SW 300 flextube eyepieces

[CarolandDom]

Anyone had experiences with EPs accompanying the 300 flextube? How do they compare with other EPs on the market? Any pointers appreciated

[ronin]

If you mean the supplied items it can be a question of what they supply.

From a few posts I gather that the supplied items for something like this are often plossl's and not MA's, Huygens or Kelners.

Just read the FLO entry for the 300P Flextube and they say the eyepieces are MA, Modified Achromats, these are similar to Kellners. They have a "narrow" field of view about 40 degrees. The eye relief may be short as well.

Does seem odd that for a scope like the 300 they are not supplying plossl's - what markings are on the eyepieces. I am sure I have read of plossl's being supplied with scopes of this size, but it seems a bit prone to chance.

Will say that the 300P is f/4.9 and most plossl's will be hitting their limit, and I suspect that f/4.9 is too fast for MA's.

Common replacements are probably: BST Starguiders, Celestron X-Cels, TV Plossl's.

All these are basically sub-£100 and all should handle f/4.9.

You cam go for higher budget ones as well, ES 82's, TV Delos etc.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

nothing has changed and skywatcher dobs still come with superplossls 10 and 25mm,with 25mm being mediocre and 10mm lets put it simple:Rubbish.

With scope being F4.9,this only means that it will command good quality eye pieces,as such,stay clear away from low budget BST,Celestron x-cels as these will only perform on low speed scopes,starting from f6 and down!

Televue plossls is a good alternative as Al Nagler improved the design and edge correction.You need to understand that your big dob is a great instrument and good eye pieces will only compliment your scope so why spoiling the views.

If you are on below 100 quid per EP budget,good alternatives will be:Televue Radians,Panoptics,Explore Scientific 68 degree range,Vixen NLV,Vixen SLV and obviously look for second hand market.

If your budget is 100-150,then look for Meade 5000 series UWA.Explore scientific 82 deg,Skywatcher Nirvana and quite a few others.I think this price range has the most to offer.

if your budget is 150-200,then looks for Televue Delos,Pentax XW,Televue nagler,(all second hand)you might also try the new Skywatcher Miryad (100 deg) and they clones from WO.

Beyond 200:Televue Ethos,Explore scientific 100 deg,Meade XWA.

Think  EP as investment what you will keep for many years,scope can be sold,swapped ,its the EP what is the most important item.

Good luck and clear skies.

[denis0007dl]

nothing has changed and skywatcher dobs still come with superplossls 10 and 25mm,with 25mm being mediocre and 10mm lets put it simple:Rubbish.

With scope being F4.9,this only means that it will command good quality eye pieces,as such,stay clear away from low budget BST,Celestron x-cels as these will only perform on low speed scopes,starting from f6 and down!

Televue plossls is a good alternative as Al Nagler improved the design and edge correction.You need to understand that your big dob is a great instrument and good eye pieces will only compliment your scope so why spoiling the views.

If you are on below 100 quid per EP budget,good alternatives will be:Televue Radians,Panoptics,Explore Scientific 68 degree range,Vixen NLV,Vixen SLV and obviously look for second hand market.

If your budget is 100-150,then look for Meade 5000 series UWA.Explore scientific 82 deg,Skywatcher Nirvana and quite a few others.I think this price range has the most to offer.

if your budget is 150-200,then looks for Televue Delos,Pentax XW,Televue nagler,(all second hand)you might also try the new Skywatcher Miryad (100 deg) and they clones from WO.

Beyond 200:Televue Ethos,Explore scientific 100 deg,Meade XWA.

Think  EP as investment what you will keep for many years,scope can be sold,swapped ,its the EP what is the most important item.

Good luck and clear skies.

And best of all Carl Zeiss eyepieces of course like ZAO II and other top models of microscope Zeiss eyepieces! But they are very expensive!

[alan potts]

Denis,

We know Carl Zeiss eyepieces are about as good as it gets but is this really advise to a person thinking of updating from the stock eyepieces that come with the scope?

The other thing you also did not mention it there is more chance of the Queen knocking on my door than getting your hands on one, OK a set was up for offers the other day at over 2000 quid, not really the sort of thing that one would buy as a first change eyepiece, I agree it is the sort of thing many experienced observers would love to own but probably wasted on a beginner. Probably even wasted on me.

Alan.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

I will agree with Alan on this,with out any questions Zeiss are the cream of the cream eyepiece,but for that money each eye piece depands,i could get a full set of ethos and still have change over left for possible a scope too lol.They are beautiful eye pieces,but way overpriced.i would love to have them one day,but that will possibly only happen if i win a lottery or re-marry someone rich

But yes,question was about normal eye pieces and not the ones who command 600-700quid a pop.

[bingevader]

Dude with the tube forgot to mention the Maxvision eyepieces, which are premium EPs on a budget. 

[CarolandDom]

Thanks all I should have said a little more about the supplied EPs as I was thinking that responses would more readily come from other SW300 users! I was looking for ideas and the replies are very helpful. Having just missed the chance to get a brand new 10 mm xw in Japan for a great price I'm happy to be patient and to make the right investment. We're really enjoying getting to know the equipment and reading the various posts on here. I guess the biggest challenge is getting to try out options before committing.

