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Orion 80mm ED

Not long after starting out with the LX90, I found myself looking for a more portable scope, and one with a nice wide field of view for those large deep-sky targets. Having read so many good things about this scope, I took the plunge and ordered one, and it really is every bit as good as they say! The optics are superb, and I've yet to detect even a hint of false colour, except some very slight aberations when imaging the Moon afocally.

Orion 80mm ED refractor

...and from another angle.

I went for the competitively priced set including the SkyView Pro mount, diagonal, finder and a couple of eyepieces. The EPs are actually almost identical in focal length to my Meade Plossls, but I guess they'll come in handy as spares or something. I also upgraded the finder from tht standard 6x30mm to a right-angle 9x50mm. The mount was quite stiff when I got it, but I soon stripped it down, cleaned and polished the metal surfaces, and regreased it. The difference in performance is easily noticable! See the links below for details of this procedure.

Links