I will say something nice about Svbony here. I bought a 6x30 RACI. First look through it was GAH!!! The crosshairs were completely out of focus at the edge and the field stop was total mush. So I disassembled the eyepiece and found two identical achromats - the eyepiece was a Plossl, the first I'd ever seen in a finder. But it was assembled completely wrong - the spacer that belonged between the achromats was in front of them, and they were touching each other, AND facing the same way. Once I got this straightened out, the field stop was razor sharp and black and the crosshairs absolutely perfectly sharp and black edge to edge. I wrote about this on Amazon and Svbony offered to send me another one without a return. I declined. They said they would make a note for their assembly workers in the future. That was excellent customer service.
Wow, this is an interesting comment to run into! About 1 year ago I also bought that 30mm RACI finderscope and had the same reaction. This is the first I've heard anyone else comment about it. All I've heard so far was praise for SVBONY products, but honestly, if a manufacturer can't get a finderscope right, why should I expect better from more expensive products. In fact, I had to cobble together a WORKING RACI scope from parts of an astromania straight finder and the svbony one. To my surprise, that worked great! (Thanks astromania). But maybe now knowing the likely issue, I'll look into (svbony) products again. Thanks for passing on your experience!
Shout out to the only person who bought it and wasn't given for free by svbony. I couldn't take the rest of the reviews seriously because of that. Svbony has some nice scopes but they seem to be promoting this hard by giving it to any astronomy youtubers
I have the Svbony 503 102ed - 102mm ED refractor and I am extremely happy with it. I use it for narrow band, so the chromatic aberration does not effect me. It is so low maintenance and easy to use, that I hardly use my SCT or newton anymore.
It's always a good Monday when there's a new Ed's review to watch! Looks like a very solid scope, with its "hoops" and all. Seems like a great replacement for an ST80.
Hi Ed , Thank You. I have found over the last 35 years , That almost ''every'' telescope focuser benefits from tweaking once you own it , use it , know it ...understand it . Nice to see such a price.
After watching this video I bought this telescope (for around $200). There's some chromatic aberration but it is well worth the price. It's well made and has decent optics. Whatever issues there may have been with the focuser are not present on the one I bought in Oct. '24. A great deal a fantastic budget scope. Five stars.
I recently bought SVBony eyepieces, diagonal and red dot finder, and I got to say they are amazing. They even managed to breathe life into my Powerseeker 127 (YES, THE MOST HATED TELESCOPE) and made it useable (well, after a lot other mods I made myself as well) Ed like always you are a treasure.
I too have the 127 Powerseeker and I have made MANY changes and additions to it. I’d be curious to know what you have done. I put the ota on an Orion EQ13. I mounted the rings on a vixen compatible plate. I put a new finder scope bracket and have a RACI fine scope and a Telrad. I’m in the process of upgrading the focuser.
I also have a PowerSeeker 127. Very disappointed with it. Thought of making a beer keg out of it. What mods have you made? (Love all my SvBony stuff including this SV48P)
@@sfskol9173 honestly I don't recommend it for a beginner. Top to bottom changes are needed and mine is from 2006 which is less terrible than the new ones. The most important is you need another tripod that can actually carry the weight, I use the included tripod with a SV408 and got a nexstar alt-az for this one. Some my mods to the powerseeker hardware - Filled tripod legs with chromite sand. - Removed the wonky rivets of the tray assembly and reassembled with M4 screws, washers and safety nuts - Dissasembled EQ mount and replaced plastic washers with copper ones and added needle thrust bearings on RA and Dec axis. Made the movement really smooth. - Printed a Vixen mount adapter on my 3D printer. On the OTA: - I flocked the tube inside - Added a Vixen Dovetail plate to spread the rings further apart. - replaced the rubber grommets in the primary mirrors with springs to make collimation easier. - Added spacers with aluminum tape inside the focuser to remove play. - Painted every internal part Musou Black. Painted the outside edges of the mirrors and the corrector lens in the focuser with Musou Black. - Threw away the included eyepieces, Barlow and finder scope and replaced with SVBony parts. It was too much work that I only did for the challenge. Frankly if you want a solution that works out of the box, buy something else 🤣🤣
@@sfskol9173 It's too much work to get it in good shape, unless you like a challenge. I improved the tripod, but to use with my svbony SV48. Overall get a better mount/tripod and touch up everything top to bottom: OTA: Flocked the tube, painted most international components with Musou black, including mirror edges, screws and nuts, focuser components and the edge of the corrector lens in the focuser, shimmed the focuser slightly to remove play and painted it. Mount: used copper washers and needle thrust bearings to improve movement smoothness, filled legs with chromite sand, added steel reinforcement plates. Disassembled the accessory tray assembly removing the rivets and instead addes M4 screws with safetynuts and washers to remove lateral play.
yeah for real id love this. might need to downsize and i want another refractor for visual but don't want to be disappointed. at102ed/sv503 102mm would be great, used to own an evostar 80 f/7.5 for imaging and decided to try visual before selling it and was very impressed didn't want to let it go lmao... i miss refractor visual. sometimes i see that sv503 102 for
I found the vixen porta ii for £306 at rothervalley website in the Uk. Looks similar to the skywatcher Az5 but I hear vixen is more stable than the Az5
funny enough - Svbony just released their take on that Vixen Porta and it's *really* tempting me for the nights where you don't want to break out your big equatorial mount and you just want to look at the moon, the planets, and the usual DSO suspects and soak up on all that night views.
Ed - I appreciate your videos and you have a first class intellect. I was wondering if you could do a review of astronomy observing chairs. Mine sinks into the grass near my house and isn't very adjustable so I'm in the market to make things more comfortable and since I'm a heavy guy my choices are rather limiting. Even tough you might not cover my limitations I would be curious what you look for in an astronomy observing chair. Thanks
Comfortable and very adjustable is the Berlebach Charon, but if you choose a very low sitting height, you will risk to tip over (forward, not backwards). Nevertheless I am quite satisfied with mine.
Thanks for the review Ed! SVBONY does have an actual "Astrophotography" quality 80mm APO scope SV550 which can be had for $700 on Amazon right now. This scope is said to have S-FPL51 low dispersion ED glass which should help take care of the violet stars and I have heard this scope is pretty good. For a little more you can even get it bundled with a 1x flattener at a price that is still cheaper than the Astronomics version of the same scope which doesn't list as having the Ohara glass!
When I first looked into the SV48P, some people just remove the dovetail plate, move it back one or two sets of holes, and re-bolt it, rather than replacing it. Thanks Ed! Keep up the good work.
Interesting video. I have the Svbony 102/714 mm F7 FPL51 doublet, it has a much better image quality than the 102/1000 mm F10 achromat I owned before. It also has a very nice 1:10 focuser, much better than the ones typically used on achromats.
At that price , One could put a 90mm Ir pass filter / all other wavelengths rejected , Over the objective and have a real nice Ir scope , w an Ir camera. Thoughts ? Thank you.
I bought the 420mm, 70ED about a year ago, new, for £195. It is a great scope. I then bought the flattener/reducer (for the 80mm version but works perfectly well on the 70ED, whose flattener is 3x the price for some reason) for £50 new.
Great review Ed. I bought one of these and was really disappointed in it (Here in Australia it wasn't as cheap) I managed to get the focuser nice and smooth but the optics really let it down (my short tube 80 was actually better) I ended up sending it back and at that time the Celestron C5 was on sale for $80 more than I paid for the 48P and I am impressed with the C5 for the money. I do want to replace the short tube 80 that sits on my 12" LX850. I'll look into the Askar range I think
I just purchased this scope. The focuser seems fine out of the box. I actually get a yellow ring around the moon. Optics are very clear. I found it with a filter on Amazon for $230 new. I was a little surprised by the weight of it. I guess I’m used to more plastic being used😊. Thanks for all your great videos Ed!
Hi Ed, very interesting little scope. I'm a big fan of the Orion ST80; so much so in fact, that I have three of them! A couple of the ST80-A, and an ST80-T. When I was able to afford something better, I none-the-less decided to hang on to them. I did however, upgrade my original ST80-A with a GSO86 Crayford 2" dual speed focuser and Long Perng Correct Image Amici Prism Diagonal, all mounted on the venerable Vixen Porta II. These upgrades would put it in the same price category as the SVBONY without the discount. I must say though, that the GSO focuser is as solid as a rock, with no wobble, and is a huge improvement on the original, and I believe better than the fiddly one supplied on the SVBONY. It's just a shame that the Orion ST80 isn't always available, as seems to be now true for the Porta II. My modest ST80 setup also celebrates the Asian contribution to amateur astronomy, representing Synta, Guan Sheng Optical, Long Perng and Vixen. My upgraded ST80-A will always be a proud member of my telescope collection...
I have this scope. If you look down the tube there are no light baffles as you would find in the SV503. My focuser was loose on mine when I received it but I was able to adjust it out using the 6 set screws on the focuser turning them just so slightly all the way around until the play was gone. The hairy stars are from the front optics not being painted black on the sides of the lenses. I corrected mine by 3D printing a 90mm X 5mm ring to friction fit covering the edge of the lense blocking the stray light. I use a Sv605cc OSC with mine and get nice results. I think it is an excellent scope for a beginner getting into astro.
