SkyWatcher Startravel 80 StarQuest

The Sky-Watcher 80/400 refractor is a real travelscope because of its extremely short tube. The 8cm objective lens gathers enough light for low light conditions and astronomical purposes. The telescope can be well used for observing the Moon, planets or brighter stellar clusters. The two Barium eyepieces included provide 16x and 40x magnification.

The StarQuest mount is functionally very similar to the Avant mount, but instead of the polar wedge we can adjust the pole height using the two screw solutions. Like the Avant, the axes are lightweight, but they have a strong design, and can be fixed by the discs on the bottom. Both axles have fine-tuning (with the usual flexible arms). The instrument can now be fixed to the mount with a more practical plate. The counterweight sits on a threaded end counterweight shaft. The length and weight is less than the EQ2 mount. The reason for this is that, due to the more compact mechanical head, the center of gravity of the telescope is closer, so a shorter axis and less weight are required.

The head is located on the thinner aluminum tripod, which still provides sufficient stability even on the 130/650 instrument. The head can be fixed to the stand with the usual hand-held screw. The head has a black finish with green sticker scale. The capacity of the mount is approx. 4 kg.

Direction of Dec and RA axes can be rotated at 360 degrees. The RA and Dec gear tooth numbers are 122.