks, great focuser, everything great but the performance! Extremely poor optics for the price. The moon is grotesque with a huge yellow glow, Jupiter and Saturn are hopeless. OK for terrestial viewing with 25mm eyepiece, but useless for astronomical use. Too bad - a little more care with the objective would produce a very nice scope.

Overall Rating: 3
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Apogee 80mm ED Refractor
Very smooth focuser (same as 'Megrez' from Yang); nice construction, but baffles dim the view; optics star-test only fair (may need adjustment by owner) with haze inside focus; in-focus images surprisingly good however; colour on bright objects.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Apogee 80mm ED Refractor
I can't comment directly on this telescope, but I can comment on its ED objective lens, which I bought separately to put into my University Optics f6.25 refractor. From the comments above, it would seem I was performing a downgrade on my UO refractor. But it was definitely an upgrade (see my entry against that telescope, for a description of why I did it). The Apogee ED glass lens I have gives sharper images than the UO objective lens, by a moderate degree. My friend, who owns a Vixen flourite and is knowledgeable on APOs, checked out the images delivered through my Apogee ED glass. He concluded that the lens was a bit rough, but that it still blew away the images delivered by most regular achromats.

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Apogee 80mm ED Refractor
This refractor does very well for its price range. Yes, there is some color on each side of focus but not to the extent of being distractive. You will pay three times more to get less color. Star tests are good but not quite identical on either side of focus. The Apogee makes a nice traveling scope and you haven't paid so much that you worry over it.

Overall Rating: 7
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Apogee 80mm ED Refractor
For less than $500 (currently $449) you get a taste of what it’s like to own a Tak 78 or TV 85 class scope. Don’t let the early reviews throw you. The later multicoated version of this scope is an optical and mechanical work of art. Put a good quality diagonal on this scope and use some of the money you saved to buy a few quality eyepieces and get ready to be dazzled.
I can’t think of a comparable scope (save its cousin the Megrez 80) under $1000. If a Takahashi FS102 is a 10, this is a strong 8.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:8 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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Have you tried an FS102??
Let me put it his way; The 80ED is a good scope.
But if the 80ED is an "8", the FS102, would be a "15" not a "10". (Meade ED would be 5-6)
Apogee 80mm ED Refractor
These occasionaly appear for sale used on Astromart at attractive prices, so this review is for anyone considering one as a low cost alternative to a Megrez/Pronto/TV 76/Tak 78.
I owned a Apogee 80mm ed for a year and a half. The optics were fine - good detail on planets and moon up to about 150x, then color started to appear on Jupiter. The moon and Saturn could take a little more without color, but I don't think I ever saw more detail than at about 150x. Star focused to fine points across the field and were free of false color. Exactly what I expected and I was satisfied.
What drove me crazy with this scope, however, was the inability to use 2 inch diagonals and eyepieces. With my 2 inch TV diagonal, only one or two of my 1.25" eyepieces would reach focus. No 2-inch eyepieces would. Why would someone design a telescope with a 2" focuser that cannot use a 2" diagonal? I would like to meet the guy responsible for this little feature. Apogee did not respond to communication about this or any other issue after the sale. I would not but from them again.
If you just want a 1.25" telescope, this would be a good used buy. I preferred and still prefer its flat black look to the William Optics Megrez (with which it shares many parts and optics). The Megrez for me looks like a telescope that Sadaam Hussein would think looked really flash and classy. To each his or her own, of course.

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:8 Ease of Use:1 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
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