After reading your comment, maybe you could inform me as to if you're using a flattener, and if you are, which one? I'm brand new and thought this scope would work to try, but I see SVbony doesn't have a flattener for this model.
I have an Orion 8893 1.0 flattener that I purchased for it but have not had a chance to use it yet since I have not had clear night skies for 5 weeks to test it. I have heard that the SV193 2-inch Focal Reducer will work with the SV48P. I have one of them coming with my new scope and will be able to test that one with the SV48P also.
i just got this scope cause why not i have a mount sitting around and i dont have a refractor, i paid 219.00 for it and it came with a 40 dollar correction filter. i havent tried it with the filter yet cause they didnt ship at the same time for some reason. those screws you adjusted have 2 more sets around the tube, i didnt mess with them yet cause im afraid it might somehow un align the focuser and make the eye piece angled slightly.
I considered buying one of these, but bought an SvBony 80mm ED, instead. As for other refractors, I found that the SvBony 231 color correction filter combined with a Sharp Cap color correction feature cuts a small portion of the purple spectrum and changes the rest of the chromatic aberration into another color on my Skyoptikst short tube 90mm producing the same photograph as the SvBony 80mm ED. This arrangement even makes photos taken by my Bresser 102/460 look nice. As for the Orion Observer 134mm Newtonian, it is very nice, but I gave mine to a friend and replaced it with an Orion 130mm Spaceprobe, because the latter allows me to attach an SvBony 705c (asi585) or SvBony 405cc (asi294) camera without using a Barlow lens to achieve focus. As for the mount, I use a Celestron CG-4 mount with an attached Astro-Gadget go to conversion kit for my Newtonians and my SCT and a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer for my refractors.
I got the Svbony SV503 (80F7). I can't complain for the price (on sale) although I've only had it out a couple of times due to the constant cloud cover.
Any scope with significant amount of longitudinal chromatic abberation is either a cheap visual scope or completely outdated. Purple fringing filters, wtf, it's 2024!
@@testboga5991 "...significant amount of longitudinal chromatic aberration..." Not all can afford a triplet APO. "...Purple fringing filters..." I have tried several and until I tried the SvBony 231 was not satisfied, as they reduced too much light and produced a color cast. But, this "purple fringe filter" combined with the Sharp Cap color correction routine APO quality photos for a fraction of the cost. I like doublet refractors, as they are light grab and go optical tubes, easy to use and inexpensive. Each to his own.
Great review! I wonder how they could keep the cost so low. I have many Svbony products including their eyepieces, diagonals and their 102ed etc. and everytime I look at those all I can say is that I never felt like they are great, but they REALLY worth the money. Very interesting marketing and pricing strategy.
Classic Japanese refractors also have small (almost invisible!) screws for adjusting the rack and pinion. This usually only needs to be done once. I am glad to see rack and pinion focusers again!
I'm probably going to buy this scope. I may go for the "package" which includes a diagonal, tripod, zoom lens. I need that tripod because I cannot find an AZ mount that would fit with the tripod I currently own: an Orion tripod which came with my Orion Observer. You might think that this would be standardized but apparently the 2 main AZ mounts on the market have bases too large to fit into the hole in my Orion tripod.
@@edting the mount is my issue, as mentioned above. There is a package which includes a tripod with a built in mount, probly a camera type. I don't know if that would be adequate for visual astronomy.
Hey Ed - I've been using the 503 ED 102mm of this and on the whole have been pleasantly surprised especially given the price point of the field flattener. One of the quirkiest things Ed is the name, it actually stands for Saturn-Venus-Birding-Orion-Neptune-Youth......no really it does check it out. Cheers, Ollie.
I just got mine and just like yours there was play in the focuser. I tightened the screws down (it requires a small hex and you have to put it deeply into the screw heads). The play was removed. The main focuser is movable but somewhat tight, but the fine one works perfectly. So get close with the main focuser and finish the focus with the fine one. The telescope looks light but it is dense and weighs more than it looks. I weighed it at about 6.4 lbs (the bathroom scale is kinda iffy). The vixen plate is removable (again with hex screws) so you could replace it but you may have to drill a hole or two in a new plate to match up with the screw holes. I am waiting for a dovetail clamp to arrive so I can use it with my camera tripod (I bought a good one). Or my goto mount for a Meade DSX-125 Mak mount (the telescope has some issues in that the glue holding the flat right angle mirror came unbound and the mirror is rattling around inside). Or the LDX-55 mounts which were overloaded by the 10 inch Schmidt Newtonian and the 6 inch EMC refractor. An 8 pound short tube refractor should not overload the mounts. I tried it out on the porch today to align the finder scope. The big focuser is a little too tight so I will have to back off on the screw a tiny bit. Putting in a 2 inch 26mm Q70 as an eyepiece throws off the balance. The dovetail is too small to adjust for the weight so I will have to figure out how to add a counterweight to the front that I can move back and forth as an adjustment or use different size counterweights.
If a 2" eyepiece throws off the balance, what can you do when switching from an eyepiece to a camera? I'm planning to use a heavier camera tripod too until I can get something more substantial, and I worry about balance. (I haven't bought the scope yet.)
@@beenaplumber8379 I bought their larger 8inch dovetail plate to replace the small one that came with it. Thus I can move the scope on the dovetail clamp to improve the balance. I also got a one kg weight to hang from the bottom center pole of the tripod to help keep it stable. I took the old small dovetail plate and attached it to a DSX-125 that I bought used and put a dovetail bracket on the 125 mount to replace their old crude mounting system. I had to do a some drilling on the small dovetail plate and use new flat head screws to get it to attach to the 125 OTA but it wasn't that hard. The advantage of this is that now I can attach the SV48P to the DSX mount and use the GoTo on it.
I have been reasonably impressed with Svbony gear. It is cheap, as you say, but generally serviceably well constructed and definitely alright for anything non-critical when it comes to astronomy accessories.
I have this scope and also had to play with the focuser. It has given many hours of fun observing, though i have never experimented with a 2" diagonal and eyepiece. Maybe this autumn...
This telescope is great. I bought it for wide field viewing 2 years ago. I use the APM 30mm UFF. Its my favorite scope next to my 10 inch dob. This is definitely the ST80 killer. I hate the lens cap but I've gotten used to it. I did have to play around with the bottom 8 screws to loosen the focuser. The coarse focus is better and the fine focus is excellent.
To be honest, I was wondering if Ed would ever touch a svbony. I got the sv503 102mm and really like it. Their support seems pretty good as we bought batinov masks and thought the 120mm one would fit, though it was to small. They sent us larger ones that fit our scope without charge. They were very responsive in emails.
Awesome fair review of a low budget scope. Ed, you signed up for an Amazon credit card to get that $100 off, it wasn't a SVBONY sale. It's a $300 scope. 😅 Looks like there's some eBay storefront sales closer to $215 actually.
I have one of these svbony scopes and I love my svbony sv48P. You just have to play with the 6 adjustment screws that you were adjusting earlier. I put some bar soap on my tube and this thing smooth as butter and it holds it weight pretty good. Most of us can’t afford these high dollar apo refractors.
@@petelopez5826 You can't fix chromatic aberration with a filter. Even if you get an expensive filter, that light is still gone, and the image still worse than it should be. It's also worth considering there are semi-apochromatic scopes for as little as $400-ish, with Astro-Tech AT80ED.
Hi Ed! I bought the Orion Observer 134 in January...now in August I just bought THIS! My only question is about the "built in dew shield". Haven't taken it out yet but it looks like a solid scope!! By now you probably know Orion has gone out of business. It has been very difficult finding a good budget telescope!
Another good unbiased review ED. A great pity the factory didn't spend a little time setting up the focuser correctly, because that could really put off newbies to the hobby and those tube clamps are a bit weird. For the price though it has to be considered passable. I have the SVBONY SV503 80ED and I'm very happy with it. Chroma drives me nuts, especially when viewing the moon's limb, but the 80mm SV503ED is pretty good in that respect. The 503 80 ED uses a different focus mount and mine was buttery-smooth perfection. straight out of the box. You may want to review some of the other SVBONY products, like their budget Plossls. I have a couple of low power ones and really like them. You are spot on about the importance of using a decent mount. I can be argued that the mount is actually more important than the scope. Wobbly mounts are a real hobby-killer.
Thanks for that review. Not considering this one as I already have an AT 80ED but interesting to hear about what a fast achromatic lens can do. My current fascination is a short tube 70mm x 400mm picked up a year ago for $39! They have went up, now $77, but I am amazed at what this little refractor can do visually. It is from Spectrum Optical Instruments and the two refractors I bought from them on a whim (and because they were dirt cheap) have turned in a good performance. The all plastic focuser has top runner adjustment and I was able to reduce any wobble to zero. Focus is smooth and lash free now. A 70 won’t show what a 90 will, but since the OTA 1.5 lbs. it has become my ‘glove box’ telescope.
Great review, as usual. This brand has made a pretty impressive name for itself as a budget friendly gateway into OTAs and even cameras. A member in my local club has produced some really amazing images with these scopes. Thanks!
