Telescope Comparison
Askar 103APO vs Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
The price gap is real. The question is whether the extra capability is worth it at your stage.
First light
Askar · 103mm · £1,199
The custom-rig optical tube
- 103mm refractor — optical tube only, no mount included
- 700mm focal length at f/6.8
- Requires a compatible mount before you can observe anything
- Best for: observers who already own a suitable mount or are building a specific imaging rig
- Not a complete purchase — budget at least £100–300 extra for a mount before observing
Sky-Watcher · 80mm · £699
The custom-rig optical tube
- 80mm refractor — optical tube only, no mount included
- 480mm focal length at f/6
- Requires a compatible mount before you can observe anything
- Best for: observers who already own a suitable mount or are building a specific imaging rig
- Not a complete purchase — budget at least £100–300 extra for a mount before observing
The full picture
The numbers that separate these two scopes — and what they mean at the eyepiece.
Aperture
Askar 103APO gathers 1.7× more light. On bright targets — Moon, Saturn, Jupiter — you won't notice. On fainter targets — dim galaxies, faint globular clusters — the gap is real.
Focal length
Askar 103APO's longer focal length reaches higher magnification with the same eyepiece — better reach for planetary detail. Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED's shorter focal length gives a wider true field — better for large open clusters and extended nebulae.
Focal ratio
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED's faster f/6 delivers wider fields with any eyepiece — better for open clusters and large nebulae. Askar 103APO's f/6.8 provides more magnification per eyepiece — better for fine planetary detail.
Mount type
Neither scope includes a mount — both require a separate purchase before you can observe.
Weight (OTA)
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED's optical tube is 1.3kg lighter. Relevant if you plan to use it on multiple mounts or carry the tube to dark-sky sites separately.
Optical design
Both are refractors — no mirrors to collimate, good contrast, colour-free stars with ED or APO glass. The differences between them are in aperture, focal ratio, and glass quality.
At the eyepiece
| Target | Askar 103APO | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED |
|---|---|---|
| Planets | ||
| Moon | Excellent 103mm aperture delivers sharp crater detail and clean terminator views; the ED triplet produces essentially no chromatic fringing on the bright limb | Good Clean, chromatic-aberration-free views through the triplet ED optics, but 80mm aperture and short focal length limit high-magnification fine detail. |
| Saturn | Good Rings clearly defined, Cassini Division visible in steady seeing; 700mm focal length supports useful magnification but aperture limits fine banding detail | Moderate Rings visible and well-defined, but 480mm focal length requires very short eyepieces to reach useful magnification — Cassini Division only in excellent seeing. |
| Jupiter | Good Two main equatorial belts and GRS visible; 103mm resolves some secondary belts in good seeing but can't match larger apertures for fine atmospheric detail | Moderate Main cloud belts visible, but 80mm aperture and 480mm focal length limit the detail and magnification ceiling. |
| Mars | Moderate Small disc visible with polar cap detectable near opposition; 103mm and 700mm focal length limit the detail available on this demanding target | Challenging Small disc visible near opposition, but 80mm aperture is insufficient to reliably show surface features or polar cap. |
Deep sky | ||
| Orion Nebula (M42) | Excellent 103mm gathers plenty of light and 700mm focal length frames the full nebula complex well; Trapezium resolved and nebulosity extends visually | Excellent 80mm aperture exceeds the threshold and the 480mm f/6 optics frame the full nebula extent with rich wide-field context — superb visually and for imaging. |
| Andromeda Galaxy (M31) | Excellent 700mm focal length keeps the full extent of M31 in the field; 103mm aperture shows the bright core and hints of dust lanes | Excellent 480mm focal length captures the full 3°+ extent of the galaxy including companion galaxies; ideal framing for both visual sweeping and imaging. |
| Open clusters | Excellent 700mm focal length and wide true field frame showpiece clusters like the Double Cluster and Pleiades beautifully | Excellent 480mm focal length provides a wide true field — the Double Cluster, Pleiades, and Beehive are beautifully framed. |
| Globular clusters | Moderate 103mm shows a granular, textured ball but cannot resolve individual stars in the core; M13 and M3 appear mottled at best | Challenging 80mm aperture cannot resolve individual stars — globulars appear as fuzzy, unresolved patches. |
