General New Telescope - Svbony SV503 ED80

[JacobBosarge]

My new Svbony ED80 just arrived and I was able to get it balanced tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will bring clear skies (forecast is promising!) and I will be able to test it out.

For some context, my only telescope prior to this has been my ST80. Compared to the Svbony it feels like a toy. This telescope is DENSE and feels incredibly well made. I am super excited to try out the 2” dual speed focuser! Also, the dew shield doesn’t just fall off! This may not be the best 80mm refractor in the world but I have a feeling it will be a HUGE upgrade for me. Keep an eye out for first light in the next few days!

 

[Tracy]

My new Svbony ED80 just arrived

Nice looking rig! Celestron mount?
I thought having to run my focuser out to the 30-35 mark was "way" out there.... is that just an approximation you used, or was that the true focus length? I have found that my balance changes from when everything is mounted and in the home position from when I am actually in focus. Now that I know where my basic focus is, I simply run the focuser out to near that point, balance and the little bit of difference doesn't seem to affect my balance setup.

I was able to get it balanced tonight

hehehehe... I've been fighting ALL night with my "wonderful" William Optics mount that came with my ZenithStar 103mm (a rebadged EQ35 Pro).
Runs for about 10 minutes.. then RMS jumps up to around 4-5. This thing is horrible with stiction. It may be the fact that the grease is that wonderful "high-end" Chinese junk... so my plan is today to take it apart, strip all the old grease off, re-grease everything with some quality grease and do some adjustments on the nuts that tighten it all together as well as the backlash adjustments.

This may not be the best 80mm refractor in the world but I have a feeling it will be a HUGE upgrade for me. Keep an eye out for first light in the next few days

If you've been running basically a DSLR with camera lenses... then yes, you are going to notice a significant difference unless you were using high end lenses.

To me, a 70-80mm refractor is the BEST to start with... and no need to do like I did and spend a LOT of money on something and then get frustrated with it and then set it aside for a few years before coming back to it.

This is the setup for me this past night set up in my back yard.
The red scope is my ZenithStar 103mm on the EQ6-R Pro mount.. in the background is the new 72mm Apertura on the old EQ-35 Pro mount.
I'm set up in my back yard where I normally shoot from.
The Apertura still has a tangle of wires as I haven't figured out where everything needs to go yet.