Hi Ed, and thanks for all you do here! I want to warn your viewers that if they look for a used version of the SV48 they may find a very different scope. I was an early buyer of the SV48 (NOTE no "P") about 4 years ago. Interesting, that the price then was also about $200 US$. Key things that were different were different ring set, focuser and adapters. I bought it to use as a better guide scope for my RC6, & switched out the rings. I found it to be a great guide scope over the years giving much better stars than 3 other guide scopes I have used. The focuser back then was a feather touch like 2 speed system (no gear, just friction). With tension adjustments I liked the feel of that system for visual but it was a big problem when I tried to use it for imaging. I couldn't get enough tension in the focuser so that the focus tube would not slide out when scope was pointing high. I took the focuser apart to add filing lines to the friction surfaces which helped some. Lenses may be the same, as I got very purple stars back then exactly as you describe, but not the distorted bright stars you showd here. The attachment adapters were low quality without the rings to prevent scratches on the 1.25" tubes. I think it had only single tension screws. It gave me 4 good years of use guiding but not much for imaging. Keep up the great work. I recently got an AT60 ED largely influenced by your reviews of AstroTech.
I bought this lightly used on eBay for $6 + $24 for shipping on offer from a company selling it used along with an SVBony 1.25” dielectric diagonal and a generic 2x Barlow, 40mm, 32mm, and 6.3mm Plössl eyepieces. I got a MAJOR deal. The focuser is decent after spending a few hours getting it tuned properly. The tube is solidly built. The optics are a bit sloppy photographically, as shown in Ed’s pictures. Visually, it looks pretty great for an f/5.5 90mm scope. It has a strong split in the colors, showing a lot of yellow-green and blue separation when out of focus, but in focus it’s actually quite good. High magnification is a bit less sharp, but as a wide-field scope, it shows starscapes beautifully. It’s like a mini version of my Orion ST120. The focuser, once tuned, is similar to my Astro-Tech AT115EDT - just a bit stickier on coarse focus. You just have to make VERY small adjustments to get it smooth. I’d recommend a small amount of white lithium grease on the focus track.
SVBony is a great budget brand, especially if you’re an astrophotographer shooting in narrowband. I know someone in Dubai who is using this scope with paired with a Daystar Quark for a budget 90mm Ha solar scope & he gets amazing images. I used their SV503 80mm doublet w/ reducer & got some of my best images out of it! Excellent quality for the price!
I think the semiapo filters should be tried and a UV/IR filter on any achromat refractor. However the SVBONY 503 with 102mm scope is a huge bargain . Then the SVBONY 550 at 102mm is also a great bargain. At the price of the 90mm Ach it might not be perfect. The price point very good. I will be looking at SVBONY’s Best Spotting Scopes.
Hi Ed, how are you? I'm your newest subscriber here in Brazil and with more time I'll watch your other videos. However, I would like to suggest that if you have a friend who has an apochromatic SVbony 550, ask to borrow it😅 so I can do a review of it. I saw that you did a review of the SV48P and talked about the gap that exists in it, but in the 550 there is none, and it is apochromatic, thus reducing all those chromatic aberrations that you reported. So good luck in finding someone who has one to lend. A big hug from your newest Brazilian subscriber.
Thanks Ed. Just ordered, there was a $50 coupon so a great deal. I have an AP110 which was so expensive I baby it and use that for photos, this SVBONY will be great for quick grab and go visual. You didn't mention comets and star clusters, but I bet it will be good for them too.
I really wanted the SV550 80mm, then decided it was too expensive. Then I thought the SV503 was a pretty good runner up. Then I got my car impounded. 😞 Now I'm looking at this scope. I have a heavy-duty video camera tripod that might just work for me until I can afford a decent mount. Or I could get the Orion Observer 90mm, but it's got a 900mm focal length... but it also comes with that EQ3 mount... maybe a 40mm eyepiece would help... I can't decide!
For the price it looks a good buy. I bought one of their 7n SII 2" filters and can't fault it for the money, also bought one of their dew heater straps for my 135 f2 lens, cost no more than other similar rated straps but included a simple controller as well.
Very informative review Ed. Thank you. I’ve been looking at SVBONY’s scopes for a couple of years but just haven’t gained the strength to pull the trigger on one. I just want a cheap travel scope with reasonable optics. I think I will roll the dice on this model and see what I get.
I have a nice dual speed Crayford installed into an older 102mm f/5 achromat, Celestron "Wide Field Spotting Scope." I think I paid more for the focuser than the rest of the scope including rings. As I have it equipped, It's a decent casual scope, can look at a little bit of everything so long as you can get along with some CA. This 90mm f/5.5 looks in some ways better and some ways worse than mine, so I think I'll stick with the 102mm f/5. Nice review as always, thanks!
I still consider the EDL series from Astro-Tech to be the budget king. I have the AT102EDL & AT125EDL, both have been DPAC tested and preformed amazingly well. The AT102EDL was purchased new from Astronomics for $999!! A 4" doublet using a FCD100 ED element and lanthanum mate, with a fantastic 2.5" R&P rotating focuser, that has a .95 Strehl guarantee... delivered to my front door for under $1000 USD!! (Sales price for the 102 is $999 while normal price is $1199, but Astronomics had Astro-Tech sales fairly often) EDIT: OK, my bad. I should've watched the video before commenting 😂 I just heard you say that this scope was delivered for $199, which is a magnitude cheaper than the scope I was suggesting....
Actually, not a bad comparison would be Ed's $300 scope to the $419 dollar 80mm F/7 ED refractor by Astrotech. The Astrotech has a MUCH better focuser plus it being ED, has less CA. And it's not unreasonable to compare a $300 scope with a $419 scope.
After almost 4 years of learning the sky with my Orion XT10 Dob, I found myself wanting to move up into astrophotography. I've just gone out and purchased one of these scopes, and an Explore Scientific EXOS-2GT Go-To equatorial mount which, funnily, was unintentional. I have the mount, just waiting for the scope. My sister has a DSLR that I plan to use. This is sort of a funny thing to say for a person who has never operated a Go-To system, but I want to shoot the horsehead nebula alot more than anything else. I want to get a photo of it printed and put up on my wall. Wish me luck!
I wish these inexpensive telescopes were around when I started. You could buy 2 and join them to make a binocular telescope for pretty cheap with some blocks of wood and a couple more diagonals. Probably be a nightmare to collimate unless you built in the adjustments but something to play with if you like fiddling...
I have the Svbony SV550- the 80mm triplet which really meant for astrophotography, but how says it can't be used for visual right? That's one excellent scope I can't find any fault to it, beside that it's only available with a 1X field flattener, no reducer. I did not own any other triplets so far, but I find zero issues with it, stars are round and no wrong colors, no haloes, no chromatic aberration, nothing. Fantastic. And yes, the focuser is better too, pretty much the same you'd find on an William Optics or Sharpstar telescope.
They seemed they started off selling parts and accessories for telescopes (finder shoes, filters, dovetails) and they had a relatively inexpensive 70mm achromat which became popular with the amazon shoppers. I mean you can look around and find very low quality usual junk stuff you'd see in department stores with plastic tubes and just bad optics. meanwhile Svbony offered an OTA with metal tube and coated optics, which may not sound very exciting to seasoned hobbyists but among the rest of the junk, it is a better quality telescope. Their biggest hit is still the ED80- 80mm doublet though. It came out just before the covid and got popular during the pandemic, as many scopes became hard to buy due to halting their production, but Svbony had a stock and easily sold them through amazon. The 80mm also got popular, because its aggressive/cheap pricing compared to other telescopes with similar performance. Currently they also have an 80mm triplet and a 122mm triplet and both for less than the other/bigger brands. I got the 80mm triplet version and it's my workhorse for narrowband and wide view imaging. Zero problems, no strange colors, no strange star shapes. It works as it supposed to.
A new Ed Ting video, a good way to end the weekend! I've always wondered how to pronounce that brand name. I usually just say "sivbony." I've been looking at their 80mm ED because it can often be had below $400 on sale but I need another refractor like I need a hole in the head!
Svbony does have equipment beyond the "department store telescopes". I am skeptical with so many knock off telescopes coming out of the far east but is it possible for the amateur astronomer watching their pocket book, that there is a new sheriff in town for options to consider getting into astronomy?
If Svbony get their marketing and QA right, they may become the biggest threat to the likes of Celestron, Meade, TeleVue and others in the amateur astronomy community😮 They have certainly proved a point with the release of the SV215 3-8mm zoom. It would make an interesting video if Ed did a comparison of the TV 3-6mm and the SV 3-8mm. I have one of each and no regrets in buying either😊
Do you know what causes those spiky stars? Cheap glass polishing and I find it an issue with their zoom eyepiece. Even my cheap Celestron Zoom didn't give me spiky stars.
Considering the price, well done SVbony. The only thing that bothered me enough to not consider this telescope is the flaring on the bright stars in the photos. I am guessing that is the result of the possible pinched optics that Ed mentioned. I did not see anything in the brief view that showed the cell is adjustable in any way. Other than that this looks like a nice intro scope. If there are any owners in here...can the lens cell be tweaked?
Hey Ed, years ago you suggested the Nagler Zoom was a good combo with the FS-60. I use Svbony’s 3-8mm Zoom with mIne. I’d be interested in hearing if you’d find the extra 2mm worth, what I can only assume would be, a dip in optical quality, if you ever come across one
The issue isn't so much the eyepiece, it's the drastic increase in chromatic aberration that will start to annoy you. The 3-8 should be fine otherwise.