| Faint galaxies | Moderate 103mm aperture detects brighter Messier galaxies as smudges but struggles with fainter NGC targets visually | Moderate Many galaxies detectable visually as faint smudges; long-exposure imaging through a suitable mount recovers far more, but aperture is the limiting factor. |
| Milky Way / wide field | Good 700mm is slightly long for sweeping starfield views but still delivers rich fields; a reducer brings it closer to wide-field territory | Excellent 480mm focal length at f/6 delivers sweeping star fields visually and wide rich Milky Way frames for imaging. |
Other | ||
| Double stars | Good 103mm resolves doubles to about 1.1 arcsecond; f/6.8 is not ideal for high-magnification splitting but the clean optics help | Good Clean APO optics and 80mm aperture resolve wide and moderate doubles crisply, though close pairs under 1.5 arcseconds are beyond the Dawes limit. |
| Astrophotography (deep sky) | Not recommended No mount or tracking included; with a suitable equatorial mount this scope would rate Excellent — f/6.8, 103mm aperture, and ED triplet design are ideal for deep-sky imaging | Not recommended No mount included — the OTA is designed for deep-sky imaging, but without an equatorial tracking mount it cannot be rated. Paired with an HEQ5 or similar, performance would be Excellent. |
| Astrophotography (planetary) | Moderate 103mm aperture captures reasonable planetary detail with a high-speed camera, but aperture and focal length limit resolution compared to larger scopes | Challenging 80mm aperture and 480mm focal length yield a small planetary image scale; even with a 3× Barlow the effective focal length is modest for planetary work. |
| Emission nebulae (imaging) | Excellent 700mm at f/6.8 frames large emission nebulae like the Heart, Soul, and North America Nebula well on APS-C sensors; tight star correction across the field with a matched flattener | Excellent Fast f/6 focal ratio and wide field are ideal for large emission nebulae like the North America, Heart, and Rosette when paired with a narrowband filter and tracking mount. |
| Galaxy groups (imaging) | Good 700mm focal length provides enough scale for galaxy groups like the Leo Triplet or M81/M82 on common sensor sizes while keeping good signal-to-noise at f/6.8 | Not applicable |
The real tradeoff
Both scopes are capable. The question is which one fits the way you actually observe.
Askar 103APO
- You'll frame targets like M81/M82 or the Leo Triplet with enough focal length to resolve real galactic structure — 700mm gives you a tighter crop that makes medium-sized targets fill the frame meaningfully on an APS-C sensor.
- You'll need a heavier, more capable equatorial mount to carry the 103APO's ~5–6kg payload with accessories, which means your total system cost pushes well past £3,000 and your setup routine involves hauling noticeably more weight into the garden or the field.
- You'll collect roughly 65% more light per pixel than the Esprit 80ED at native focal ratios, so your sub-exposures on faint galaxy targets reach useful signal faster — but you'll also need to buy a separate field flattener to keep corner stars tight on larger sensors, an expense and calibration step the Esprit bundles in.
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
- You'll capture enormous swathes of sky in a single frame — over 4° on full-frame — so targets like the full extent of Andromeda or the Heart and Soul nebulae as a pair fit without mosaicking, something the 103APO's narrower field simply can't do.
- You'll appreciate that the matched field flattener comes included and pre-designed for 55mm back-focus spacing, saving you the cost and guesswork of sourcing a compatible flattener — though you'll curse the results if you don't nail that spacing precisely.
- You'll get a lighter, more portable OTA that rides comfortably on a mid-range mount like an HEQ5, keeping your total system cost closer to £2,000 and making it far less painful to set up on a weeknight when you just want a quick session.
The dark side
Every scope has a personality. Here’s where each one gets difficult.
Askar
Askar 103APO
At £1,199 for the OTA alone — no mount, no diagonal, no eyepieces, no field flattener — your realistic all-in imaging cost exceeds £3,000 before you capture a single frame.
The f/6.8 focal ratio is noticeably slower than dedicated f/5 astrographs and even the Esprit 80ED's f/6, meaning you'll need longer sub-exposures to reach equivalent signal-to-noise on faint emission nebulae.
At 5–6kg with accessories, the tube demands a solid equatorial mount — an AZ-GTi or lightweight star tracker won't cut it, so you're committed to a bulkier, pricier mount class than the Esprit 80ED requires.
