Celestron C80ED

Celestron C80ED

It's early in the morning - real early - but it's my favorite time of the day because I'm standing in the backyard having just finished polar alignment on my telescope and the seeing appears to be superb this morning. After a good draw of coffee, I sit down with Saturn in mind while selecting an 18mm eyepiece to start off with. Centering the great ringed one, its tiny image focuses easily to a crisp vision against the inky black background of infinite space. Nice. An ensuing routine of shifting barlows and eyepieces results in the little scope consistently producing the same stunning image at ever higher magnifications (although I wouldn't mind a steadier mount than this EQ-3 at the higher powers, but that's besides the point). I marvel at the subtle shade differences in the rings and the clearly visible banding on the surface. Really nice...

(C80ED, Meade DSI - Double barlowed with a TeleVue 3X and Celestron Ultima 2X)

After taking in this splendid view, I settle back to appreciate how such wondrous sights are easily available to those who seek them. My thoughts then turn to this remarkable telescope. Why doesn't everyone have one of these things?

Anyone familiar with this hobby knows that the quick answer to that question is expense - but wait - this telescope was not that expensive. This Celestron 80ED (C80ED) extracted only $429 from the astronomy budget (now $409). How can this be?

My guess is cost reductions outside of the objective. The rest of the scope is not in the same league as the pricey competitors. For example - the focuser is a rack and pinion type, apparently lubricated with pine tar that always manages to find a way onto your finger tips as you grope around for the focuser in the dark. Other cost reductions are apparent in the lens cover (plastic), the finish of the focuser (cast / painted instead of machined / anodized), a fixed lens cell (not collimatable), and the dew-shield does not retract for storage or travel.

Invasion of the Inexpensive Apo-Refractors

But I'm getting ahead of myself - there is much more good here than bad. It's a respectable looking scope that has a solid feel and build quality a notch above the crowded Synta achromatic class. The focuser has good looking large aluminum knobs with rubber grips, a nicely done dew-shield that screws solidly onto the lens cell, a nifty aluminum dove-tail cradle style ring solution included and, oh yea, it's about a third the price of many of its competitors with optics this sharp. That leaves a tidy sum of money left over on the counter for accessories.

Is It a Spotting Scope?

The marketing message Celestron puts behind the 80ED confuses me. At the time that I purchased it, about a year ago, it was buried down in with the spotting scopes and had little fanfare at its introduction. Its obscure market positioning and lack of promotion made me hesitate. This is at a time when competitor (now apparent partner) Orion was stealing all the glory with their revolutionary low cost ED80 model.

No matter - the Orion was tempting, but I preferred the Celestron model because I did not appreciate the more bulky 100mm tube that the Orion ED80 incorporated. I also understand from reading the message boards that the two are close to the same optically. Still, the lack of advertising from Celestron on this scope made me keep thinking "what's the catch." To date - I haven't found any. It's a bargain. I should note that since my purchase of this scope, Celestron has introduced several astronomy oriented packages for the C80ED - as well as the upper aperture C100ED-R package.

The Good and the Bad of it

In case you haven't guessed by now, the optics of this scope are its best feature - which is somewhat like saying that cold dry air is the best feature of air conditioning. With this objective and at this price, the rest of the scope doesn't have to be absolutely perfect for it to be a winner - and in the case of the C80ED, the rest of the package is entirely adequate. It may not be an heirloom, but I'm sure the kids won't mind inheriting what was saved while I sacrificed nothing for the view.

The protective lens cover on the C80ED has the potential to defeat your dark frames. Make sure it's pushed in all the way as it works loose like this easily.

So, what's not perfect? Well - I have a bit of a beef with the objective cover. I mean, it slips off onto the floor if you so happen as brush by the telescope lightly. I recall setting up at a dark site last summer and pulling the C80ED out from a (soft cover) case and - uh, oh, where's the lens cover? It had fallen off during the drive and I had to spend some time searching with the red flashlight while wondering exactly how much dust found it's way onto the precious objective during the ride. Summary on the objective cover; its not travel ready.