Hi Ed, Great channel. What are your views on the $500 SeeStar S50? Just saw Damon Scotting's Nov 2023 YT video on it and people in the comments are saying the images captured on it are too good and it's just downloading them from the internet via its AP.
I would love to buy this but I have NO IDEA WHAT MOUNT/ stand I can buy that is currently for sale can you make a video on mounts and tripods for different budgets.
Hey Ed great vid, i don't own the scope but i tend to stick around reflectors but owned a short achro like this and it's been a nightmare, if u can would u give a chance to look at a 6" GSO rc?
@@edting Haha i own one and together with my ioptron gem28 i get tracking under 0.5" and quite great images if wouldnt be the tilt issue i have and that i use a stock dslr, luckly mine arrived in great state since collimation wasnt needed, i just sometimes check on a star but secondary seems pretty much aligned to primary, only thing i don't like is the focuser, which for me feels cheap so to correct any issues u will definitely need a tilt adapter, tho i like the scope overall and gives great results, if u ever wanna give a look i can send u a link of my last pic, nothing too crazy but still!
I own this scope and for astrophotography it's not usable for anything other narrowband. I'm glad I bought it because it helped me learn about CA and backspacing but 100% would not recommend for any new comer to the hobby of astrophotography. Also the focuser tube has alot of droop with a dslr on it. I had to 3d print a spacer to support the tube.
Just ordered 48p 102mm f6.5 for AUD370 (US$246.52) with free delivery on Amazon. Same specs as my Celestron AZ102, but I hope for better quality from SVBONY
@@A0111. Too bad. Maybe you should tell them you want to review it and they'll give you a bettery scope. I got the SV-503ED 102mm on sale (Amazon) for $419. Very nice scope. Prices are all over the place on it. Is the -48 have multiple non-ED lens?
I have been testing out older versions of this same scope just a few days ago, one made (branded) by a company called 'Aqulia", the other by svbony. I really want to know what causes those "harry" looking bright stars, as both models have them, and it's sad to see the new version still has it too. It makes some targets totally impossible to image (though I didn't really notice them visually). I assume it's pinched optics as well as a screw or something in the light path, but I can't figure out how to loosen the lens cell to see if that would fix it. If it were fixable, a telescope like this would probably be perfect for narrow band imaging.
@@lesgatechair3907 That's very interesting. Nebula Photos also used the telescope (The same as the one I, and I assume you, have. See the video '4 Telescopes Tested from $300 to $2300'), and it looks like the "hairs" are not as present there too (that said his image of M101 looks very similar to mine, but bright stars, like in the Pleiades, make it totally impossible to get a good image, it ends up looking more similar to what Ed shared). I didn't have any problems with the focuser on either telescope, the Crayford focusers on both were able to hold a mono camera + filter wheel without any problems.
Hi Ed, do you know anything about Apertura Carbonstar 150 reflector telescope, i am thinking to buy, becouse its a US made telescope, but i am not sure,becouse there is not much reviews done, and i think the company is new.
Hi, I've already decided on my telescope, I would buy a redcat 51 but the only reason I wanted to do astrophotography is because of galaxies so I'm going to buy a c11
Thanks Mr. Ting! Every time you review a requested OTA my credit card wants to jump out of my wallet! In this case I prefer my set of ST80, both flocked, blackened edges on the objectives and 2" GSO focuser on one of them! proven in combat.
@@edting yeah, outside of Japan, availability can be an issue. Skywatcher had a similar “AZ” series of mount but they too seem to go in and out. I had the original Porta. Sold it, regretted that and eventually got a Porta II. I also found a used modified Porta that can take a counter-weight and heavier scopes. I also have the T-Rex mount which I use for my larger scopes for times when I do t want the added hassle of setup.
Hi ed i just picked up a 10" Meade Lx6 2020 today, unfortunately its missing the original hand controller :( was wondering if you would know how to go about founding a replacement or anything interesting about the scope :)
Those controllers are becoming very hard to find. I assume you've tried the usual places? Astromart, Cloudy Nights, etc. If you can't find one, you might wind up deforking the OTA and putting it on a plate for an eq mount.
@@edtingIs it possible to use a different hand controller from that era? I have another hand controller with the same port, etc. I'd like to keep it original if I can; I've just started restoring it, and it is a beautiful piece of kit. I have an ad on astrobuyandsell (im uk based) but my hopes arent too high.
Could someone help me understand the difference/comparison between the sv48p and the sv503? Also I dont really understand the difference between the sv503 70mm and 90mm, what does a difference in the diameter mean? And last question how do you connect a dslr to a scope like this?
I'm a beginner, but I can answer some of your questions. 1) The SV503 has 2 "extra-low dispersion" (ED) lens elements to reduce the chromatic abberation Ed talks about in this video. This scope doesn't have any, so that effect is more of an issue on this scope. The difference I've seen in images taken by the two scopes is quite noticeable, but I don't know that it's worth the price difference. 2) A larger diameter objective lens gathers more light, so you get more detail visually, and more detail with less exposure time needed and less relative noise if you use a camera. Because the amount of light gathered varies with the area of the lens, not the diameter, the 90mm scope takes in about 65% more light than the 70mm scope. That doesn't mean it takes better pictures though, and as a newbie I don't know how much difference that makes visually. (Twice as much light doesn't mean something is twice as bright to the human eye.) 3) You need to get a T-ring for your specific camera. That's a sort of ring that attaches to your camera in place of a lens. Then there's an adapter tube that screws into threads inside the t-ring. Those adapter tubes come in 1.25" and 2" sizes, either of which will work for this scope. Your camera, with the T-ring and adapter tube attached, slides into the telescope instead of an eyepiece. The adapter tubes are standardized so you can screw various filters to the inside of the end that goes into the telescope. I've seen t-mount and adapter combinations as low as $15 (US) and as high as maybe $100? Most of the 1.25" combos are like $15-$30 that I've seen. I've been shopping for Sony E-mount T-rings. I've seen Nikon, Cannon, and Olympus T-rings, and I'm sure there are other brands. Cannon seems most common though. I have a Sony camera, and nothing else. I don't have a telescope or any of the accessories, just a bunch of information I've collected before deciding to spend my money on something silly. That's what I've learned so far. I've got a shopping cart full of this telescope and accessories just waiting for me to make up my mind! Good luck with whatever you choose!
Very Interesting review thanks, I'll stick with my SkyWatcher 102D for now which I use for visual Lunar Obs. or pay the extra $$$ for a Apochromat. My next Telescope is going to a SkyWatcher 16" GOTO dob at f4.4 , once back in the US, mostly for Urban Lunar & Planetary imaging
Sorry folks, there's someone spamming the comments. Trying to get rid of them...
I will say something nice about Svbony here. I bought a 6x30 RACI. First look through it was GAH!!! The crosshairs were completely out of focus at the edge and the field stop was total mush. So I disassembled the eyepiece and found two identical achromats - the eyepiece was a Plossl, the first I'd ever seen in a finder. But it was assembled completely wrong - the spacer that belonged between the achromats was in front of them, and they were touching each other, AND facing the same way. Once I got this straightened out, the field stop was razor sharp and black and the crosshairs absolutely perfectly sharp and black edge to edge. I wrote about this on Amazon and Svbony offered to send me another one without a return. I declined. They said they would make a note for their assembly workers in the future. That was excellent customer service.
Good that they react to the reviews, but I think most of the work was on your end diagnosing their manufacturing problems :)
Wow, this is an interesting comment to run into! About 1 year ago I also bought that 30mm RACI finderscope and had the same reaction. This is the first I've heard anyone else comment about it. All I've heard so far was praise for SVBONY products, but honestly, if a manufacturer can't get a finderscope right, why should I expect better from more expensive products. In fact, I had to cobble together a WORKING RACI scope from parts of an astromania straight finder and the svbony one. To my surprise, that worked great! (Thanks astromania). But maybe now knowing the likely issue, I'll look into (svbony) products again. Thanks for passing on your experience!
Shout out to the only person who bought it and wasn't given for free by svbony. I couldn't take the rest of the reviews seriously because of that. Svbony has some nice scopes but they seem to be promoting this hard by giving it to any astronomy youtubers
I have the Svbony 503 102ed - 102mm ED refractor and I am extremely happy with it. I use it for narrow band, so the chromatic aberration does not effect me. It is so low maintenance and easy to use, that I hardly use my SCT or newton anymore.
Good luck selling it
It's always a good Monday when there's a new Ed's review to watch! Looks like a very solid scope, with its "hoops" and all. Seems like a great replacement for an ST80.
Hi Ed , Thank You. I have found over the last 35 years , That almost ''every'' telescope focuser benefits from tweaking once you own it , use it , know it ...understand it . Nice to see such a price.
After watching this video I bought this telescope (for around $200). There's some chromatic aberration but it is well worth the price. It's well made and has decent optics. Whatever issues there may have been with the focuser are not present on the one I bought in Oct. '24. A great deal a fantastic budget scope. Five stars.
I recently bought SVBony eyepieces, diagonal and red dot finder, and I got to say they are amazing. They even managed to breathe life into my Powerseeker 127 (YES, THE MOST HATED TELESCOPE) and made it useable (well, after a lot other mods I made myself as well)
Ed like always you are a treasure.