[CarolandDom]

Dude the supplied 10 mm is indeed a little strange. I did think the the EPs would somehow match the scope however I've found that viewing in this EP is quite a challenge! The thinking on my part is that this is indeed an investment and that we are in it for the long haul. I'm looking forward to finding the right EPs and what these will bring in terms of observation

[John]

I think they provide just good enough eyepieces to get you up and running but no more than that. For around £50 apiece you can get eyepieces that are quite a bit better. If you get a taste for really wide fields of view then the price spirals upwards somewhat further.

You are right not to hurry though - the choice in eyepieces is quite mesmerising these days and you need to give yourself time to grasp the options / costs / pros and cons of the various types.

[RikM]

Thanks all I should have said a little more about the supplied EPs as I was thinking that responses would more readily come from other SW300 users! I was looking for ideas and the replies are very helpful. Having just missed the chance to get a brand new 10 mm xw in Japan for a great price I'm happy to be patient and to make the right investment. We're really enjoying getting to know the equipment and reading the various posts on here. I guess the biggest challenge is getting to try out options before committing.

I have a few different eyepiece types: Pentax XW, TV Plossls, Explore Scientific, Meade UWA, Baader Hyperion, Vixen LVprobably a few others. I'm quite happy to pop round some time for you to try them out. Let's have a chat at the next CAS meeting if you like

BTW, I don't like Zeis eyepieces, very small field of view and not enough eyerelief for me.

If the eyepieces that came with your scope say Super 10mm and super 25mm, they are modified acromats rather than Plossls. They are a bit basic but enough to get you started. I find them more comfortable to use than Plossls actually as the eyerelief ( how close you need to get your eye to the lens) is a little bit longer.

[CarolandDom]

Hi Rik,

Sounds great to me. I'll check what we're doing and hope to get to the next CAS session. Eye relief is going to be a factor for me which is starting to narrow down the wide array of options! I don't think it likely that Zeiss is likely to be an option for me as the price sounds way out of my reach!

[scarp15]

Hi Rik,

Sounds great to me. I'll check what we're doing and hope to get to the next CAS session. Eye relief is going to be a factor for me which is starting to narrow down the wide array of options! I don't think it likely that Zeiss is likely to be an option for me as the price sounds way out of my reach!

Therefore the solution may be to keep a watch for second hand Delos, towards very gradually forming a set. 

[CarolandDom]

It will have to be gradual

[CarolandDom]

Delos*

Curse this predictive text!

[John]

Hi Rik,

Sounds great to me. I'll check what we're doing and hope to get to the next CAS session. Eye relief is going to be a factor for me which is starting to narrow down the wide array of options! I don't think it likely that Zeiss is likely to be an option for me as the price sounds way out of my reach!

Zeiss orthoscopic eyepieces would cost around £400 apiece and very, very rarely come up for sale. I don't believe they are made now either.

Nothing like trying a few designs out - eyepieces seem to be really quite a personal choice and what suits one person might not be to anothers taste at all.

Pentax XW's and Tele Vue Delos's (Deloi ?) are really excellent and comfortable to use. Still a comparitively expensive choice though and even used expect to pay £150-£180 apiece for them.

[CarolandDom]

Trying out designs at leisure and gradually honing in on comfortable solutions is part of fun of learning for us

[John]

Trying out designs at leisure and gradually honing in on comfortable solutions is part of fun of learning for us

Thats pretty much the way I've gone about it. Using the used equipment market is a great way to try something too. Eyepieces are generally looked after well and if you buy at a reasonable price (usually 60%-70% of the retail) you can often sell on at little or no loss if it does not suit you.

All my current eyepieces have been bought used and I'd never have been able to afford them if I'd paid the new prices.

[scarp15]

Unfortunately purchasing the scope is often considered as the 'inexpensive' part. Gradually collecting a horde of quality eyepieces though will enable the scope to perform to its best potential, providing often very engaging views.If a good eyepiece does require to be resold, they do hold their value well.

[JamesF]

Further to those already mentioned...

I have a dob based on the SW250 mirror which is slightly faster than the 300.  I've slowly been picking up Tele Vue eyepieces (Naglers and Panoptics) on the used market to use with it.  I'm very happy with those, though I don't have any particular issue with eye relief (I also have a set of BGOs that work very well in it, but you have to climb inside some of those, the eye relief is so small).  The 11mm and 13mm Naglers seem to come up reasonably often, 7mm also.  Others seem to be more rare as the focal lengths get longer.

The Explore Scientific eyepieces might also be worth investigating.  They appear to be well-regarded and might well work in the 300 if the eye relief is sufficient.  I've not tried them myself.

If you want to keep costs down however, I think it's also worth looking at the Tele Vue plossls already suggested.

I think there's a lot of sense in buying good eyepieces used.  If you don't get on with them you should be able to sell them again for much the same as the purchase price.  It may just take a while to find the ones you're interested in.

James

[CarolandDom]

Thanks James the eye relief thing on my part is more about perceptions on my part as to comfort but until we have tried various options out

[CarolandDom]

My last post didn't quite make sense ! I meant to say that our perceptions would be confirmed or otherwise once we have had the chance to try some options out. Incidentally I was browsing through some shops in Japan and it is entirely possible to pick up brand new boxed Pentax xw eps for about £160 including tax. I didn't get the time to have a longer look and may be going again before too long so that may be a further option