$Starfield ED80 Triplet APO Refractor — image 1$

Starfield Optics

Starfield ED80 Triplet APO Refractor

An 80mm f/6 triplet apo that hits the classic sweet spot for wide-field imaging and grab-and-go visual, delivering triplet color correction at a mid-range price.

85/ 100

Polaris Score

#2 of 8 80mm imaging apo

See the breakdown ↓

Aperture

80mm

Focal Length

480mm

Focal Ratio

f/6

Mount Type

None (OTA only)

Optical Design

Triplet APO

Weight

3.5 kg

From$1,300

Lowest in 90 days

Price tracked by PolarisObserved 44 timesTracking since Jul 2026

Try in simulator →

Where to buy

Agena AstroProductsPartnerBest price$1,300→

Verified 2h ago · prices tracked daily

What it's built forOpen these in the simulator →

This telescope was built for sweeping wide.

A short, fast refractor with a generous true field — the whole sword of Orion in one view, star fields that spill past the field stop. It rewards low power and dark skies far more than chasing magnification.

Widest true fieldsTack-sharp to the edge

The view people remember

Andromeda, wider than the Moon.

A vast soft oval with a blazing core — two and a half million light-years of galaxy, spilling well past the field of view under a genuinely dark sky.

See Andromeda Galaxy through this telescope →

Where else it shines

Within reach

Orion Nebula

Stronger structure — embedded stars plus dark lanes within the core

Open view →

Easy first target

The Pleiades

Many cluster members resolved with color contrast between bright stars

Open view →

Rewards a dark sky

Whirlpool Galaxy

Faint elongated smudge — averted vision helps

Open view →

Also excellent on

Saturn

Recognizable disk with subtle markings under steady seeing

Open view →

✦

Tight planetary detail belongs to a longer scope. This one trades reach for a breathtaking field.

01What it's good at

What it's best at — and the trade-offs.

Best at

✓The three-element FPL-53 triplet controls color better than a doublet, keeping stars clean across the field

✓480mm at f/6 is the classic 80mm imaging focal length, framing many nebulae and larger galaxies well

✓At 3.5kg it stays portable enough for star trackers and small mounts while doubling as a wide-field visual scope

✓The 80mm triplet class is a proven, versatile do-it-all that many imagers keep for life

Trade-offs

!A field flattener is a separate purchase for the flattest stars when imaging

!80mm and 480mm keep small targets small in the frame

!It is an OTA only and needs a mount, diagonal or camera to work

!The objective can dew and benefits from a heater on damp nights

02In plain English

What These Numbers Mean

Aperture

80 mm

Three inches of fully corrected glass. Enough for pleasant lunar and planetary views at moderate power and enough light grasp for serious wide-field imaging with a few hours of integration.

Focal length

480 mm

Wide field. The Andromeda Galaxy, the North America Nebula and the Pleiades frame comfortably on APS-C, and visually a 24 mm eyepiece gives a generous 20x sweep.

Focal ratio

f/6

Fast enough that exposures stay short and forgiving of small tracking errors, which is the combination that makes this size the standard first imaging telescope. Add the matching flattener for round corner stars.

Optical design

Triplet APO

Three elements correct colour across the spectrum, so bright stars stay white where an ED doublet at this speed would show a faint violet halo. The extra glass means a slightly longer cooldown.

Weight

3.5 kg tube

About 8 lb, within reach of a well-loaded star tracker and easy for any small equatorial. It travels in a case without special planning.

Mount

OTA only

You supply the mount. At 480 mm a tracker or entry equatorial with basic guiding is enough, which keeps the total cost of a complete imaging setup reasonable.

02The Polaris Score

How it scores, and why.

85/ 100

Starfield ED80 Triplet APO Refractor

#2 of 8 80mm imaging apo

Performance

Ease of use

Portability

Upgrade potential

Polaris weighs optical capability, how easy the scope is to live with, how portable it is, and how far it takes you before you outgrow it — not list price or brand.

03Who it's for