I too have the 127 Powerseeker and I have made MANY changes and additions to it. I’d be curious to know what you have done.
I put the ota on an Orion EQ13. I mounted the rings on a vixen compatible plate. I put a new finder scope bracket and have a RACI fine scope and a Telrad. I’m in the process of upgrading the focuser.
I also have a PowerSeeker 127. Very disappointed with it. Thought of making a beer keg out of it. What mods have you made? (Love all my SvBony stuff including this SV48P)
@@sfskol9173 honestly I don't recommend it for a beginner. Top to bottom changes are needed and mine is from 2006 which is less terrible than the new ones. The most important is you need another tripod that can actually carry the weight, I use the included tripod with a SV408 and got a nexstar alt-az for this one. Some my mods to the powerseeker hardware
- Filled tripod legs with chromite sand.
- Removed the wonky rivets of the tray assembly and reassembled with M4 screws, washers and safety nuts
- Dissasembled EQ mount and replaced plastic washers with copper ones and added needle thrust bearings on RA and Dec axis. Made the movement really smooth.
- Printed a Vixen mount adapter on my 3D printer.
On the OTA:
- I flocked the tube inside
- Added a Vixen Dovetail plate to spread the rings further apart.
- replaced the rubber grommets in the primary mirrors with springs to make collimation easier.
- Added spacers with aluminum tape inside the focuser to remove play.
- Painted every internal part Musou Black.
Painted the outside edges of the mirrors and the corrector lens in the focuser with Musou Black.
- Threw away the included eyepieces, Barlow and finder scope and replaced with SVBony parts.
It was too much work that I only did for the challenge. Frankly if you want a solution that works out of the box, buy something else 🤣🤣
@@sfskol9173 It's too much work to get it in good shape, unless you like a challenge. I improved the tripod, but to use with my svbony SV48. Overall get a better mount/tripod and touch up everything top to bottom:
OTA: Flocked the tube, painted most international components with Musou black, including mirror edges, screws and nuts, focuser components and the edge of the corrector lens in the focuser, shimmed the focuser slightly to remove play and painted it.
Mount: used copper washers and needle thrust bearings to improve movement smoothness, filled legs with chromite sand, added steel reinforcement plates. Disassembled the accessory tray assembly removing the rivets and instead addes M4 screws with safetynuts and washers to remove lateral play.
Ed if possible please also review the Svbony 102 ED and 122 ED triplet. They are relatively cheap but I wonder about their optics quality.
I also am super curious about Eds opinion on the Sv550 series, the Sv503's also.
yeah for real id love this. might need to downsize and i want another refractor for visual but don't want to be disappointed. at102ed/sv503 102mm would be great, used to own an evostar 80 f/7.5 for imaging and decided to try visual before selling it and was very impressed didn't want to let it go lmao... i miss refractor visual. sometimes i see that sv503 102 for
Thanks, Ed! It’s time we had a good low-cost entry-lever refractor.
Another superb analitical review from the king of reviewers
Thanks from UK Ed!
Thank you for this review! It helped me a lot 🙏
Hi Ed. For a cheap Alt-Azimuth mount take a look at the Svbony SV225. Price between $150 and $130 on eBay or Amazon.
I found the vixen porta ii for £306 at rothervalley website in the Uk. Looks similar to the skywatcher Az5 but I hear vixen is more stable than the Az5
funny enough - Svbony just released their take on that Vixen Porta and it's *really* tempting me for the nights where you don't want to break out your big equatorial mount and you just want to look at the moon, the planets, and the usual DSO suspects and soak up on all that night views.
I just got an SV225. It's surprisingly good especially for the price.
That's a truly stunning telescope for the price!
Ed - I appreciate your videos and you have a first class intellect. I was wondering if you could do a review of astronomy observing chairs. Mine sinks into the grass near my house and isn't very adjustable so I'm in the market to make things more comfortable and since I'm a heavy guy my choices are rather limiting. Even tough you might not cover my limitations I would be curious what you look for in an astronomy observing chair. Thanks
Comfortable and very adjustable is the Berlebach Charon, but if you choose a very low sitting height, you will risk to tip over (forward, not backwards). Nevertheless I am quite satisfied with mine.
Can you share your approximate weight?
@@DK-df2hi Roughly 96 kg, so the chair with its payload of 120 kg is not in danger. The chair weighs 5.8 kg.
I’m a really big guy.
@@DK-df2hi Then the Asterion VariSeat might be suitable for you, it can carry up to 150 kg. Unfortunately it is from Russia.
The 102 ED doublet and 122 ED triplet are the best and most interesting Svbony refractors.
Thanks for the review Ed! SVBONY does have an actual "Astrophotography" quality 80mm APO scope SV550 which can be had for $700 on Amazon right now. This scope is said to have S-FPL51 low dispersion ED glass which should help take care of the violet stars and I have heard this scope is pretty good. For a little more you can even get it bundled with a 1x flattener at a price that is still cheaper than the Astronomics version of the same scope which doesn't list as having the Ohara glass!
When I first looked into the SV48P, some people just remove the dovetail plate, move it back one or two sets of holes, and re-bolt it, rather than replacing it.
Thanks Ed! Keep up the good work.
Interesting video. I have the Svbony 102/714 mm F7 FPL51 doublet, it has a much better image quality than the 102/1000 mm F10 achromat I owned before. It also has a very nice 1:10 focuser, much better than the ones typically used on achromats.
I wonder if its optical perfromance is better than the one of the Skywatcher 90/900 mm achromat.
At that price , One could put a 90mm Ir pass filter / all other wavelengths rejected , Over the objective and have a real nice Ir scope , w an Ir camera. Thoughts ? Thank you.
I bought the 420mm, 70ED about a year ago, new, for £195. It is a great scope. I then bought the flattener/reducer (for the 80mm version but works perfectly well on the 70ED, whose flattener is 3x the price for some reason) for £50 new.
Great review Ed. I bought one of these and was really disappointed in it (Here in Australia it wasn't as cheap) I managed to get the focuser nice and smooth but the optics really let it down (my short tube 80 was actually better) I ended up sending it back and at that time the Celestron C5 was on sale for $80 more than I paid for the 48P and I am impressed with the C5 for the money. I do want to replace the short tube 80 that sits on my 12" LX850. I'll look into the Askar range I think
I just purchased this scope. The focuser seems fine out of the box. I actually get a yellow ring around the moon. Optics are very clear. I found it with a filter on Amazon for $230 new. I was a little surprised by the weight of it. I guess I’m used to more plastic being used😊. Thanks for all your great videos Ed!
Hi Ed, very interesting little scope. I'm a big fan of the Orion ST80; so much so in fact, that I have three of them! A couple of the ST80-A, and an ST80-T.
When I was able to afford something better, I none-the-less decided to hang on to them.
I did however, upgrade my original ST80-A with a GSO86 Crayford 2" dual speed focuser and Long Perng Correct Image Amici Prism Diagonal, all mounted on the venerable Vixen Porta II.
These upgrades would put it in the same price category as the SVBONY without the discount. I must say though, that the GSO focuser is as solid as a rock, with no wobble, and is a huge improvement on the original, and I believe better than the fiddly one supplied on the SVBONY.
It's just a shame that the Orion ST80 isn't always available, as seems to be now true for the Porta II.
My modest ST80 setup also celebrates the Asian contribution to amateur astronomy, representing Synta, Guan Sheng Optical, Long Perng and Vixen.
My upgraded ST80-A will always be a proud member of my telescope collection...
I bought the sv503 70ed for my first scope and it's pretty sweet
I have this scope. If you look down the tube there are no light baffles as you would find in the SV503. My focuser was loose on mine when I received it but I was able to adjust it out using the 6 set screws on the focuser turning them just so slightly all the way around until the play was gone. The hairy stars are from the front optics not being painted black on the sides of the lenses. I corrected mine by 3D printing a 90mm X 5mm ring to friction fit covering the edge of the lense blocking the stray light. I use a Sv605cc OSC with mine and get nice results. I think it is an excellent scope for a beginner getting into astro.
Hey thanks for that. Strangely my FS102 also does that notched/flaring aberration to brighter stars and I can't figure out why it's doing that.
After reading your comment, maybe you could inform me as to if you're using a flattener, and if you are, which one? I'm brand new and thought this scope would work to try, but I see SVbony doesn't have a flattener for this model.
I have an Orion 8893 1.0 flattener that I purchased for it but have not had a chance to use it yet since I have not had clear night skies for 5 weeks to test it. I have heard that the SV193 2-inch Focal Reducer will work with the SV48P. I have one of them coming with my new scope and will be able to test that one with the SV48P also.
I'm using the TeleVue field flattener.
i just got this scope cause why not i have a mount sitting around and i dont have a refractor, i paid 219.00 for it and it came with a 40 dollar correction filter. i havent tried it with the filter yet cause they didnt ship at the same time for some reason. those screws you adjusted have 2 more sets around the tube, i didnt mess with them yet cause im afraid it might somehow un align the focuser and make the eye piece angled slightly.
I considered buying one of these, but bought an SvBony 80mm ED, instead.
