BST vs Maxvision

[Ally8446]

Hi folks. I'm looking at ditching my 15mm superview but the question is do I stick with BST or go with Maxvision. I love the wide field view with the Altair but it's not that crisp especially towards the edge. Would be looking at spending around £75-£85. Any advice please.

Ally

[Dark Knight Gazer]

Can't comment on the quality of the 15mm BST, but the rest are parfocal to an extent which may sway your decision?

[Chris]

 I've owned both and you get much better performance from the MVs for not much more money. Obviously the only downside is that the MVs only go down to 16mm, so below that I would happily get the 12 and 8mm BSTs, I would skip the 5mm though if you dont need specs and look at something like the 6mm Baader Classic Ortho for about the same price as a BST.

EDIT - sorry just read the question through properly this time , the 16mm MV has the tightest eye relief of all the MV's so if you need glasses I would buy the 15mm BST but if not the 16mm MV will definately out perform The BST so might be worth the upgrade.

[Charic]

Ally8446.............buy the BST Starguider 60°afov, speak with the retailer, and pre-arrange your return , incase your not happy with the EP.  You  will get a refund of the purchase price (you pay return postage)  a couple of pounds at most for recorded delivery.

If the BST fails your requirement then you move on and try a Maxvision, other EP.

[Paul73]

Good value though they are, the MV's are in a different league (in my opinion). I had the 8mm and replaced it with a TV Delos. I have no intention of replacing the 16mm MV.

The MV isn't the most comfortable to use straight out of the box, but given a couple of sessions you quickly learn how to get the best out of it and the view is lovely.

NB. Starfox makes a good point re eye relief.

Paul

[alan potts]

I think here people are losing sight of the fact that these Maxvisions, assuming the quality control has not been tweaked were badged as Meades top range, the 5000 Series and cost a heck of lot more money then. The largest one was 279 quid if I recall correctly and even the 16mm was about 160. I would expect them to be better than the BST's I know they were almost up there with Panoptics, I had all of them at one time.

Alan

[Reeny]

I missed out the BST's completely, and went for the Maxvision 24mm and 16mm.

Then I filled the 11mm gap with the Explore Scientific 82degree for £89.

Then I got the Delos 6mm.

I guess the hierarchy of eyepieces are, 

BST / Celestron 60^o

Maxvision 68^o

ES 82^o

Then the Televue range of Radian / Delos / Nagler etc

You can find UK suppiers of the ES 82 range for around £100 (slightly above budget).

If you want quality - have a good look at £50 Maxvision 16mm, and the slightly more expensive ES 82 14mm

http://www.365astronomy.com/eyepieces-317mm-125-explore-scientific-eyepieces-c-4_25_453.html

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My MVs work nicely next to big hitters like Pentax XWs and Televue kit. Outstanding value for money

[RikM]

I missed out the BST's completely, and went for the Maxvision 24mm and 16mm.

Then I filled the 11mm gap with the Explore Scientific 82degree for £89.

Then I got the Delos 6mm.

I guess the hierarchy of eyepieces are, 

BST / Celestron 60^o

Maxvision 68^o

ES 82^o

Then the Televue range of Radian / Delos / Nagler etc

You can find UK suppiers of the ES 82 range for around £100 (slightly above budget).

If you want quality - have a good look at £50 Maxvision 16mm, and the slightly more expensive ES 82 14mm

http://www.365astronomy.com/eyepieces-317mm-125-explore-scientific-eyepieces-c-4_25_453.html

From the ones I've looked through, the 68^o are slightly better than the 82^o

[Charic]

Does branding or cost  really make for a better eyepiece, and should cheaper be discarded ?

The BST's in my view are excellent value, 60° afov and flatfield across the field, with good eye relief. They  just  work very well in my f/6 for my eyes.

Having never tried other eyepieces, I'm pretty much in the dark, and have to rely on hearsay about their qualities.

At the start, I wanted to get some  Meade 3000 [Japan] EPs (Branding alone!)  but they were unavailable at the time,  and due to my  self imposed price restrictions and the "do I need it" questions [ A Rolls and a Skoda will get the same job done, which one do you need? I know what I'd like. I own neither at present!  But to be honest, whilst choosing my astro gear, I was fortunate enough to have an unrestrictive budget ] I could have bought and would have bought a full set of TeleVue  Ep's in as few Months as it took to select my BST's, if BST's were never mentioned. But at such a cost and knowing they are supposed to be the dogs! would I have been satisfied at that, or would I  have to improve my scope to get the best from the best EP's, if there is such a better/best telescope?

Ive no regrets with any of the EP's in the BST range, or any of the EP's in my signature. All  highly recommended.

