I remember when these scopes have been introduced almost twenty years ago. They have very strong position in the astronomer's community ever since. There is a reason for that. They are great for astrophotography, superb grab and go scopes for visual and more. Wonderful optics for very little money in comparison to premium apo products. As an experienced astronomer I needed scope for visual (mainly lunar and planets). Coupled with AZ5 makes wonderful grab&go setup. Highly recommended.

Love this scope, it appears to be solid and well made, performance on the one time I've been able to use it (clouds of course) has been great. Performance from FLO has been just as good, from letting me know that the scope was in stock to receiving it took just two days. In this time of uncertainty(Covid) their service has been excellent.

From the moment I opened the Evostar 80ED package the stock focuser didn't work properly. It would only travel an inch or two before it started to slip. On fitting a heavier eyepiece it wouldn't move the draw tube at all. FLO were helpful as always, offering to take it back straight away. They even sent me some instructions to have a go at adjusting it myself, but unfortunately these didn't work for me. However at this point I decided that rather than return it I'd buy an upgraded focuser. After discussion and recommendation from FLO I bought a Baader Diamond Steeltrack to fit. Whilst this presented it's own challenges, I'm now very happy. The new focuser has given the scope a premium feel to match the superb optics. The rest of the DS-Pro Outfit package is great value for money, much better than I thought it would be. The Diagonal and Finder are decent quality and so is the 28mm eyepiece, which gives surprisingly good views.

If it wasn't for the poor focuser I'd be giving this package 5 stars. But as it is I'll knock one off for the poor Skywatcher quality control in my case.

Great scope - pin sharp, lovely views (wide field views being a great compliment to my bigger scopes). Surprised at the number & quality of extras supplied - especially the star diagonal. I'm looking forward to more visual and potentially astrophotography uses in the future.

Read all the reviews, this is a great scope for th money.

However, what the blurb doesn’t tell you,is all the extras that come in the box.

There is a 2” to 1.25” adapter so you can use all your existing eyepieces.
There is also a 2” T ring camera adapter and a short extension tube.

All things I either did buy, or thought I’d have to buy extra, before opening the box

I bought this scope after hearing great reviews from many people. Primarily this has been for visual use while I have been learning my way around the sky, but slowly I am turning it into a photography scope.

This has been a great scope for me for a couple of years, it is versatile and I can see it staying in my collection for a very long time.

This was my first telescope purchase with AP in mind. For the money it really is excellent. I get lovely visuals of the moon and planets (albiet small with the shortish focal length) and I have got some great AP pictures from it too. I've heard quite a bit of criticism about the focusser not up to the job of handling camera equipment, but I have yet to encounter any issues with my DSLR camera.

The only issue I have had is with the left focusser knob falling off. The screw that tightens secures it to the pin is too loose.

Overall I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a value for money astrophotgraphy refractor.

I bought this telescope with the aim of doing astrophotography.

I found it well made and loved the 10:1 focuser as it made getting precise focus very easy.

As for the optics, a lot of bang for the bucks. Clear clean views with little or no CA, I compared this to my Celestron 6SE and in many ways I find this scope has the edge in many areas.

The supplied 2 '' 28mm EP is a solid chunk of an eyepiece and surprisingly good.

I replace the straight through viewfinder with a right angle one, and for that reason I would downgrade the OTA to 4 stars.

It needs a minimum of an EQ5 mount.

I have had this scope for 2 weeks now and to my surprise have had a chance to get it out on 4 separate nights! I am using along with a HEQ5 and I have already captured very satisfying shots. For a beginner like my self I cannot recommend enough. Its easy to use, practically straight out of the box and go, the case is high quality and keeps everything free of dust. The eye piece supplied gives a great view if you are looking at using this for terrestrial viewing.
Very happy with it.

The build quality leaves something to be desired with this, most especially the drawtube which seems to commonly have been machined with the "flat" that the crayford focusser draws upon not being, in actual fact, flat.

This means that the grip of the focusser is much reduced and, possibly worse, variable depending on the focus point required.

The balance point, like all short tube refractors also resides under or very close to the focussing knobs making balance more difficult.

In short, consider something a little more upmarket if you want a scope to hold heavy eyepieces or DSLR bodies.