As for other refractors, I found that the SvBony 231 color correction filter combined with a Sharp Cap color correction feature cuts a small portion of the purple spectrum and changes the rest of the chromatic aberration into another color on my Skyoptikst short tube 90mm producing the same photograph as the SvBony 80mm ED. This arrangement even makes photos taken by my Bresser 102/460 look nice.
As for the Orion Observer 134mm Newtonian, it is very nice, but I gave mine to a friend and replaced it with an Orion 130mm Spaceprobe, because the latter allows me to attach an SvBony 705c (asi585) or SvBony 405cc (asi294) camera without using a Barlow lens to achieve focus.
As for the mount, I use a Celestron CG-4 mount with an attached Astro-Gadget go to conversion kit for my Newtonians and my SCT and a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer for my refractors.
I got the Svbony SV503 (80F7). I can't complain for the price (on sale) although I've only had it out a couple of times due to the constant cloud cover.
Any scope with significant amount of longitudinal chromatic abberation is either a cheap visual scope or completely outdated. Purple fringing filters, wtf, it's 2024!
@@testboga5991 "...significant amount of longitudinal chromatic aberration..." Not all can afford a triplet APO.
"...Purple fringing filters..." I have tried several and until I tried the SvBony 231 was not satisfied, as they reduced too much light and produced a color cast. But, this "purple fringe filter" combined with the Sharp Cap color correction routine APO quality photos for a fraction of the cost.
I like doublet refractors, as they are light grab and go optical tubes, easy to use and inexpensive. Each to his own.
Ed- Your telescope reviews and videos are excellent! Very informative and concise. Been watching the channel for a while. Love it!🔭🔭🔭💫
Great review! I wonder how they could keep the cost so low. I have many Svbony products including their eyepieces, diagonals and their 102ed etc. and everytime I look at those all I can say is that I never felt like they are great, but they REALLY worth the money. Very interesting marketing and pricing strategy.
Classic Japanese refractors also have small (almost invisible!) screws for adjusting the rack and pinion. This usually only needs to be done once. I am glad to see rack and pinion focusers again!
Would also love a review of the SVbony SV550 122mm triplet.
I'm probably going to buy this scope. I may go for the "package" which includes a diagonal, tripod, zoom lens. I need that tripod because I cannot find an AZ mount that would fit with the tripod I currently own: an Orion tripod which came with my Orion Observer. You might think that this would be standardized but apparently the 2 main AZ mounts on the market have bases too large to fit into the hole in my Orion tripod.
OK, I'm curious what you think of the focuser when you get it,
@@edting the mount is my issue, as mentioned above. There is a package which includes a tripod with a built in mount, probly a camera type. I don't know if that would be adequate for visual astronomy.
Hey Ed - I've been using the 503 ED 102mm of this and on the whole have been pleasantly surprised especially given the price point of the field flattener. One of the quirkiest things Ed is the name, it actually stands for Saturn-Venus-Birding-Orion-Neptune-Youth......no really it does check it out.
Cheers, Ollie.
I just got mine and just like yours there was play in the focuser. I tightened the screws down (it requires a small hex and you have to put it deeply into the screw heads). The play was removed. The main focuser is movable but somewhat tight, but the fine one works perfectly. So get close with the main focuser and finish the focus with the fine one. The telescope looks light but it is dense and weighs more than it looks. I weighed it at about 6.4 lbs (the bathroom scale is kinda iffy). The vixen plate is removable (again with hex screws) so you could replace it but you may have to drill a hole or two in a new plate to match up with the screw holes. I am waiting for a dovetail clamp to arrive so I can use it with my camera tripod (I bought a good one). Or my goto mount for a Meade DSX-125 Mak mount (the telescope has some issues in that the glue holding the flat right angle mirror came unbound and the mirror is rattling around inside). Or the LDX-55 mounts which were overloaded by the 10 inch Schmidt Newtonian and the 6 inch EMC refractor. An 8 pound short tube refractor should not overload the mounts. I tried it out on the porch today to align the finder scope. The big focuser is a little too tight so I will have to back off on the screw a tiny bit. Putting in a 2 inch 26mm Q70 as an eyepiece throws off the balance. The dovetail is too small to adjust for the weight so I will have to figure out how to add a counterweight to the front that I can move back and forth as an adjustment or use different size counterweights.
If a 2" eyepiece throws off the balance, what can you do when switching from an eyepiece to a camera? I'm planning to use a heavier camera tripod too until I can get something more substantial, and I worry about balance. (I haven't bought the scope yet.)
@@beenaplumber8379 I bought their larger 8inch dovetail plate to replace the small one that came with it. Thus I can move the scope on the dovetail clamp to improve the balance. I also got a one kg weight to hang from the bottom center pole of the tripod to help keep it stable. I took the old small dovetail plate and attached it to a DSX-125 that I bought used and put a dovetail bracket on the 125 mount to replace their old crude mounting system. I had to do a some drilling on the small dovetail plate and use new flat head screws to get it to attach to the 125 OTA but it wasn't that hard. The advantage of this is that now I can attach the SV48P to the DSX mount and use the GoTo on it.
I have been reasonably impressed with Svbony gear. It is cheap, as you say, but generally serviceably well constructed and definitely alright for anything non-critical when it comes to astronomy accessories.
I have this scope and also had to play with the focuser. It has given many hours of fun observing, though i have never experimented with a 2" diagonal and eyepiece. Maybe this autumn...
Ed, do you have any thoughts on SVBONY eyepieces as an upgrade to the Orion Observer 134 reflector's stock eyepieces?
This telescope is great. I bought it for wide field viewing 2 years ago. I use the APM 30mm UFF. Its my favorite scope next to my 10 inch dob. This is definitely the ST80 killer. I hate the lens cap but I've gotten used to it. I did have to play around with the bottom 8 screws to loosen the focuser. The coarse focus is better and the fine focus is excellent.
To be honest, I was wondering if Ed would ever touch a svbony. I got the sv503 102mm and really like it. Their support seems pretty good as we bought batinov masks and thought the 120mm one would fit, though it was to small. They sent us larger ones that fit our scope without charge. They were very responsive in emails.
Awesome fair review of a low budget scope. Ed, you signed up for an Amazon credit card to get that $100 off, it wasn't a SVBONY sale. It's a $300 scope. 😅 Looks like there's some eBay storefront sales closer to $215 actually.
He probably didnt have to. a $50 instant discount shows up for me with no credit card application required.
As far as I can tell, I don't have an Amazon cc as of today. Thanks for alerting me though.
I have one of these svbony scopes and I love my svbony sv48P. You just have to play with the 6 adjustment screws that you were adjusting earlier. I put some bar soap on my tube and this thing smooth as butter and it holds it weight pretty good.
Most of us can’t afford these high dollar apo refractors.
@@petelopez5826 You can't fix chromatic aberration with a filter. Even if you get an expensive filter, that light is still gone, and the image still worse than it should be. It's also worth considering there are semi-apochromatic scopes for as little as $400-ish, with Astro-Tech AT80ED.
Instant-off coupons are quite common these days.
Hi Ed! I bought the Orion Observer 134 in January...now in August I just bought THIS! My only question is about the "built in dew shield". Haven't taken it out yet but it looks like a solid scope!!
By now you probably know Orion has gone out of business. It has been very difficult finding a good budget telescope!
Another good unbiased review ED. A great pity the factory didn't spend a little time setting up the focuser correctly, because that could really put off newbies to the hobby and those tube clamps are a bit weird. For the price though it has to be considered passable. I have the SVBONY SV503 80ED and I'm very happy with it. Chroma drives me nuts, especially when viewing the moon's limb, but the 80mm SV503ED is pretty good in that respect. The 503 80 ED uses a different focus mount and mine was buttery-smooth perfection. straight out of the box. You may want to review some of the other SVBONY products, like their budget Plossls. I have a couple of low power ones and really like them. You are spot on about the importance of using a decent mount. I can be argued that the mount is actually more important than the scope. Wobbly mounts are a real hobby-killer.
Thanks for that review. Not considering this one as I already have an AT 80ED but interesting to hear about what a fast achromatic lens can do. My current fascination is a short tube 70mm x 400mm picked up a year ago for $39! They have went up, now $77, but I am amazed at what this little refractor can do visually. It is from Spectrum Optical Instruments and the two refractors I bought from them on a whim (and because they were dirt cheap) have turned in a good performance. The all plastic focuser has top runner adjustment and I was able to reduce any wobble to zero. Focus is smooth and lash free now. A 70 won’t show what a 90 will, but since the OTA 1.5 lbs. it has become my ‘glove box’ telescope.
Great review, as usual. This brand has made a pretty impressive name for itself as a budget friendly gateway into OTAs and even cameras. A member in my local club has produced some really amazing images with these scopes. Thanks!
When I was looking for a unit to piggyback on my CPC1100, I went with the Svbony 80mm SV503 ED. Love it.
