Celestron Rich-Field 80

Ratings:Top:Astronomy:Equipment Reviews:Telescope Reviews:Celestron Rich-Field 80

 Info  Votes  Messages  More Stats  Up One Level
Brand and Model:Celestron Rich-Field 80
Price ($USD):$199.00
Type:Achromatic Refractor
Attributes: un-checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:80mm (3.1")
f Ratio:f/5
Focal Length:400mm
Finder:N/A
Electric Power:N/A
Mount:N/A
Tripod:N/A
Weight (lbs):2.2 lbs.
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:Short focal length rich field refractor, marketed by Celestron but made in Japan by Vixen, recently discontinued. Very compact and lightweight short focus instrument. Too often confused with Chinese-made "short tubes" but of significantly higher optical quality. Excellent lenses and coatings with sharp images and good contrast. Well built and extremely portable.

Vote Highlights Vote
Celestron Rich-Field 80
Lots of false color on my copy. Jupiter looks like it's boiling in purple ink. But this is not a planetary scope. It gives nice wide-field views for looking at clusters, and I imagine it would perform admirably as a spotting scope -- which, after all, is what Celestron says it is!

Overall Rating: 7
Optics:6 Value:8
Weight: 10 (Trustworthy Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=82835 

>Lots of false color on my copy. Jupiter looks like it's boiling in purple ink. But this is not a planetary scope. It gives nice wide-field views for looking at clusters, and I imagine it would perform admirably as a spotting scope -- which, after all, is what Celestron says it is!

Dear mtburr:

Pop a 9mm Nagler on this scope (make sure to tighten the drawtube screw) and look at M42 in at a darksky site and you'll see its forte.  It is definitely not for the planets, and shows color on bright stars, but then again, you get what you pay for.  I have had mine for almost 7 years and take it on trips for nature and stars. It was great for Hale-Bopp with a 20mm wide field (i.e. 20x) and views of the Pleides are outstanding.
ch
Celestron Rich-Field 80
This is a great little scope that I bought as a second scope to my Orion XT10. I wanted something that was quick & easy to setup but still with reasonable optics.
I paid £149 including delivery. For that you get two good plossl eyepieces, erecting prism, tube rings, tripod adapter, T2 camera connection, piggyback mount and a good 6x30 finder.
I mounted it on an EQ1 mount, with RA drive. The complete outfit cost £244. Which gives me a good grab & go scope, that can also be used for astrophotography or as a daytime spotting scope or as a 400mm telephoto lens.

Mechanically the scope is spot on. The rack & pinion focus is smooth. The finder is the same design that I have on the XT10 and is a dream to use. The scope on a whole feels well made and built to last.

Using the supplied eyepieces, the images obtained are perfect. Stars focus to pinpoints and the main messier objects are pleasing to view. Haven't had a chance to view any planets but I am not too worried as its already surpassed my expectations.

I would happily recommend this scope either for a beginner or as a grab & go scope for someone who needs something small and portable.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=122204

Celestron Rich-Field 80
I am at least the third owner of this little scope.
I purchased it used over the net.
It is the Celestron Rich Field 80 Model # 52255

This is a very light weight refractor built with a non collimatable cell. It uses a Vixen foil spaced doublet. It has a 1.25" rack and pinion focuser, that readily accepts most oculars.
At 15 to 70 magnification visually it performs admirably as it is intended. Images are crisp and clear with little noticeable field curvature.When attached to a camera curvature is more noticeable,especially at the corners .
Chromatic abberation becomes more noticeable
between 70 and 120 magnification. The image quickly degrades from 120 to 175 magnification.
Ray tracing indicates that the draw tube of the focuser appears to intrude into the light path, but this does not seem to vignet as much as one would think.(It was not noticeable to this user.)
This is a nice "pocket" scope for birding or travel.
Nice images and good construction make this a good value for the money.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=598771

Celestron Rich-Field 80
A generally good little telescope,ideal as a second scope and for those who live in heavily light polluted areas and require a portable instrument,to take to a dark site.False colour problems,easily resolved with the use of a Baader Neodymium filter.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:7 Mount:5 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=139126

Celestron Rich-Field 80
I found this telescope a pleasure to use and a pleasure to look at. It does, however, have defects which may or may not interfere with an owner's satifaction with the possession/use of this instrument; that being dependent on the use the scope is being put to and the expertise of the user.

