There are many people buying these scopes lately and when asking questions about them, somewhere along the line the comment of the quality comes up.
These 60, 70 and 80mm long focus refractors are actually quite reasonable for the money but where they fall down is the included accessories and the supplied mounts.
Recommended upgrades:
The mount! At a minimum, look for a used
(kijiji, Goodwill, Buy & Sell, Cloudy Nights, AF classifieds)
Replace the 20 or 25mm eyepiece the scope came with for a better quality one.
The Plossl design works very well with these longer focal length scopes and will not cost much per eyepiece.
The 4mm or 6mm eyepiece that normally comes with these can be kept in a drawer for use in sacrifices to the vengeful/ spiteful cloud deities.
The supplied barlow… if it is the all plastic “shorty” version do your eyes a favour and place it in the drawer with the 4mm eyepiece.
If it is one of the longer versions (6” long) and you are handy with woodworking tools, make a bud vase for your significant other. It will at least have a meaningful purpose.
The diagonal.
Replace with any of the name brand 1.25” available on the market today.
You will see a difference in the view!
The following list is what you can see with a 50mm and 80mm refractor on a good night.
If you have a 60mm or 70mm your results of course will be somewhere in the middle.
The first column is the object viewed, second is “seen in 50mm” and the third is “seen in 80mm”
Have fun hunting
Object: 50mm refractor : 80mm Refractor
Lunar Craters: 1500+ : 5000+
Phases of Mercury: Y : Y
Phases of Venus: Y : Y
Mars Polar Caps: N : Y
Mars Surface Markings: N : Y
Jupiter Belts/ Zones/
Galilean Moons: Y : Y
Saturn Rings: Y : Y
Cassini Division: N : Y
Saturn Moons: 3 : 6
Uranus/ Neptune Visible: Y : Y
Uranus/ Neptune as a Disk: N : Y
Asteroids (10 Brightest): 3 : 10
Split Sirius A/B: N : Y
Split Epsilon Lyrae: N : Y
Split Trapezium in M42: N : Y
Horsehead Nebula visible: N : Y
See Form Of M27 (Dumbbell Nebula): N : Y
See Form Of M97 (Owl Nebula): N : Y