Telescope Comparison
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED vs Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED
The specs are close. The experience isn't.
First light
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
Sky-Watcher · 100mm · £449
The custom-rig optical tube
- 100mm refractor — optical tube only, no mount included
- 900mm focal length at f/9
- 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
Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED gathers 1.6× 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
Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED'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. Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED's f/9 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)
Similar optical tube weight. Any portability difference between these setups comes from the mount, not the tube itself.
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 | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED | Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED |
|---|---|---|
| Planets | ||
| Moon | Good Clean, chromatic-aberration-free views through the triplet ED optics, but 80mm aperture and short focal length limit high-magnification fine detail. | Excellent 100mm aperture and f/9 focal ratio reward high magnification with sharp, high-contrast lunar detail |
| Saturn | Moderate Rings visible and well-defined, but 480mm focal length requires very short eyepieces to reach useful magnification — Cassini Division only in excellent seeing. | Good 900mm focal length and clean ED optics show rings, Cassini Division in good seeing, and subtle disc banding |
| Jupiter | Moderate Main cloud belts visible, but 80mm aperture and 480mm focal length limit the detail and magnification ceiling. | Good 100mm resolves two or more cloud belts, GRS, and moon shadow transits; f/9 handles high power well |
| Mars | Challenging Small disc visible near opposition, but 80mm aperture is insufficient to reliably show surface features or polar cap. | Moderate Disc visible with polar cap and large albedo features at opposition, but 100mm limits fine surface detail |
Deep sky | ||
| Orion Nebula (M42) | 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. | Good Bright nebula core and trapezium well shown, but 900mm focal length crops the outer wings |
| Andromeda Galaxy (M31) | Excellent 480mm focal length captures the full 3°+ extent of the galaxy including companion galaxies; ideal framing for both visual sweeping and imaging. | Good Bright core and inner halo visible; 900mm frames only the central region, missing the full extent |
| Open clusters | Excellent 480mm focal length provides a wide true field — the Double Cluster, Pleiades, and Beehive are beautifully framed. | Good Compact clusters like M35 frame well; larger groups like the Double Cluster fill the low-power field |
| Globular clusters | Challenging 80mm aperture cannot resolve individual stars — globulars appear as fuzzy, unresolved patches. | Moderate M13 and M5 appear granular at high power but the core remains unresolved at 100mm |
| Faint galaxies | Moderate Many galaxies detectable visually as faint smudges; long-exposure imaging through a suitable mount recovers far more, but aperture is the limiting factor. | Moderate Brighter Messier galaxies detectable as smudges; 100mm lacks the aperture for structure or faint targets |
| Milky Way / wide field | Excellent 480mm focal length at f/6 delivers sweeping star fields visually and wide rich Milky Way frames for imaging. | Not recommended 900mm focal length produces too narrow a field for sweeping Milky Way star fields |
Other | ||
| Double stars | 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. | Excellent Clean ED optics at f/9 produce tight diffraction patterns; Dawes limit around 1.2 arcseconds |
| Astrophotography (deep sky) | 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. | Not applicable |
| Astrophotography (planetary) | 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. | Not applicable |
| Emission nebulae (imaging) | 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. | Not applicable |
The real tradeoff
Both scopes are capable. The question is which one fits the way you actually observe.
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
- You'll spend your observing nights at the camera, composing wide fields that capture entire nebula complexes or galaxy groups on a single frame — the 480mm focal length and f/6 speed are optimised for what the sensor sees, not the eyepiece.
- Your reward is flat, well-corrected star fields edge-to-edge on APS-C or full-frame, letting you reach faint detail through integration rather than aperture — shorter exposures mean faster data collection on a modest 80mm.
- You'll accept that visual observing is secondary; reaching useful planetary magnification requires eyepieces at the edge of practicality, and deep-sky objects appear narrow-field compared to the wide vistas this telescope is designed to capture.
Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED
- You'll spend your observing nights at the eyepiece, where the 900mm focal length and f/9 ratio deliver high magnification and clean, high-contrast views of the Moon, planets, and tight double stars without the purple fringing of achromatic refractors.
