Astro-Tech AT115EDT Telescope Review

I’ve had the Astro-Tech AT115EDT for almost 2 years and have shot 13 images and 131 hours of integration time.

I made this video to celebrate the almost 2 years I spent with this telescope. Note: I think I said “great value” a hundred times in the video. But, if there is one takeaway from the review, it’s this: the AT115EDT telescope is a great value. In other words, you get more than what you pay for.

If you don’t feel like watching the video, that’s understandable. Sometimes, I don’t like watching videos because I don’t have headphones, and I’m in a public place, OR I don’t feel like listening to some dude ramble on. Because of this, I will break down the main takeaways from the video here.

Why I Choose the AT115

There are five reasons why I choose the Astro-Tech AT115EDT over other telescopes:

1. Aperture Size

It’s 115mm (4.5 inches), the perfect focal length I was looking for.
100mm seemed too short, and 130mm weighed too much.

2. Dedicated Flattener/Reducer

It has a dedicated reducer that is made only for this telescope. This doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but it was a big reason I bought the AT115EDT.
Other telescopes (even expensive ones) had reducers made for many of their different telescopes, resulting in “tuning” the flattener/reducer to make it work for your particular telescope. I read a lot of horror stories about this online.
I avoid frustration and agony at all costs. Astrophotography is already super frustrating; why make it harder?

3. Weight

It weighs 13 pounds and is much lighter than other 100-130mm telescopes.
This allowed it to get on my AM5 along with my camera, filter wheel, etc, and come in at 20 pounds for the whole rig.
This saved me from putting a 10-pound counterweight on my AM5, which I would have had to do if it exceeded (or came close to) 28 pounds.

4. Glass & Build Quality

Astronomics, the company that makes the AT115EDT, does not specify the glass.
Many people speculate it’s an FPL-53 equivalent glass. FPL-53 is used on many high-end telescopes.
The build quality is solid. There is no plastic on this telescope.

5. Price & Value

The biggest reason people get this telescope is that it’s budget-friendly at $1,400 and can even be found on sale as low as $1,200.
Price is not the only factor. It’s a great telescope and a great value.
For 1/2 the price of premium telescopes in its focal range, you likely get 90% of what they offer.
It doesn’t have nice accessories, the glass is not FPL-53, and you have to buy the field flattener/reducer separately.
Even with buying nice accessories and the field flattener that’s $200, you will come nowhere near the $3,000+ price of other telescopes.

Images Created with the AT115EDT

As mentioned above, I have created 13 images and shot 131 hours of total integration time with this telescope. In the video, I have a slide show of all these images so people can see what this telescope is capable of.

Since you can’t view a slideshow here, I will list all the images I’ve taken with links to their posts:

Should You Buy It?

The answer to that is complicated, as it is with many things. My take is that if you are new to astrophotography and this is a second telescope–this is a great 2nd telescope. If you are a seasoned veteran–probably not.

Although I don’t plan to abandon this telescope anytime soon, it will probably be replaced with something better as I continue this hobby. It’s perfect for my setup now, but in 5 years, I may want a Stellarvue.