SVBONY SV503 Telescope ED 80mm F7 Doublet Refractor OTA for Exceptional Viewing and Astrophotography

Peek into the home of any advanced amateur astronomer and you’ll be surprised not only at the number of telescopes but that there will almost always be an 80mm telescope and you might be more surprised that it is the most used. Every telescope has its advantages and the 80mm is a perfect size for taking wide area images of the night sky. Many objects in the sky are actually quite large and require a small telescope to image, see the image of the North American Nebula attached. An 80mm is also the perfect “Grab and Go” telescope for when you want a quick view of something but don’t want to setup the “big” telescope. Every astronomer has a small telescope they can use on a tripod when they want a quick look at something. I’ve had this telescope a little over a week now and I’m quite impressed. If you are just starting out this is a telescope you can grow into and not out of. It is light weight, only 6.3 pounds, and will be at home on a tripod as on a telescope mount. For the more advanced amateur, this telescope is an astrophotographer’s dream! Who should get this telescope? Those in astrophotography who need something with a wider field of view, people wanting to view the sun (be sure to use an approved solar filter) and the moon. You can also see star clusters, nebula and some larger, brighter galaxies. You can certainly view the planets through this telescope, but the short focal length makes it better for wide field objects. If you are a beginner and are looking for a good telescope that you can use later for astrophotography then this is a great scope to start as you will not outgrow it. You should note that the telescope only comes as an Optical Tube Assembly, you do not receive a star diagonal, eyepiece or finder. That is typical of high end astrophotography telescopes. If you are just beginning you will need a SVBONY 2 inches 90 Deg Dielectric Mirror Diagonal, a set of eyepieces, a red dot finder and base, and a large tripod or telescope mount (iOptron SkyGuider pro, iOptron CEM40 or Celestron VX mount for example). I would recommend also buying a 2” extension tube such as the Orion 5124 2-Inch Telescope Eyepiece Extension Tube or the Explore Scientific Rack and Pinion Focuser 2" Extension Tube - ESRPEXT2 if you want to do astrophotography. I found only one minor complaint and that is the focuser. Unlike the description, it is not a Crawford style, but a rack and pinion, the latter being the standard for most telescopes. That isn’t a big deal, but for astrophotography a Crawford is preferred. The focus is a bit spongy, but still quite usable. I was able to add a motorized focuser and, while there was some image shift while focusing (as is usual with all rack and pinion focusers), it was still easy to reach a good focus. The image of the North American Nebula was focused by hand. Like almost all astrophotography refractors, an extension tube (mentioned earlier) is needed when using a camera. Not a big deal, but it would have been nice to have it included. I was able to compare this telescope to another 80mm ED f/6 scope from another company that costs twice as much. The SV503 was as good if not better in almost every respect. The image in the SV503 was brighter, even though it is an f/7 and the other scope was an f/6. The only reason might be that the other scope has three lens elements while the SV503 has two and that resulted in more light being absorbed. Still, it was surprising. Both telescopes had about 1.1 degrees of coma free field of view. The SV503 was lighter than the other but was a bit longer. Both telescopes had a way to rotate the focuser to allow for better framing with a camera, but the SV503 was much smoother and had a better locking mechanism than the other telescope. Both had rack and pinion focusers and both had similar focusing characteristics. Between the two the SV503 was the clear winner even without the cost differential. Pros: 1. Incredible price, about half what other 80mm ED telescopes sell for 2. Perfect for beginners and advanced amateurs alike 3. Bright, wide images, superb telescope for astrophotography 4. Tack sharp over 1.1 degree, even more with a field flattener 5. Focuser rotation is super smooth Cons: It is listed in the description as a Crawford focuser, but it is Rack and Pinion. It still works quite well. Should you buy this telescope? Definitely! In fact, the friend I had help with the image of the North American Nebula and M101 likes it so much he buying one for himself.

After waiting for almost a fortnight to trial my scope, there was a break in the skies (for less than an hour) and I was able to take it out for its first viewing. In a nutshell I was extremely anxious to see how things would appear through the scope particularly because I had just sold my Stellarvue Access 80 Super ED. First let me start with the accessories I used. All were Svbony products with the exception of one Stellarvue 20mm. SVBONY SV118 Barlow Lens 2X SVBONY red line 68 Degree Ultra Wide Angle eyepieces -- 6 mm and 9mm SVBONY 1.25 inches 90 Degree Zenith Mirror Diagonal So excluding the Stellarvue, we are not dealing with high or even medium end accessories. The Svbony EPs are selling in the mid $30 range. Many owners of the Svbony scope raved about its quality and I certainly concur with them in all regards about the scope – quality of build, smoothness of focuser and fine optics. I actually could not discern any material difference in my viewing last night between the two telescopes. I tried to view Jupiter but it was playing hide and seek among the redwoods so I just used the Moon as my viewing target. It was at a Waxing Gibbous around 80 %. The views at magnifications ranging from 28X to 187X. All were crystal clear, clean views even at 187X. I was quite surprised by that. I did not see any CA either. So in a nutshell this is a great scope at a great price. Perhaps with better eyepieces I would have noticed a difference in the views between the two scopes but with what I own I could not detect any. In reading the literature on the 3 Svbony EDs only the 80ED mentions that it is designed with one SPL-51 ED Glass and one Lanthanide glass. This was a very happy experience last night and for those contemplating this scope I highly recommend it.