- Your reward is the ability to split close binaries near the Dawes limit and see genuine lunar detail like Hadley Rille and the Cassini Division on Saturn when seeing steadies — the extra aperture (100mm vs 80mm) gives you more light and sharper edges on bright objects.
- You'll accept that wide-field deep-sky imaging is impractical without a reducer, and deep-sky nebulae will be framed narrow — this scope excels when you point at specific targets, not when you compose wide celestial panoramas.
The dark side
Every scope has a personality. Here’s where each one gets difficult.
Sky-Watcher
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
Sold as OTA only — you cannot observe without separately purchasing an equatorial mount, camera, and accessories, pushing total system cost above £2,000 before first light.
The 80mm aperture limits visual observing and requires longer total integration times for faint targets; reaching 200× magnification demands a 2.4mm eyepiece, which is impractical.
The included field flattener is designed for Sky-Watcher's 55mm back-focus spacing — incorrect spacing will introduce field curvature across the sensor.
Sky-Watcher
Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED
Sold as OTA only — no mount, diagonal, finder, or eyepieces are included, so total cost to observe is significantly more than the £449 purchase price.
At 900mm and f/9 the focal length is too long for wide-field deep-sky imaging without a reducer, and even with reduction it remains slower than dedicated astrographs at f/5–f/7.
ED doublet design rather than triplet — some residual chromatic aberration may be visible on very bright stars, though significantly less than an achromat.
Which is right for you?
Two different buyers. Two different right answers.
The custom-rig optical tube
Sky-Watcher · Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
You'll love this if you're an intermediate astrophotographer ready to commit to a dedicated imaging platform and you want to capture large emission nebulae, galaxy groups, and wide nebula complexes on a single frame without the colour fringing that slower, longer refractors introduce. You're not for this if you want a ready-to-use telescope, value high-power planetary observing, or need to stay under £2,000 for a complete system — the Esprit demands serious investment and rewards camera work, not eyepiece work.
The custom-rig optical tube
Sky-Watcher · Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED
You'll love this if you're a visual observer who spends most nights at the eyepiece splitting double stars, studying lunar detail, and tracking planetary features at 150–200×, and you want a versatile mid-sized OTA that pairs well with any equatorial mount you choose. You're not for this if you need a ready-to-use package, you want to sweep wide Milky Way fields, or you're prioritising deep-sky imaging speed — the f/9 focal length and narrow field are fundamentally designed for bright-object observation.
Our verdict
At £449 versus £699, the Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED costs 56% more. The extra money buys a more capable mount and better build quality, not larger optics.
For most buyers starting out, the Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED is the sensible choice — put the savings into a better eyepiece. The Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED makes sense once you know exactly why you need what it offers. If I had to choose: the Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED, and spend the difference on a quality eyepiece.
Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED
View Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED →Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED
View Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED →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 | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED | Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED |
|---|---|---|
Apertureⓘ The most important spec — bigger = more light = better views | 80mm | 100mm |
Focal Length Longer = more magnification potential | 480mm | 900mm |
Focal Ratio Lower f-number = wider field of view; higher = more magnification per eyepiece | f/6 | f/9 |
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 with FMC on all air-to-glass surfaces | Fully multi-coated ED doublet |
How do you point it?
| Spec | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED | Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED |
|---|---|---|
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 | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED | Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED |
|---|---|---|
Focuser Size 2" accepts wider eyepieces and gives better low-power views | 2" | 2" |
Focuser Type Rack-and-pinion is standard; Crayford and dual-speed are smoother | Dual-speed Crayford (10:1 reduction, with 1.25" adapter) | Dual-speed Crayford (with 1.25" adapter) |
Size & weight
| Spec | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED | Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED |
|---|---|---|
OTA Weightⓘ Optical tube only — useful for comparing mount load capacity | 2.55kg | 2.6kg |
Tube Length | 450mm | 720mm |
Tube Material | Aluminium, white powder coat | Aluminium |
What's in the box?
| Spec | Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED | Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED |
|---|---|---|
Diagonal Tilts the eyepiece 90° for comfortable viewing — useful on refractors |
Blue highlight: Sky-Watcher Esprit 80ED advantage · Amber highlight: Sky-Watcher Evostar 100ED advantage · Greyed cells: equal or subjective.