Now if you had the choice between a Meade or a maxvision which should you choose? The difficulty is that the MV is a re-branded Meade 5000 (alleged) so in effect, the same EP. But you would want the Meade in favour of the MV due to the branding, and the higher cost of the Meade must mean better quality, No!

Its the same with Astrotech paradigm, Agena Starguider, TS-NED, Olivion ED, Orion Epic, BST Starguider, Photon ED. and the BST Explorers? I would recommend the Starguiders, They appear to be of good quality, and possibly the cheaper EP, but look a little closer at each EP. see the similarity? Would the more expensive brands be any better if/when their build and quality are the SAME!

Its always going to be a subjective subject. Rolls or Skoda, TeleVue or BST. The BST's are much better than the TV's just on price alone, but image  quality  maybe reigns with the TeleVue, but not having tried, I can only surmise what I'm possibly missing.

I see several folk on here having used several EP's eventually move on, and up to TeleVue. But what next, what is there after TeleVue? An EP magnifies the image at the focal plane allowing you to see that image enlarged. If the optical train is not perfect or 'the best' will the TeleVue make any difference, does the higher cost and the brand factor still make a difference?

I'm hoping to test a TeleVue Plossl against my 8mm, I'm informed the image is better but I feel the BST will be more comfortable in/for my situation.

There is never going to be a solution for EP/Telescope  combination that is 100% perfect, and at the right cost to you, that is suitable for everyone. Even if it was deemed  'perfect' would everyone agree?

[gooseholla]

I'd have to agree largely with the previous poster. However, what I would say is, although a 26mm Panaview and 20mm Nagler T5 give lovely views in my scope, the Televue gives a much better off axis performance than the skywatcher.  If slightly out of collimation, the Skywatcher is awful whereas the Televue is bearable and hardly notice it is out of collimation. I have a 15mm 80 degree eyepiece also and it gives a nice view, quite sharp across the field, but it is quite dull image wise (a 2x barlowed 26mm Panaview gives a brighter image). So I'd say you get what you pay for, and it is all about what you want. A BST might do it for someone and their setup. When I get the funds, the Panaview and 15mm will be replaced - not because they are intrinsically bad, they will give someone nice views - but because in my setup they don't give me that "wow" factor the Televue does. Had I never of seen a televue, I wouldn't be rushing to upgrade the two eyepieces though.

So I guess that is where the value of try before you buy comes in handy. You can try the BSTs and if you don't like them, return it. However, I suspect you could buy a maxvision also and if you didn't like it, sell it for no loss at all.

[YKSE]

So I guess that is where the value of try before you buy comes in handy.

Yes, and the new EU law has given us consumerS the right TO try ANY eyepieces bought online, see the discussions here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/223616-next-step-up/

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have never looked through BST Explorers, but have heard very good things about them, but everybody I have heard aggrees moving to TeleVue or Pentax makes a difference. I do know the MV 24 (I have 2 of them for future binoviewing) and used to have a 20mm as well. Both were very crisp indeed. The I tried the MV 24 68 deg in various scopes, right down to F/4.2. In the latter (outside the spec of F/5 given by the manufacturer) you could see some astigmatism at the edge of the FOV. At F/5 and F/6 it is very close to Nagler performance (with smaller FOV) to my eyes. At the price they are going for, and with a considerably larger FOV, the MV 68 deg series is an absolute steal.

[Chris]

Does branding or cost  really make for a better eyepiece, and should cheaper be discarded ?

The BST's in my view are excellent value, 60° afov and flatfield across the field, with good eye relief. They  just  work very well in my f/6 for my eyes.

Having never tried other eyepieces, I'm pretty much in the dark, and have to rely on hearsay about their qualities.

At the start, I wanted to get some  Meade 3000 [Japan] EPs (Branding alone!)  but they were unavailable at the time,  and due to my  self imposed price restrictions and the "do I need it" questions [ A Rolls and a Skoda will get the same job done, which one do you need? I know what I'd like. I own neither at present!  But to be honest, whilst choosing my astro gear, I was fortunate enough to have an unrestrictive budget ] I could have bought and would have bought a full set of TeleVue  Ep's in as few Months as it took to select my BST's, if BST's were never mentioned. But at such a cost and knowing they are supposed to be the dogs! would I have been satisfied at that, or would I  have to improve my scope to get the best from the best EP's, if there is such a better/best telescope?

Ive no regrets with any of the EP's in the BST range, or any of the EP's in my signature. All  highly recommended.

Now if you had the choice between a Meade or a maxvision which should you choose? The difficulty is that the MV is a re-branded Meade 5000 (alleged) so in effect, the same EP. But you would want the Meade in favour of the MV due to the branding, and the higher cost of the Meade must mean better quality, No!