Hi Ed, and thanks for all you do here! I want to warn your viewers that if they look for a used version of the SV48 they may find a very different scope. I was an early buyer of the SV48 (NOTE no "P") about 4 years ago. Interesting, that the price then was also about $200 US$. Key things that were different were different ring set, focuser and adapters. I bought it to use as a better guide scope for my RC6, & switched out the rings. I found it to be a great guide scope over the years giving much better stars than 3 other guide scopes I have used. The focuser back then was a feather touch like 2 speed system (no gear, just friction). With tension adjustments I liked the feel of that system for visual but it was a big problem when I tried to use it for imaging. I couldn't get enough tension in the focuser so that the focus tube would not slide out when scope was pointing high. I took the focuser apart to add filing lines to the friction surfaces which helped some. Lenses may be the same, as I got very purple stars back then exactly as you describe, but not the distorted bright stars you showd here. The attachment adapters were low quality without the rings to prevent scratches on the 1.25" tubes. I think it had only single tension screws. It gave me 4 good years of use guiding but not much for imaging. Keep up the great work. I recently got an AT60 ED largely influenced by your reviews of AstroTech.
Thanks for the clarification and info!
I bought this lightly used on eBay for $6 + $24 for shipping on offer from a company selling it used along with an SVBony 1.25” dielectric diagonal and a generic 2x Barlow, 40mm, 32mm, and 6.3mm Plössl eyepieces. I got a MAJOR deal. The focuser is decent after spending a few hours getting it tuned properly. The tube is solidly built. The optics are a bit sloppy photographically, as shown in Ed’s pictures. Visually, it looks pretty great for an f/5.5 90mm scope. It has a strong split in the colors, showing a lot of yellow-green and blue separation when out of focus, but in focus it’s actually quite good. High magnification is a bit less sharp, but as a wide-field scope, it shows starscapes beautifully. It’s like a mini version of my Orion ST120. The focuser, once tuned, is similar to my Astro-Tech AT115EDT - just a bit stickier on coarse focus. You just have to make VERY small adjustments to get it smooth. I’d recommend a small amount of white lithium grease on the focus track.
Thanks for the report!
SVBony is a great budget brand, especially if you’re an astrophotographer shooting in narrowband. I know someone in Dubai who is using this scope with paired with a Daystar Quark for a budget 90mm Ha solar scope & he gets amazing images. I used their SV503 80mm doublet w/ reducer & got some of my best images out of it! Excellent quality for the price!
I think the semiapo filters should be tried and a UV/IR filter on any achromat refractor.
However the SVBONY 503 with 102mm scope is a huge bargain .
Then the SVBONY 550 at 102mm is also a great bargain.
At the price of the 90mm Ach it might not be perfect.
The price point very good.
I will be looking at SVBONY’s Best
Spotting Scopes.
😮😮😢😢😢
Hi Ed, how are you? I'm your newest subscriber here in Brazil and with more time I'll watch your other videos. However, I would like to suggest that if you have a friend who has an apochromatic SVbony 550, ask to borrow it😅 so I can do a review of it. I saw that you did a review of the SV48P and talked about the gap that exists in it, but in the 550 there is none, and it is apochromatic, thus reducing all those chromatic aberrations that you reported. So good luck in finding someone who has one to lend. A big hug from your newest Brazilian subscriber.
Thanks Ed. Just ordered, there was a $50 coupon so a great deal. I have an AP110 which was so expensive I baby it and use that for photos, this SVBONY will be great for quick grab and go visual. You didn't mention comets and star clusters, but I bet it will be good for them too.
Great review, the more expensive svbony ones do seem to get good reviews as well
Thanks for the fix. I got one for Xmas, and the play in the focuser freaked me out. I will try to adjust mine. Thanks again
As always a pleasure to see your videos Ed. Nice review.
I really wanted the SV550 80mm, then decided it was too expensive. Then I thought the SV503 was a pretty good runner up. Then I got my car impounded. 😞 Now I'm looking at this scope. I have a heavy-duty video camera tripod that might just work for me until I can afford a decent mount. Or I could get the Orion Observer 90mm, but it's got a 900mm focal length... but it also comes with that EQ3 mount... maybe a 40mm eyepiece would help... I can't decide!
That Orion Observer 134 looks like a perfect do-all scope. If I didn't already have a couple of decent scopes, I'd buy one right now. Still might!
Have you tried it with the Baader semi apo-filter. I use it all the time this filter really works for me.
For the price it looks a good buy. I bought one of their 7n SII 2" filters and can't fault it for the money, also bought one of their dew heater straps for my 135 f2 lens, cost no more than other similar rated straps but included a simple controller as well.
Thanks Ed. As always an interesting, informative and entertaining review. It it goes great with my early morning cup of coffee.
If I make your morning coffee more pleasant that is all I need!
Very informative review Ed. Thank you. I’ve been looking at SVBONY’s scopes for a couple of years but just haven’t gained the strength to pull the trigger on one. I just want a cheap travel scope with reasonable optics. I think I will roll the dice on this model and see what I get.
Hi Ed, what are some compatible mounts for the SV48P 90mm.
I have a nice dual speed Crayford installed into an older 102mm f/5 achromat, Celestron "Wide Field Spotting Scope."
I think I paid more for the focuser than the rest of the scope including rings. As I have it equipped, It's a decent casual scope, can look at a little bit of everything so long as you can get along with some CA.
This 90mm f/5.5 looks in some ways better and some ways worse than mine, so I think I'll stick with the 102mm f/5.
Nice review as always, thanks!
I still consider the EDL series from Astro-Tech to be the budget king. I have the AT102EDL & AT125EDL, both have been DPAC tested and preformed amazingly well.
The AT102EDL was purchased new from Astronomics for $999!! A 4" doublet using a FCD100 ED element and lanthanum mate, with a fantastic 2.5" R&P rotating focuser, that has a .95 Strehl guarantee... delivered to my front door for under $1000 USD!!
(Sales price for the 102 is $999 while normal price is $1199, but Astronomics had Astro-Tech sales fairly often)
EDIT:
OK, my bad. I should've watched the video before commenting 😂 I just heard you say that this scope was delivered for $199, which is a magnitude cheaper than the scope I was suggesting....
he speaks about a telescope that cost 200$, can you consider that you are not fair to compare it with 5/6x mores expansive scope ? (fair or stupid)
Actually, not a bad comparison would be Ed's $300 scope to the $419 dollar 80mm F/7 ED refractor by Astrotech. The Astrotech has a MUCH better focuser plus it being ED, has less CA. And it's not unreasonable to compare a $300 scope with a $419 scope.
@@GrnXnham Svbony also sells a 80 mm FPL51 F7 refractor for 399$.
Hi Ed! after watching this I ordered mine from Amazon. It came with the focuser nice and snug. I've not taken it out yet...
Glad to hear your focuser works well.
After almost 4 years of learning the sky with my Orion XT10 Dob, I found myself wanting to move up into astrophotography. I've just gone out and purchased one of these scopes, and an Explore Scientific EXOS-2GT Go-To equatorial mount which, funnily, was unintentional. I have the mount, just waiting for the scope. My sister has a DSLR that I plan to use. This is sort of a funny thing to say for a person who has never operated a Go-To system, but I want to shoot the horsehead nebula alot more than anything else. I want to get a photo of it printed and put up on my wall. Wish me luck!
Makes you wonder the over pricing of some of the big boys
I wish these inexpensive telescopes were around when I started. You could buy 2 and join them to make a binocular telescope for pretty cheap with some blocks of wood and a couple more diagonals. Probably be a nightmare to collimate unless you built in the adjustments but something to play with if you like fiddling...
I have the Svbony SV550- the 80mm triplet which really meant for astrophotography, but how says it can't be used for visual right? That's one excellent scope I can't find any fault to it, beside that it's only available with a 1X field flattener, no reducer. I did not own any other triplets so far, but I find zero issues with it, stars are round and no wrong colors, no haloes, no chromatic aberration, nothing. Fantastic. And yes, the focuser is better too, pretty much the same you'd find on an William Optics or Sharpstar telescope.
Thank you for this review. Always wonder about this brand when it came to their telescopes.
Me too!
They seemed they started off selling parts and accessories for telescopes (finder shoes, filters, dovetails) and they had a relatively inexpensive 70mm achromat which became popular with the amazon shoppers. I mean you can look around and find very low quality usual junk stuff you'd see in department stores with plastic tubes and just bad optics. meanwhile Svbony offered an OTA with metal tube and coated optics, which may not sound very exciting to seasoned hobbyists but among the rest of the junk, it is a better quality telescope. Their biggest hit is still the ED80- 80mm doublet though. It came out just before the covid and got popular during the pandemic, as many scopes became hard to buy due to halting their production, but Svbony had a stock and easily sold them through amazon. The 80mm also got popular, because its aggressive/cheap pricing compared to other telescopes with similar performance. Currently they also have an 80mm triplet and a 122mm triplet and both for less than the other/bigger brands. I got the 80mm triplet version and it's my workhorse for narrowband and wide view imaging. Zero problems, no strange colors, no strange star shapes. It works as it supposed to.
A new Ed Ting video, a good way to end the weekend! I've always wondered how to pronounce that brand name. I usually just say "sivbony." I've been looking at their 80mm ED because it can often be had below $400 on sale but I need another refractor like I need a hole in the head!
Svbony does have equipment beyond the "department store telescopes". I am skeptical with so many knock off telescopes coming out of the far east but is it possible for the amateur astronomer watching their pocket book, that there is a new sheriff in town for options to consider getting into astronomy?
