After much deliberation, I decided to go ahead pressed 'enter' - my 72ED was on it's way. I wanted a scope that I could literally get outside at a moments notice - that it is had to be able to be carried with its' mount in one hand, and be able to travel with me anywhere I wanted to take it. The 72ED was selected from a list of several similar apertures up to 80mm.

I ordered the scope to be delivered on Saturday last. As it turned out, unusually for me I was still asleep at 8.05am when the FedEx man came calling and didn't hear him knock. Even more unusually, my wife was up before me and able to take delivery! Poured with rain all day Saturday and I couldn't even take the scope outside. Rained all Sunday morning until just before lunch when I was able to get outside for a short time under a hazy sun to try it out. Some superbly lit House Sparrows sitting on a hedge about 30 feet away gave some jaw-droopingly sharp views of every feather and plumage detail, fabulous contrast and wonderfully saturated colours. I was on the way to being hooked. Then it started to rain again.

Monday brightened by lunchtime, just as I was getting ready for work, and it was forecast to be a frosty night - and I wouldn't finish work until after 10pm. Left work and rushed to the car at 10.30pm to discover a hard frost had descended and my key wouldn't open any of the frozen doors. Eventually I managed to get the tail gate open, push down one of the rear seats, crawl over it and force the drivers door open - phew. First light beckoned.

Twelve miles later as I drove into the village I thought it was rather dark, and just round the corner from my house there were lots of flashing orange lights, a noisy generator, some noisy workmen and a big trench! Entering the house I found out why, there had been a power cut - how lucky. Never had I changed my clothes and got a scope set. up outside so quickly - especially by torch-light. The frosty weather hadn't got to Oakworth yet, but there were some breaks, with superb transparency and 6th mag or better skies to boot, it reminded me of Kelling. By chasing the gaps I had wonderful views of the Orion Neb, double-cluster, the Auriga open clusters and any available star field, most memorable was the area around the dble cluster, Perseus and Cass. All the views surpassed anything I expected in a scope a tad short of three inches, all be it in unusually good conditions. I did a star test and was satisfied to see perfectly circular out-of-focus star image, and lovely tiny airy disks and diffraction rings in-focus. This session was about an hour old when cloud closed in - and then the power came back on, bye bye Kelling.

After three hours sleep I woke up at 6.15am Tuesday morning, and through the frosted bathroom window I could make out the waning crescent Moon and Venus to its right. Out again and set up by 6.30am Now a chilly frost in Oakworth, and the wonderful vista of the Moon, Venus and Spica in a row low in the E sky. A superb sight. I used a Baader Mk111 zoom with the dedicated x2.25 barlow to give me a maximum of x120 at the 8mm zoom setting. Excellent transparency to start with and seeing on the poor side. Nevertheless, the Moon and Venus were beyond what I was expecting, particularly Venus. At twenty degrees altitude and x120, Venus showed a wonderful sharp crescent, very much resembling the Moon's phase. This was what I was hoping to see, a view very reminiscent of the excellent views of Venus I have seen many times over the years using the range of SW ED doublets using FPL53 glass. In focus there was little to no colour other than that most likely accounted for by the low altitude of the planet (20 degrees) and atmospheric turbulence. Outside focus there was also surprisingly little colour. I was enjoying the view so much I forgot about the telescope for a few minutes. I also did some more star tests with stars at higher altitude than a few hours earlier, with the same results. At 7am I had to drag myself, and the telescope reluctantly indoors to take my wife to work. What an eventful first light I had had.

Some Details

The Crayford focuser, on my scope at least. is excellent - it isn't the same as the one used on the other SW ED doublets. Out of the box it was adjusted perfectly for my needs. I did my usual 'gentle pull' test, and it didn't budge - no slippage at all. I pulled a little harder than usual and still no slippage. Extremely smooth movement, in be both coarse and fine focus. The focus knobs are large and easily used by gloved hands. This focuser is better than I have used on any other of their ED doublets.