Its the same with Astrotech paradigm, Agena Starguider, TS-NED, Olivion ED, Orion Epic, BST Starguider, Photon ED. and the BST Explorers? I would recommend the Starguiders, They appear to be of good quality, and possibly the cheaper EP, but look a little closer at each EP. see the similarity? Would the more expensive brands be any better if/when their build and quality are the SAME!

Its always going to be a subjective subject. Rolls or Skoda, TeleVue or BST. The BST's are much better than the TV's just on price alone, but image  quality  maybe reigns with the TeleVue, but not having tried, I can only surmise what I'm possibly missing.

I see several folk on here having used several EP's eventually move on, and up to TeleVue. But what next, what is there after TeleVue? An EP magnifies the image at the focal plane allowing you to see that image enlarged. If the optical train is not perfect or 'the best' will the TeleVue make any difference, does the higher cost and the brand factor still make a difference?

I'm hoping to test a TeleVue Plossl against my 8mm, I'm informed the image is better but I feel the BST will be more comfortable in/for my situation.

There is never going to be a solution for EP/Telescope  combination that is 100% perfect, and at the right cost to you, that is suitable for everyone. Even if it was deemed  'perfect' would everyone agree?

For a while a had the BSt's and the MV's side by side, I used to love my BST's but after comparing them during the same sessions I realised that the MV's are so crisp that the BST's looked a little but blurry. It felt like I couldn't quite reach good enough focus with the BST's after using the MV's. I didn't notice this before buying the MV's and ES82's, nagler etc...

There is something to be said for not knowing whats on the other side of the fence, its a slippery slope, now I'm on the ES 100 degree EP's and thats another experience also, like dipping your eyeball into space!!

like you say, where do you stop??  

[bingevader]

The 82 degree 24mm MV is also very good indeed.

[alan potts]

I would agree with that Ben but these are meant to have been a Meade order cancelled for one reason or another so as I said before if all things are equal they should be good, we are being offered a quality eyepiece at a knock down price.  Don't all cry at once but I lost a lot of money when I sold my Meades because of this deal. Why would anyone want to consider the originals were more than twice the price.

Alan.

[Ruud]

Hi Ally,

the shortest Maxvision is the 16mm. The MV are a scaled design, so the shorter the focal length, the shorter the eye relief. Some say the 16mm is uncomfortable to use because of its short eye relief. The MV 68°s are indeed the same as the former Meade 5K SWA. They have a bulbous eye-guard that you can remove, leaving a naked, but considerably slimmer cylindrical eyepiece with 2 mm more eye relief.

Optically, if the 16mm is as good as the other MV 68°s you'll find that it performs about as well as a Panoptic. The differences are slight.  Here's a shootout between a naked 24mm MV / Meade5K SWA and a bunch of others, including a Panoptics and a Zeiss.

I have the 20, 24, 28 and 34mm 68° MVs. They are a wonderful complement to my other eyepieces. For 16mm I use a Nirvana 82°. Below 12mm I use Delos, TV Plossl and Nager.

[Ruud]

The Meade 5K SWAs are still available on the continent for their regular prices. Here's a screenshot of the MVs and the Meades side by side.

Isn't it amazing?

[ronl]

I agree with Charic, and I also, am very pleased with my Starguiders, and if 

something works, why change it, the BST's suit me and are very comfortable

to observe with, and give me wonderful views, and the price is excellent value,

if I was not happy with the views I was getting, then I would try another brand, but

the way they perform for me I am more than happy, as I have already said they

suit me and I don't intend to change them. 

[Charic]

........it would be nice to  see the other EP's, but at what cost if they are better?  as ronl says,  BST's  are  very comfortable indeed, and I have seen a perfect Moon transit across Jupiter,  with a crystal sharp  image that night (only once mind you!)

I'm also lucky to be in the position of not being able to test  these other EP's, and   I probably would have to sell the lot to buy one Ethos!. 

It's Christmas and Birthday  together for one unlucky sole, but no eyepieces are on the list this Year, yet!

[Ally8446]

Thank you all so much for your input. I think I'll try the 16mm MV. Will keep you informed.

Ally

[Chris]

Please report back with your thoughts Ally, they really are amazing value for what you get so hopefully you'll be pleased

[Roy Challen]

I'm in agreement with most others on this thread. I love my MVs and preferred the view from the MV 16 to a Vixen NLV,  and also preferred it to a 9mm BGO when Barlowed. I sold those eyepieces and kept the MV and barlow (Televue x2). I think it will now be very difficult to justify buying anything "better".

[happy-kat]

Making me consider adding another one to my 16mm perhaps the 20mm...

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Making me consider adding another one to my 16mm perhaps the 20mm...

The 20 is quite close to the 16. I would go for the 24. The gives the maximum FOV with a 1.25" barrel, and is excellent in an ST80 for wide field views.