If Svbony get their marketing and QA right, they may become the biggest threat to the likes of Celestron, Meade, TeleVue and others in the amateur astronomy community😮
They have certainly proved a point with the release of the SV215 3-8mm zoom. It would make an interesting video if Ed did a comparison of the TV 3-6mm and the SV 3-8mm. I have one of each and no regrets in buying either😊
Do you know what causes those spiky stars? Cheap glass polishing and I find it an issue with their zoom eyepiece. Even my cheap Celestron Zoom didn't give me spiky stars.
I used to have SVBONY 70mm, 80mm, and 102mm telescopes, being duplexs the image quality was better than the 90mm apo.
What is the focal length?
Considering the price, well done SVbony. The only thing that bothered me enough to not consider this telescope is the flaring on the bright stars in the photos. I am guessing that is the result of the possible pinched optics that Ed mentioned. I did not see anything in the brief view that showed the cell is adjustable in any way. Other than that this looks like a nice intro scope. If there are any owners in here...can the lens cell be tweaked?
Hey Ed, years ago you suggested the Nagler Zoom was a good combo with the FS-60. I use Svbony’s 3-8mm Zoom with mIne. I’d be interested in hearing if you’d find the extra 2mm worth, what I can only assume would be, a dip in optical quality, if you ever come across one
The issue isn't so much the eyepiece, it's the drastic increase in chromatic aberration that will start to annoy you. The 3-8 should be fine otherwise.
Hi Ed,
Great channel. What are your views on the $500 SeeStar S50? Just saw Damon Scotting's Nov 2023 YT video on it and people in the comments are saying the images captured on it are too good and it's just downloading them from the internet via its AP.
There's a review on this channel. It isn't a positive review.
I would love to buy this but I have NO IDEA WHAT MOUNT/ stand I can buy that is currently for sale can you make a video on mounts and tripods for different budgets.
Hey Ed great vid, i don't own the scope but i tend to stick around reflectors but owned a short achro like this and it's been a nightmare, if u can would u give a chance to look at a 6" GSO rc?
I wouldn't get that RC. Too much trouble!
@@edting Haha i own one and together with my ioptron gem28 i get tracking under 0.5" and quite great images if wouldnt be the tilt issue i have and that i use a stock dslr, luckly mine arrived in great state since collimation wasnt needed, i just sometimes check on a star but secondary seems pretty much aligned to primary, only thing i don't like is the focuser, which for me feels cheap so to correct any issues u will definitely need a tilt adapter, tho i like the scope overall and gives great results, if u ever wanna give a look i can send u a link of my last pic, nothing too crazy but still!
I own this scope and for astrophotography it's not usable for anything other narrowband. I'm glad I bought it because it helped me learn about CA and backspacing but 100% would not recommend for any new comer to the hobby of astrophotography.
Also the focuser tube has alot of droop with a dslr on it. I had to 3d print a spacer to support the tube.
@Ed_ting120 I'm not sure what you mean
Spam, sorry. Trying to get rid of this poster.
Ed - Can you grab the new 102mm and do a review? $299!
I’m supposed to get one soon. Keep in mind though, it usually takes me 3-5 months to do a thorough review!
@@edting Thanks. I guess it an achro with non-ED glass? Might ne my new travel scope.
Just ordered 48p 102mm f6.5 for AUD370 (US$246.52) with free delivery on Amazon. Same specs as my Celestron AZ102, but I hope for better quality from SVBONY
And... I cancelled the order after reading numerous complaints about misaligned optics of this 48p 102mm f6.5
@@A0111. Too bad. Maybe you should tell them you want to review it and they'll give you a bettery scope. I got the SV-503ED 102mm on sale (Amazon) for $419. Very nice scope. Prices are all over the place on it.
Is the -48 have multiple non-ED lens?
Pretty cool and not expensive at all!
I have been testing out older versions of this same scope just a few days ago, one made (branded) by a company called 'Aqulia", the other by svbony. I really want to know what causes those "harry" looking bright stars, as both models have them, and it's sad to see the new version still has it too. It makes some targets totally impossible to image (though I didn't really notice them visually). I assume it's pinched optics as well as a screw or something in the light path, but I can't figure out how to loosen the lens cell to see if that would fix it. If it were fixable, a telescope like this would probably be perfect for narrow band imaging.
Interesting! Didn't have that with my 2020 sv48. See my review about 10 comments above.
@@lesgatechair3907 That's very interesting. Nebula Photos also used the telescope (The same as the one I, and I assume you, have. See the video '4 Telescopes Tested from $300 to $2300'), and it looks like the "hairs" are not as present there too (that said his image of M101 looks very similar to mine, but bright stars, like in the Pleiades, make it totally impossible to get a good image, it ends up looking more similar to what Ed shared). I didn't have any problems with the focuser on either telescope, the Crayford focusers on both were able to hold a mono camera + filter wheel without any problems.
Hi Ed, do you know anything about Apertura Carbonstar 150 reflector telescope, i am thinking to buy, becouse its a US made telescope, but i am not sure,becouse there is not much reviews done, and i think the company is new.
Hi, I've already decided on my telescope, I would buy a redcat 51 but the only reason I wanted to do astrophotography is because of galaxies so I'm going to buy a c11
Interesting review! ❤
Did these use to be visionking
I have s f5 500mm douplet can I update the lenses
Thanks Mr. Ting! Every time you review a requested OTA my credit card wants to jump out of my wallet! In this case I prefer my set of ST80, both flocked, blackened edges on the objectives and 2" GSO focuser on one of them! proven in combat.
While the original Vixen Porta is no longer made, the Porta II is still available.
The Porta/Porta II is frustrating - it goes in and out of their lineup. Those living outside the US have an easier time getting it.
@@edting yeah, outside of Japan, availability can be an issue. Skywatcher had a similar “AZ” series of mount but they too seem to go in and out.
I had the original Porta. Sold it, regretted that and eventually got a Porta II. I also found a used modified Porta that can take a counter-weight and heavier scopes. I also have the T-Rex mount which I use for my larger scopes for times when I do t want the added hassle of setup.
Thanks, Ed!
I was wondering when we'd see an SVBony review. They appear to make great products at very affordable prices, just such a weird name.
Hi ed i just picked up a 10" Meade Lx6 2020 today, unfortunately its missing the original hand controller :( was wondering if you would know how to go about founding a replacement or anything interesting about the scope :)
Those controllers are becoming very hard to find. I assume you've tried the usual places? Astromart, Cloudy Nights, etc. If you can't find one, you might wind up deforking the OTA and putting it on a plate for an eq mount.
@@edtingIs it possible to use a different hand controller from that era? I have another hand controller with the same port, etc. I'd like to keep it original if I can; I've just started restoring it, and it is a beautiful piece of kit. I have an ad on astrobuyandsell (im uk based) but my hopes arent too high.
Could someone help me understand the difference/comparison between the sv48p and the sv503? Also I dont really understand the difference between the sv503 70mm and 90mm, what does a difference in the diameter mean? And last question how do you connect a dslr to a scope like this?
I'm a beginner, but I can answer some of your questions. 1) The SV503 has 2 "extra-low dispersion" (ED) lens elements to reduce the chromatic abberation Ed talks about in this video. This scope doesn't have any, so that effect is more of an issue on this scope. The difference I've seen in images taken by the two scopes is quite noticeable, but I don't know that it's worth the price difference.
2) A larger diameter objective lens gathers more light, so you get more detail visually, and more detail with less exposure time needed and less relative noise if you use a camera. Because the amount of light gathered varies with the area of the lens, not the diameter, the 90mm scope takes in about 65% more light than the 70mm scope. That doesn't mean it takes better pictures though, and as a newbie I don't know how much difference that makes visually. (Twice as much light doesn't mean something is twice as bright to the human eye.)
3) You need to get a T-ring for your specific camera. That's a sort of ring that attaches to your camera in place of a lens. Then there's an adapter tube that screws into threads inside the t-ring. Those adapter tubes come in 1.25" and 2" sizes, either of which will work for this scope. Your camera, with the T-ring and adapter tube attached, slides into the telescope instead of an eyepiece.
The adapter tubes are standardized so you can screw various filters to the inside of the end that goes into the telescope. I've seen t-mount and adapter combinations as low as $15 (US) and as high as maybe $100? Most of the 1.25" combos are like $15-$30 that I've seen. I've been shopping for Sony E-mount T-rings. I've seen Nikon, Cannon, and Olympus T-rings, and I'm sure there are other brands. Cannon seems most common though.
I have a Sony camera, and nothing else. I don't have a telescope or any of the accessories, just a bunch of information I've collected before deciding to spend my money on something silly. That's what I've learned so far. I've got a shopping cart full of this telescope and accessories just waiting for me to make up my mind! Good luck with whatever you choose!
that good Celestron mount is $999
Very Interesting review thanks, I'll stick with my SkyWatcher 102D for now which I use for visual Lunar Obs. or pay the extra $$$ for a Apochromat. My next Telescope is going to a SkyWatcher 16" GOTO dob at f4.4 , once back in the US, mostly for Urban Lunar & Planetary imaging
Watch my review of the Orion XX14 before buying that. It is an earlier version from the same series.
Thanks I have, very useful to me.
there is an american tread from a woman that explain how to adjust the rack with x8 screw under
I've been trying to look up good reviews on this for a month and found nothing. I just bought it Friday and got it in Yesterday.