The dew shield is gloss white, I like it. It is threaded to accept the metal screw on lens cap. An improvement on plastic ones that slip off easily, though I would like it to be a less fine threaded, but that might be my less than nimble fingers. Still an improvement though. The dew cap can be pulled off if you need the scope to be even shorter.

The two inch fitting is not a compression type, but uses two screws. It didn't bother me, but then I'm not an imager and likely to hang heavy things off the end of the tube, and I have added a 35mm extension to accommodate my focus needs which has a compression fitting anyway. I guess many people will want to change the original fitting.

You may need to use an extension tube of some length to focus some of your eyepieces. I haven't got a two inch diagonal, and I suspect if you have one then you may not have need of anything else. When doing some tests on the day the scope I arrived, through an upstairs bedroom window, I first put in my Baader prism diagonal and I couldn't get focus any further away than around 50 feet! Not enough in-focus. I then put on a 2 inch long extension tube in front of the Baader prism, and I then couldn't get a focus anywhere! Luckily I remembered I had a 35mm extension tube in my Mak-Newt and I tried that. That fixed any focusing issues, though for some eyepieces I have only 2/3mm in-focus to spare. All this is no real issue, just be aware you may have to try a couple of things. Perhaps not if you use a 2inch diagonal anyway.

Because of the light weight and short tube, the 72ED could be mounted on just about anything. Even on a photo tripod with a photographic pan and tilt head if you only want to use it as a spotting scope. It works very well on my Manfrotto 393 gimbal (fork) head and sturdy photographic tripod.. I used this rig for my first light adventures. I will also use it on my AZ4.

Remember, it doesn't come with a finder, diagonal or any eyepieces, so allow for the cost of these if you need them. (can be picked up easily on the used market much cheaper)

Summary.

I admit it, I am smitten by this little scope. Sharp contrasty images, nicely saturated colours, no objectionable CA (to my eyes at least), lightweight, compact, take it anywhere, good for imaging (using field flattener if you do this sort of thing), usable as a telephoto lens and spotting scope for daytime use. Yes. it's not that big, buy it's only a few mm smaller than a three inch refractor which in my younger years any astronomer would be pleased to own. Bigger isn't always better - especially if you can't take it with you!
All this for £265 which includes a well made sturdy aluminium case with room for some accessories - what's not to like?! Little more than 1/3 of the price of some expensive eyepieces.
Yes, in my view, taking into account it's quality, price and flexibility of use, this little scope is in a class of its own.

an excellent scope that i bought for astrophotogrphy great price and fantastic results perfect starter scope and excellent staff

A great scope for the money, with some niggles that come from the price point.

1. Focuser travel is 39mm so keep in mind that using a 2" diagonal and 2" barlow will not allow one to reach focus - I use a 1.25" barlow element to overcome this.

2. Finderbase is set at 10 o'clock which makes it a bit awkward to use with a RDF - just rotate the scope in the rings to rotate the finderbase along with the scope.

3. Dovetail is short and does not extend further back from the rings to allow for better balancing - not a serious issue for my AVX as it is very light.

With these niggles out of the way, it is a great performer on the moon and DSO with truly negligible CA and it is extremely good looking. Not only are the views through the scope good, but the scope looks good too.

The case is really handy to store the scope and accessories and fairly lightweigh to boot.

The best part: I have no idea what SkyWatcher did, but the focuser is buttery smooth. I have two feathertouch focusers on other scopes and this one is pretty close in smoothness and holds a 2" diagonal and eyepiece with no problems whatsoever!.

Scope is travel friendly at 42cm length, dew shield can be removed to reduce travel length even further and for terrestrial viewing, focuses from 8 meters on.

It’s been a long wait for the new stock of this little refractor to arrive but it finally came this week. Was it worth the wait................absolutely. This is a great little scope. Light, well made, easy to mount but above all it gives great views. I’ve just been testing it this evening and I have to say i’m very impressed. There is very little false colour and it gives sharp views with great contrast. Of course it is limited by aperture but then I’m going to use it as a travel scope on a lightweight mount so i’m not expecting to push it to stupid magnifications. For the money, it is remarkable. Buy one.