While I'm on this topic - this plastic cover holds on by means of (very light) tension against the inside of the dew shield via four "tabs." the slots for these tabs have the potential to let light in - so be careful if you are making dark frames that the cover is pushed all the way in. It's a small detail - perhaps even nitpicking, but it detracts from the overall observing experience.

The focuser, which I had briefly mentioned prior, is one of the stronger hints that Synta had a hand in making this scope. Other than the focuser knobs - which I like - the unit has the same look and feel as the SkyWatcher / Orion / Celestron achromatic class focusers. The crackling noises emitted from the pine-tar-for-lubricant is decidely non satisfying as you pull in those celestial treasures, but otherwise it does a sufficient job. For many owners, the first cloudy day (which is typically the day the scope arrives at your house) will bring the ritual of cleaning the focusing mechanism of this gunk and replacing it with a more palatable substance such as silicon, lithium, or graphite lubricant. Based on what I've seen in the forums, most (including me) seem content with the performance of the focuser after performing this detail.

Anyone familiar with Synta style rack and pinion focusers will be right at home with the C80ED.

Deep green indications of fully multi-coated optics.

If having a less-than-the-best focuser interferes with your observing satisfaction - but cost is still a concern - take a look at the more popular Orion ED80 with its clever upgraded Crayford style focuser and apparently identical optics. It, however, will cost a little bit more ($499) and unfortunately has a larger tube. Another consideration is the Skywatcher 80ED Pro - which appears (all I have is pictures and stats to back me up here) to be identical to the Orion ED80. All three of these scopes (Celestron, Orion, and Skywatcher) come in bigger 100mm versions as well.

An Amazing Objective

It has healthly looking coatings. There is a strong green tint to it and Celestron advertises it as fully multi-coated. The cell is machined aluminum with a cool (I thought) and unique orange "Celestron" logo and its specifications stamped around the outer edge. Other than the stampings - the only difference I can tell between this objective and the Orion ED80 (again, I've only seen pictures of the Orion - I don't get out enough) is that the C80ED's is threaded to accept its dew shield.

Celestron doesn't give many details on this objective other than it incorporates "ED glass" that "provides excellent color correction and razor sharp images" and designates the design as "APO." Although I could find no direct evidence during my research (google) that the Celestron C80ED, Orion ED80, and SkyWatcher Pro 80ED all share the same objective, it seems likely that they do. If this is the case - then Celestron's competitors / collaborators describe this component as incorporating FPL-53 glass (Skywatcher goes a bit further by throwing "Flourite" into the description). So what is FPL-53 glass? Some investigation (again, google is my personal oracle) shows that FPL-53 is an extraordinary high grade optical glass from a company (Ohara Corporation) that produces engineered glass. It has attractive manufacturing and durability aspects combined with highly desirable optical properties that make it ideal for use in high end telescopes.

My suspicion is the manufacturing source of these wonder objectives is Vixen but my only evidence is circumstantial. Celestron and Orion have a history with this well regarded Japanese telescope maker, Vixen has recently introduced an "entry level" 80mm APO of their own - the ED80sf - with the same optical specifications, and Orion mentions that the optics on their ED100 (big brother to their ED80) is "crafted with one element of FPL-53 extra-low dispersion ED optical glass from Japan." Then again, maybe Vixen is getting it from the same common source. Well, wherever it's coming from, it's a joy to look through.

Baffled

Looking down the tube through the business end reveals an internal structure with two baffles and a flawless layer of flat black paint. The focuser drawtube down at the deep end of the tube, however, seems to have less attention to detail as a different shade of black with imperfections in the finish. This does not seem to affect performance, but serves as a subtle reminder that this was not a terribly expensive scope.

Packaging and Accessories

When you order a scope to be delivered by the mail, there's always a bit of hesitation. The potential of boxed optics being tossed, punctured, and otherwise abused as it makes away across the country is enough to give anyone some degree of tension. When this one arrived, I was pleased to see how well packed it was. Triple boxed and packed within healthly layer of bubble-wrap inside styrofoam "buns" that were molded specifically for this telescope. It appears that Celestron understands how to box a scope.

Hmm.. box says spotting scope

For what it's worth - the box clearly says "Spotting Scope" as if to discourage me from aiming it up at the nightime sky. I hope Celestron is not upset that I have not looked at a single bird with their scope (unless it happened to fly in front of my view of M45).