Good: The focuser functions well. It is light and easily transportable. It sets up and takes down quickly. Many would prefer to just leave it set up all the time. The tube has a high quality glean, it is metal, the objective is clearly multicoated on all surfaces: the color is a deep green and there are no white reflections indicative of uncoated surfaces. The focuser works well and smoothly. It provides very good terrestrial views through all magnifications up to 50X per inch of aperture (not tested above that figure). It provides good astronomical magnifications up to 80X, fair into the hundreds-X, adequate/borderline quality at 50X. In focus, stars appear as pinpoints across the entire field of view. Though one can detect the cassini division, one cannot actually see it. The double double in Lyra is clearly seen/resolved into 4 airy disks with diffraction rings at 80X and above.

Negatives: The star test is ugly; a fuzzy reddish circular ball with a double line near the fuzzy perimeter on one side, an unfuzzy oblate shape on the other side of focus with a bluish ring of blue serving as the boundary of the perimeter. At the very highest powers, the just outside of focus image has the appearance of an airy disk with a series of touching airy-like disks descending away to one side; each disk being about half the brightness of the former. On the moon, a very pleasant view is gained. It is obvious that there is only one focuser position of best focus. In this sense it snaps into focus. However, I found I was always squinting my eyes, because the view, just was an indefinable bit off of being crisp. Venus is well defined but does have a reddish side and a greenish side. The moon had a visible, but hardly distracting purple fringe. The finder seems cheap and shoddy. It works well when I have my glasses on (for normal vision) but if one needs to focus for near-sightedness, once the stars become dots, the cross hairs are almost invisible (out of focus). The manner of focusing has a cheap feeling to it (rotating/unscrewing a plastic eyepiece holder).

More favorable: there are stargazers who have largely corrected the optical defects by dismantling the objective, rotating the two lens elements to different relative positions and by changing the separation of the two elements. One observer has told me that this caused the view of the cassini division on Saturn to go from being barely detectable to a vague but very noticeable light pencil line.

Overall Rating: 8
Optics:7 Ease of Use:9 Value:8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=136355 

>I found this telescope a pleasure to use and a pleasure to look at.  It does, however, have defects which may or may not interfere with an owner's satifaction with the possession/use of this instrument; that being dependent on the use the scope is being put to and the expertise of the user.
>
>Good: The focuser functions well.  It is light and easily transportable.  It sets up and takes down quickly.  Many would prefer to just leave it set up all the time.  The tube has a high quality glean, it is metal, the objective is clearly multicoated on all surfaces: the color is a deep green and there are no white reflections indicative of uncoated surfaces.  The focuser works well and smoothly.  It provides very good terrestrial views through all magnifications up to 50X per inch of aperture (not tested above that figure).  It provides good astronomical magnifications up to 80X, fair into the hundreds-X, adequate/borderline quality at 50X.  In focus, stars appear as pinpoints across the entire field of view.  Though one can detect the cassini division, one cannot actually see it.  The double double in Lyra is clearly seen/resolved into 4 airy disks with diffraction rings at 80X and above.
>
>Negatives:  The star test is ugly; a fuzzy reddish circular ball with a double line near the fuzzy perimeter on one side, an unfuzzy oblate shape on the other side of focus with a bluish ring of blue serving as the boundary of the perimeter.  At the very highest powers, the just outside of focus image has the appearance of an airy disk with a series of touching airy-like disks descending away to one side; each disk being about half the brightness of the former.  On the moon, a very pleasant view is gained.  It is obvious that there is only one focuser position of best focus.  In this sense it snaps into focus.  However, I found I was always squinting my eyes, because the view, just was an indefinable bit off of being crisp.  Venus is well defined but does have a reddish side and a greenish side.  The moon had a visible, but hardly distracting purple fringe.  The finder seems cheap and shoddy.  It works well when I have my glasses on (for normal vision) but if one needs to focus for near-sightedness, once the stars become dots, the cross hairs are almost invisible (out of focus).  The manner of focusing has a cheap feeling to it (rotating/unscrewing a plastic eyepiece holder).
>
>More favorable: there are stargazers who have largely corrected the optical defects by dismantling the objective, rotating the two lens elements to different relative positions and by changing the separation of the two elements.  One observer has told me that this caused the view of the cassini division on Saturn to go from being barely detectable to a vague but very noticeable light pencil line.