This is a great refractor for a great price! I'm an astro-photographer and I've had mine for almost two months. I still get excited about using it! The quality is comparable to the best on the market. The look is almost identical to that of the Williams Optics Zenithstar. Pictures don't do it justice. You can feel the quality in your hands. From the eggshell finish to the gold accents. Solid body, check. Extendable dew shield, check. Tight dual focuser, check. Quality FPL-51 glass, check. Portability, check. This quality at this price, well, worth every penny.

This scope is free of astigmatism and forms a nice sharp image with textbook Airy patterns at very high power (I was testing it as high as 210x magnification on double stars) But despite the CA, the views are sharp and mechanically the telescope is excellent.

I wanted to get my hands on a portable APO refractor but did not have the funds to spend $800+ for an ED doublet/triplet. I have everything from a 10" SCT to C90 but wanted something portable for easy terrestrial viewing but with a wide enough FOV for astrophotography as well. I also have a Sky Watcher EvoStar 100 APO Doublet which I adore but it's too darn long to travel with. The photos online do it little justice. First the build quality. It weighs a little over 6 pounds and it is built like a tank. Some people may consider the weight a con but sometimes build quality adds some weight. It has a 2-speed crayford-style focuser which feels superior to my EvoStar in almost every way. It's not a true crayford (actual rack-and-pinion) but feels great. It has graduation marks on it as well. The focuser is rotatable so you can adjust the position of the focus knobs. This feature is incredible at this price point. It is smooth as silk. The dew shield is retractable another feature which I wish my EvoStar had. The paint on the OTA appears super durable and is pleasing to the eye. Even the lens cap is heavy-duty aluminum. The mounting rings are nice and solid as are the tensioning knobs but you may need a longer dovetail down the line since the scope seems to be off balanced even with the rings all the way toward the focuser end. Extending the dew shield helps somewhat but not enough to help with heavy eyepieces or cameras. The scope is reminds me Orions EON class in almost every way. I'm wondering if it wasn't manufactured in the same plant. The glass is supposedly FPL-51. I only had a chance to take a peek at Jupiter with 20mm and 8.8mm EW eyepieces on using my EvoStar 2" dielectric but I noticed no CA. I was able to clearly distinguish bands with the 8.8mm. I did notice some CA on the moon however. This is a solid piece of equipment. Very happy with this purchase. Will update when possible.

Purchased this scope because I figured with the Ohara FPL51 ED optics it should be half way decent but was really surprised with it performance vs price ratio. I owned way too many scopes in the past 30 years but wanted a decent ED refractor with a good built quality and a focuser that would not slip with a big load on the back of it. This scope delivers and the built quality is excellent, it reminds me of the Willian Yang scope I have owned in the past. Focuser is excellent, smooth and precise plus no slippage like some crayford focuser I have owned. The rings are sturdy and I cannot knock anything about this scope. Now for how it works under the stars cause that is were the rubber meets the road and it sure does. Star test is like a two element 80mm objective with an ED element, it has a little bit of color on one side of focus and none on the other side but you can detect concentric diffraction rings that are a perfect circle but at focus there is NO CA, NO FALSE COLOR at all even when looking at the brighter planets and the moon. I have had this scope out on a good steady night and when seeing allows it does stupid higher powers like 275X but I have no other eyepiece/barlow combo that will go higher but the image is still sharp just get slightly dimmer but it takes power well. At F7 its just fast enough to get some really nice views of the brighter DSO's plus does a great job at splitting doubles but it works great on planetary and lunar. Years ago a scope with this type of performance would cost way over a Kilowbuck so this is an excellent value. I also like the fact if there was something wrong with the scope they would either refund your payment or replace the scope, many retailers would leave you out to dry if there were optical issues. Yes I am pleased and I would like to see them come out with a larger ED scope in the future.

I wanted to purchase a travel telescope and was looking for a very good telescope since my main telescope is an Orion ED80 with FPL 53 glass. I love my Orion ED80 and didn’t want to lug it around and cause any damage to it. Enter SVBONY ED80 with FPL51 glass. My jaw dropped when I viewed the moon with a SVBONY 7-21 zoom eyepiece. There was ZERO difference between this scope and my Orion ED 80 with FPL 53 glass. I am not kidding. It amazes me to see how SVBONY can deliver such an amazing scope at this price point. I will go one step further and state that the focuser on the SVBONY is much smoother and easier to reach focus. As and added bonus, it came with the mounting rings too. This telescope amazes me and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a workhorse of a telescope with excellent image quality. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Get them while they are still available. I ordered a High quality Binoviewer and just can’t wait for it to arrive to pair it with this telescope for planetary and brighter DSO viewing. Clear Skies.

Excellent quality, excellent product, super well protected for shipping, and arrived super fast!!! Thank you!!!

On Sale, Great deal, buy it. It's a quality product.

Very good quality, I liked it a lot.