Most of the accessories were separately boxed and included a 45 degree diagonal, a 6x30 finder, a 25mm plossl, and the "clamp" ring solution. Other than the interesting tube ring, the included accessories are unremarkable. The ring, however, is unique because it has both a dove-tail and a photo-tripod friendly threaded hole. It clamps around the 90mm C80ED's tube and secured by a non-adjustable clasp that is quick and easy to set up but frighteningly tight. The 6x30 finder and it's accompanying bracket are virtually identical to the ones on the beforementioned achromats - another clue that Synta had a hand in the building of this scope. I like this arrangement - the spot scope holder is a good design that is ultra easy to align in the dark.

Most Used Scope

Back to my morning session, I remove the barlow and slew the scope over to Polaris leaving the 5mm in place. It's somehow pleasing to pull this universal reference in and out of its intense pinpoint focus to its component diffraction rings. The satisfying colorless patterns show spot on collimation (i.e. no coma, good thing since collimation is fixed) and the superlative characteristics of more expensive refractors as the intense star focuses down to a pleasing little Airy disk.

Polaris, Mag. 2.02 Binary

Inside focus

In focus - a nice 18" binary

Outside focus

Let me stop here and be the first to state that I am not in any way an expert on reading out of focus star patterns and picking out the respective optic abberations. That I'll leave for the experts. I'm just going to say that I've seen much worse and leave it at that.

The moon is out this morning showing off an attractive 40% crescent and begging to be examined first before the Orion treasures that its bright light is flooding out. Back out comes the 18mm (another Celestron X-Cel) into the diagonal. The detail on the moon is dazzling - no halos or false color is evident - further reassuring my decision on this under promoted scope and validating that the rest of this sharp lunar scene is not stained by scattered violet photons. Direct projection photos confirm the contrast and absence of false color. Just pure moon.

What a (colorless) view! C80ED, Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D)

The small size and terrific views made this refractor quickly become my most often used telescope. It did not take long before my 8" Celestron wedge mounted NexStar SCT with it's lengthy cool down times and "many trips into the house" setup regimen relegated this dark sky favorite to more infrequent back yard appearances while the "grab and go" nature of the C80ED showed the way. Another scope of mine, a 120mm Orion achromatic refractor, now more often than not sits in its case during observing sessions. The larger aperture of this achromat has become meaningless to me since the C80ED has proven that it's not just about collecting more photons - it's about what you do with them afterward.

Portion of an unfiltered 8MP raw from DSLR exposure of bright limb of moon. You'd be hard pressed to find a halo. C80ED, Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D)

My C80ED is equatorially mounted on an EQ-3 using standard 90mm rings and requiring only a single 7.5 lb. counterweight. I don't use the included clasp-ring thingie because it was not compatible with my EQ-3. Instead I'm using Orion 90mm tube rings which fit quite nicely. The low cost EQ-3 is about the right size for this scope and works pretty well for visual use although a Vixen GP, GP-E or GP-DX would be ideal for photography and high magnification observing. A great place to spend those extra funds left after purchasing a C80ED over an expensive rival - I will be mount and tripod shopping next.

Until then - on any cloud clearing moment, I can pick up the scope and EQ-3 it's mounted on (including it's 7.5 counterweight) and walk out the door with it. Granted, it's a bit bulky and awkward to do this - but having an steady equitorially mounted and counterbalanced scope with this level of optics ready - at a price under $700 for the whole package (the EQ-3 from Orion, also called the AstroView mount retails for $219) - seems like a great way to go.

Thanks and clear skies!

Pros:

• $409 (zing!).
• Excellent color-free optics.
• Nice knobs!
• Compact tube that's easy on the eyes - fits in 90mm rings.

Cons:

• "Synta style" rack / pinion focuser lubricated with waffle syrup (not really a "con" unless you are offended by these focusers).
• Optics can't be legitimately re-collimated without factory intervention.
• Poorly designed plastic objective cover - falls off easily and not robust enough for travel, arg (!)
• Mine was hard to find without a backorder - but that was a year ago.