Full Review of the Takahashi FSQ85ED - An Amazing Telescope But Is It Worth It?!

Takahashi is undoubtedly one of the best telescope manufacturers out there. So is the FSQ85ED worth the premium price. My HONEST opinion...

[@PoisonArrowFrog001]

Love your videos and your take on astrophotography. Keep up the good work.

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Thanks so much! 🙏

[@bobbymccourt6794]

19 years ago I purchased a TOA 130 and the following year purchased in FSQ106. I told my wife when I pass away sell the 130 to pay for the funeral. Just make sure I’m buried with the 106.. FSQ line, though expensive in my opinion is worth every penny.

[@mlethbridge76]

Great review Dave, I'm really happy that you picked this scope up, cause that means I got your ED102CF at a steep discount LOL! Now all we need is for this brutal stretch of clouds to go away so we can start using our gear again!!

[@keystothecosmos7527]

Lol. Thanks Mike. Yeah seriously!

[@lwizzit]

@@keystothecosmos7527 Damn, I was going to ask him if that was available now.

[@anata5127]

Is it? If I will be you, I will make more research on this scope.

[@Chris-hx7ub]

Thoughts on using this scope for visual observations. Would a different Takahashi scope be better? Thanks. Great video.

[@area51xi]

What’s the length from the front of the dew shield to the back of the camera? Deciding if this will fit in my shed observatory.

[@briandiaz3758]

HI, Congratulations, a question: the primalucelab spacer, is it the 20mm or the 30mm and the top bar, what size is it, I would appreciate it since I am putting together a very similar setup, thank you

[@exif6839]

You can also go for a Vixen VSD90. Cheaper (not so much), field for 6x4 usable, 90mm aperture, 490mm, 5 lenses, 2 SD, 1ED, 1 Lanthanium element. Strehl Ratio 0,975.

[@Astro_Shed]

It’s also back heavy because the extra built in flattener is towards the back of the scope, which is why it’s rear heavy….the extra 2 lens flattener is pretty heavy….the front lens is a doublet and there is another doublet where the black ring is on the tube as it can be unscrewed there, this is the built in flattener, so in total there are 4 lens in 2 sets of 2 configuration Just thought I would explain 👍

[@eye-thesky3663]

Hi Dave, I have a buddy that will be selling me this scope baby Q, he mentions I would have to buy the camera adapter, I do have the asi 294M + filter wheel. I wanted to ask you, what is the adapter model I should get and also I do have the ES127, would the back focus be the same? Do I need special spacers to achieve? Appreciate your help as I am excited but worried lol. Thanks! Clear Skies.

[@anata5127]

Just don’t buy it. Do more research and read my post.

[@montanausa329]

For the focuser get the Primaluce one

[@Astro_Shed]

You never mentioned that the scope is a quadruplet and already has a built in 2 lens flattener and the extra one that comes with it, is because the one built into the scope does not work with modern small pixel cameras, and so they had to supply another one with the scope, which is not good for a Takahashi scope, it makes the scope a sextuplet, and the backfocus is 56.2mm and is critical, would love to see some close ups of your un cropped images….

[@sniperboy85]

Actually the mount is more important than the optics. Every astrophotographer says it is better to invest more on the mount than the optics and an EM-11 is still cheaper than an FSQ-85 (at least in my place). It is a subjective choice anyway.

[@neilsmith5883]

i had this scope the older green version. I hated the stars especially the bright stars like Alnitak and sold it got esprit 100, found the esprit very heavy but its better suited to modern large sensor cameras. Esprit focuser also much nicer which surprises me being chinese made scope. From my experience anyway. I think if you put on an apc or full frame camera on it you may notice the tak signature issues they have but nice to see your happy with the scope.

[@Astro_Shed]

Exactly what I have just done, sold my FSQ85, and also bought the Esprit 100 and it’s far better with modern CMOS cameras….👍🏻

[@nadirteymurov1]

So what was wrong with Alnitak from FSQ-85 ?

[@Astro_Shed]

@@nadirteymurov1 you get a type of lighthouse beam effect on very bright stars, rather than a normal flare…does not look good….but it’s unavoidable with this scope…

[@astroneil78]

@@Astro_Shed I have since got another fsq getting back focus right is a pig and the lighthouse stars are annoying but the scope is so sharp. I missed the sharpness so I had to buy another one for a portable setup

[@Astro_Shed]

@@astroneil78 well you are extremely lucky then to have gotten a good FSQ85, as my and many other peoples experience with these scopes and small pixel large sensor cameras is very poor, zoom in on the corners of your images at about 3:1 in pixinsight and take a look at your stars properly, assuming you do use an APS-C size small pixel camera….👍🏻

[@Astro_Shed]

Just sold mine as it was extremely poor on corner stars with an APS-C sensor, I tried everything and the starts were poor and too much astigmatism, even with the extra flattener it was nit much better…. Zoomed in on my mages at 3-1 it looked awful….☹ Glad you are happy….

[@anata5127]

Exactly! Scope is crap. Almost any review on this site is self promotion in mode “I know how to select equipment “.