I purchased this new 72ed 4 months ago and decided I had to way a bit to provide a better review

First I have to tell that I am using it only for astrophotography on a Star Adventurer mount. This itself is quite a challenge but this is what I actually like !

The refractor itself is pretty amazing, knowing the ridiculous price ! It is provided in a large case. The carbon tube looks good, the crayford is well made. The lock screw to maintain the focus is very useful.

The vixen type dovetail is small. Consider buying a larger one or using an adapter. As I said previously, it is a bit challenge to place it on a Star Adventurer, but after a few adjustments, and with the help of Martin from First Light Optics, it is now fully operational and I absolutely love it !

Another useful adjustment (will order soon I think) is to change the regular ring to a compression ring.

Last (but not least), thanks to Flo for your help, very professional and friendly. I have recommended your site everywhere in France !

I purchased the Skywatcher ED72 primarily as a travel scope and a replacement for a much loved but damaged Williams Optics Megrez 72, which is now no longer manufactured. The WO was a great performer and its short focal length of 432mm gave sharp, wide field views with almost no sign of colour fringing, especially at low magnifications. The ED72’s identical aperture and 428mm focal length make direct comparison with the Megrez a reasonable proposition.

Both scopes feature doublet ED Apo optical design and neither Williams Optics nor Skywatcher disclose the specification of the ED glass element, other than to state that they are not FPL 53 glass. The “Schott” glass logo of the second element, however, features prominently on the ED 72’s tube. It was the great optics, build quality and portability of the Megrez that attracted me a few years ago, so would the ED72 make a worthy replacement?

FLO gave their usual prompt delivery service and the well packed scope & Vixen Porta mount arrived within three days of ordering. The ED72 is certainly a handsome looking instrument and comes with a good quality aluminium carry case with plenty of room for essential accessories. The OTA is noticably lighter than than the Megrez (1.955Kg v’s 2.2Kg) hinting at thinner tube construction and mirror cell, but as I’m using it on a Vixen Mini Porta alt-az mount, that’s no bad thing. The operation of the Megrez 72 was a joy, with a silky smooth 2” crayford focuser and 1:10 gearing. It was perhaps optimistic to expect this kind of refinement for the amazingly low price of the ED72 and indeed the mechanical operation of the ED72 is not as smooth. That said, there’s nothing wrong with focuser and resistance adjustment is possible via a couple of Allen key bolts. The robust tube rings, snappy metallic green coated Vixen style dovetail and screw threaded aluminium lens cap all add to the impression of a well designed and manufactured instrument.

Both scopes feature doublet ED Apo optical design and neither Williams Optics nor Skywatcher disclose the specification of the ED glass element, other than to sate that they are not FPL 53 glass. The “Schott” glass logo of the second element, however, features prominently on the ED 72’s tube. It was the great optics, build quality and portability of the Megrez that attracted me a few years ago, so would the ED72 make a worthy replacement?

First light for the scope was under a waxing gibbous moon from a fairly light polluted garden, using the optional Skywatcher 2” 28mm LER eyepiece and a Celestron 2” XLT diagonal. The eyepiece is a bit of a bargain being of great quality for the price and the image of the moon was very pleasing, with no colour fringing evident. Craters really stood out, with well defined shadows and bright peaks. Details on the terminator were impressive and contrasty. M45 presented pin point stars, with comma only visible towards the edges of the FOV. To push things to the limit, I dropped in a 1 1/4” reducer to the diagonal and a 4x image-mate barlow with 20mm Plossl eyepiece (x84 magnification) to try some double star work. Indeed, Alpha Geminorum was very cleanly split into its A and B components with clear diffraction rings around each. The initial impression I was left with was that the views through the ED72 are indeed very similar to the old Megrez 72. OK, so it may lack some of the engineering refinement of the Megrez, but for its £265 prices tag, it is very impressive indeed. I may well try imaging with it over the next few months.