I attempted last night to take the objective apart to see if I could improve the resolution.  I discovered that the objective elements seemed to be tightly bonded together; perhaps glued. I did not attempt to separate them.
Celestron Rich-Field 80
What a great little scope. Bought it as a grab & go, to complement my Orion Xt10.
Performs extremely well at low magnifications, providing suberb views of the milky way, open clusters and brighter messiers. Pleides framed perfectly with the 20mm plossl. M31 also a treat under dark skies. M27, M13, M81 & M82 also show up well.
Tried the little Celestron on Saturn and was pleasently surprised. Increased the magnification to 88x and was able to obtain a sharp view of Saturn. Titan was clearly visible but not Cassini's Devision. Not bad considering Celestron make it clear this isn't a full blown astronomical telescope, just a spotting scope.
I would recommend this telescope to a newcomer or someone experienced looking for something small and portable.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=124678

Celestron Rich-Field 80
What a fantastic little scope! I bought mine and put it onto a small German EQ mount with good sturdy wooden legs. The views and optical quality are excellent for only $200. You cannot beat the price for the quality you are getting for that price. The planets are extremely crisp at X66 power and will lose contrast and sharpness marginally above that. DEFINITELY change out the 45* erecting diagonal for the 90* prism or mirror diagonal to get rid of the "slash" of false color going through the bright objects in the sky when observing. Double Cluser in Perseus was pinpoint crisp with no noted difficulty focusing. Excellent quality focuser on the scope and premium optical coatings on the main objective.
Definitely a keeper scope. Not as crisp or clear as a Pronto/Ranger by Tel-Vue, but that extra 10mm lens (80 over 70mm)does project noticably more brightness.
For the quality you are recieving for the value, I have to give this scope a 10, due to the extras like tube rings, 2 Plossl eyepieces, dustcaps, good quality finder scope (dove tail) and 45* erecting prism.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41036

Celestron Rich-Field 80
A great deal for the money, although I wish it came with a 90 degree diagonal. It performs well up to slightly over 100x but of course bright objects show some color. It has clearly shown every Messier object I have yet pointed it at. The wide field views are excellent on open clusters. I mount mine piggy back on a C8-SP as a finder/wide field scope and have an additional set of tube rings on a camera tripod for use as a "quick look" scope. It is also very sharp when used as a 400mm F/5 telephoto lens for birding and such. Everyone should snap one of these guys considering they are less then the cost of some of the eyepieces I've had in mine!

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41035

Celestron Rich-Field 80
for the money i give this scope 10+. i paid $175us for the scope, cg-3 tripod, 2 celestron plossl eps, 1 sma ep, 90 and 45 degree diagonals, dec motor, lpr and color filters, plus a few other things i can't rememeber. the hobby shop i bought it from was trying to deplete thier inventory of clestron products. they were mad at celestron due to thier requirement that stores that carry thier products must keep certain products in stock (things that don't sell as the hobby shop responded). so, they wanted to get rid of everything and stop carrying the celestron line. any way, this is my 1st "real" refractor (my other is a meade 8" sct) and i love the wide field views and moon views. i've taken some solar and lunar pictures with it and it is very sharp. it is ready for a t-adapter, but the focus travel wasn't quite enough for a camera. i found that by loosening the focus ring i was able to rotate the focus tube to give me enough to focus at prime. (just a little note.) i highly suggest this scope for travel and/or wide field. you do get some false color at higher powers, but it isn't objectionable.

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41034

Celestron Rich-Field 80
This one really rocks for wide fields and low powers! It isn't exactly the best
planetary performer, but it did show Cassini's division in Saturn's rings, as
well as 4 belts on Jupiter at 156x. You do see a little color excess at high power, but it isn't overwhelming. I love it for my "quick look" scope, and was
well worth the money.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: https://www.excelsis.com:443/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=41033

[Click Here to Login]
Don't have a login? Register!

Checking Your Telescope
Starting out in Amateur Astronomy
 
How to use This Site
Why Register?
[Get rid of the ads!]
Voting Guide