Sky-Watcher
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
80mm of aperture gathers significantly less light than the 103APO's 103mm, which translates directly into longer total integration times to reach comparable depth on faint targets like distant galaxies.
The 480mm focal length makes planetary visual use essentially impractical — you'd need a 2.4mm eyepiece to reach 200×, which doesn't meaningfully exist as a comfortable observing tool.
The included field flattener is designed specifically for Sky-Watcher's 55mm back-focus distance — if you pair it with a non-standard camera adapter stack or get the spacing wrong by even a millimetre or two, you'll introduce field curvature that ruins your edge stars.
Which is right for you?
Two different buyers. Two different right answers.
The custom-rig optical tube
Askar · Askar 103APO
You already own a capable equatorial mount — an EQ6-R, a CEM40, or similar — and you've outgrown your 80mm class refractor. You want tighter framing on galaxy groups and smaller nebulae, and you're willing to invest over £3,000 total for a system that resolves real structure in targets like the Leo Triplet. You're not looking for a visual scope or a first telescope; you're building a dedicated deep-sky imaging rig and you understand that the 103APO's value lives entirely in the quality of light it puts on your sensor.
The custom-rig optical tube
Sky-Watcher · Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
You're an intermediate astrophotographer who wants the widest possible field from a premium refractor without breaking the bank or your back. You're drawn to vast nebula complexes — the North America and Pelican, the Heart and Soul — and you want them whole in a single frame. You value the lower total system cost (closer to £2,000 all-in), the lighter OTA that rides happily on a mid-range mount, and the convenience of a matched, included field flattener. You accept that 80mm of aperture means longer integration nights on faint targets, but you'd rather shoot wide and bright than fight with a heavier, more expensive system.
Our verdict
At £699 versus £1,199, the Askar 103APO costs 72% more. It delivers 23mm more aperture — a real and visible advantage on faint targets.
If budget is a genuine constraint, the Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED will make you a happy observer. The Askar 103APO's optical advantage on faint targets is real and you are unlikely to regret it if you can stretch. If I had to choose without knowing your situation: start with the Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED, use it for a year, then upgrade knowing exactly what you want.
Askar 103APO
View Askar 103APO →Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
View Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED →Deep field: Full specifications
Every data point, for those who want to go further.
Full specifications
Fields highlighted in blue or amber indicate the better value for that spec. Data is manufacturer-stated and may vary.
How much can it see?
| Spec | Askar 103APO | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED |
|---|---|---|
Apertureⓘ The most important spec — bigger = more light = better views | 103mm | 80mm |
Focal Length Longer = more magnification potential | 700mm | 480mm |
Focal Ratio Lower f-number = wider field of view; higher = more magnification per eyepiece | f/6.8 | f/6 |
Optical Design The type of optics — each design has different strengths | Refractor | Refractor |
Coatings Better coatings = more light transmission through the optics | Fully multi-coated ED triplet on all air-to-glass surfaces | Fully multi-coated ED triplet with FMC on all air-to-glass surfaces |
How do you point it?
| Spec | Askar 103APO | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED |
|---|---|---|
Mount Type The mechanical system that holds and moves the telescope | None (OTA only) | None (OTA only) |
GoTo Computer-controlled pointing — finds any of thousands of objects automatically | ||
Tracking Motor keeps objects centred as the Earth rotates — essential for astrophotography |
The focuser
| Spec | Askar 103APO | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED |
|---|---|---|
Focuser Size 2" accepts wider eyepieces and gives better low-power views | 2" / 1.25" | 2" |
Focuser Type Rack-and-pinion is standard; Crayford and dual-speed are smoother | Dual-speed Crayford 2" (10:1 reduction) | Dual-speed Crayford (10:1 reduction, with 1.25" adapter) |
Size & weight
| Spec | Askar 103APO | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED |
|---|---|---|
OTA Weightⓘ Optical tube only — useful for comparing mount load capacity | 3.8kg | 2.55kg |
Tube Length | 550mm | 450mm |
Tube Material | Aluminium | Aluminium, white powder coat |
What's in the box?
| Spec | Askar 103APO | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED |
|---|---|---|
Diagonal Tilts the eyepiece 90° for comfortable viewing — useful on refractors |
Blue highlight: Askar 103APO advantage · Amber highlight: Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED advantage · Greyed cells: equal or subjective.