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Apogee's 80mm Richest-Field Refractor.

Posted by George Methvin   08/22/2005 07:00AM

Apogee's 80mm richest-Field Refractor

I have wanted a grab and go scope for awhile and not wanting or having a lot of cash I had to shop around and I came across Apogee Inc. and saw that they were selling this scope for $109.00. Well this was about $160.00 less then most scope of this size. Let me say this now I do not work for this company or have any other dealing other then being a customer.

The Apogee 80mm refractor has a focal length of 464mm and is a f/5.8. The tube is aluminum and has a protective gray-silver paint on the scope - not the best looking color for a scope IMO. It has a retractable black lens shade that is nice. The objective has a dark green tint indicating good quality multi-coatings. Looking through the lens, the tube has a nice dark appearance. The 2 inch aluminum rack and pinion focuser with a 1.25 adapter and drawtube are of fair quality and the action is extremely smooth with no backlash A plastic lens cap for the objective is standard as is a 1.25, 45 degree erect-image diagonal and a 18mm keller eyepiece.

My primary use of this scope was for viewing star fields and open clusters at low power and I must say the Apogee 80mm does a very good job at this type of observing, particularly from darker sites. The wide field available with a 23mm celestron eyepiece is very pleasing for objects such as the Pleiades and the Double Cluster. Star images are sharp and stay crisp almost to the edge of the field for some very,very nice views. A note about the 2 inch focuser I found it has insufficient focus in travel to reach focus for 2inch eyepieces, so much for two inch eyepieces, but not a big deal to me but it might be for others.

The Apogee 80mm shows surprisingly sharp images of the moon in a 14mm Pentax XL eyepiece and a 8mm celestron X-cell eyepiece contrast with surrounding black space is good. Jupiter clearly shows two equatorial bands and the four Galilean moons are tiny points of light. The big surprise is there is very little false color on the moon or Jupiter.. Despite the low F/ ratio. I really like this scope the more I use it.

Daytime viewing in the Apogee 80mm is great with the 45 degree diagonal. This little scope is perfect for bird watching . Its portability, ease of use and sharp optics and price make it a very attractive multi-use telescope/spotting scope, especially for people on the go . Would I recommend this scope to beginners, you bet and for anyone that’s looking for a quick grab and go scope this just might be the best buy around for under $150.00 a diamond in the rough you might say. This little scope has more then met my needs for a grab and go rich field telescope, but I am for sure giving the tube a new paint job.

Pros:
Good Optics
Little false color.
Price.

Con:
Color of paint
Will not come to focus with two inch eyepieces

Author: George Methvin
[email protected]