200p and maxvisions

[phoobar]

Hi guys

I have been trying to decide on eyepiece upgrade for a while and finally went for the 16mm and 24mm 68 degree  1.25" Maxvisions. I also have the stock 10mm and 25mm SW ep's that came with the scope.

These ep's are like having a new telescope, I could not believe the view through both of them, really like dipping your eye into space, especially the 24mm. I couldnt quite get all of the double cluster in persius in the view but seeing them with a wide angle, sharp focus and a much (seemingly) flatter image was unbelievable for the money . like putting an ssd in your old laptop.

The great Orion nebula was fantastic so much more detail and apparent size, Jupiter also very sharp and clear and able to see the bands very clearly on both.

They are much easier to look through too, don't know if this is eye relief or exit pupil or whatever but my eye does not have to be almost touching the lens and dead centre to get a good view.

I cannot imagine how a Televue or Pentax etc ep could improve much on these, not saying they don't just how impressed an upgrade this was for me personally.

I now intend to fill the gaps with 20mm, 28mm, 34mm and a descent 2x or 2.25x barlow.

I also tried the 8mm BST but was underwhelmed by this ep, it is not enough of an upgrade to the stock 10mm to be worthwhile in my opinion, yes there was a bit more mag, detail and sharpness but not enough. I think the 5mm would have been a better choice of BST, but the Maxvisions appear to be in a different league although I obviously haven't a like for like comparison with the Maxvision.

Thought I would just share this information with any new astronomers like myself who are considering ep's.

The only downside is that they will keep you up all night, I was out till 3.30 am last night as it was very clear, swapping ep's like crazy and falling asleep at my telescope.

Cheers

[alan potts]

Well congratulations on your new eyepieces. The two you are talking about are what used to be from Meade's premium range and I had both of them and the others. They were fairly expensive eyepieces and I was always happy with them, now I have no reason to believe the ones you have are not the same quality as the ones I once owned. I have here on loan two other Meade eyepieces from the SWA range, 16mm and the 24mm the same as you have, I am testing them at this moment against the Tele-Vue 24mm Panoptic.

You should see a difference between the two eyepiece in faster scopes, I most certainly can in my F5.26 scope. I am not sure how fast your scope is but the TV eyepiece will be better, however this will not be dramatic and blow your socks off better. The main differences are seen towards the edge of field, this is an area in a Newtonian where the effect of coma can be seen and you may not notice other aberations that are there. The strange thing is the faults on the Meade 24mm show themselves as a coma problem would appear and my scope has no coma, however the Tele-vue is sharp to the edge, this is basically the the difference but the faster the scope the more the problem shows.

I am pleased you like your Maxvisions they are cracking value as the Meade 24mm was once about 160 pounds, so not give away prices. 

[Daniel-K]

great choice for your first upgrades. the 28 is a cracker as well. decent eyepiece just enhance your observations tenfold. you will start training your eye to pick out finer details. if you can get a 8.8 explore scientific there big  a step up from the bst's and on par with the premium brands  

[bingevader]

Congratulations on your upgrade.

Glad to hear that they're working out so well.

[russ.will]

Hi guys

I have been trying to decide on eyepiece upgrade for a while and finally went for the 16mm and 24mm 68 degree  1.25" Maxvisions. I also have the stock 10mm and 25mm SW ep's that came with the scope.

These ep's are like having a new telescope, I could not believe the view through both of them, really like dipping your eye into space, especially the 24mm. I couldnt quite get all of the double cluster in persius in the view but seeing them with a wide angle, sharp focus and a much (seemingly) flatter image was unbelievable for the money . like putting an ssd in your old laptop.

The great Orion nebula was fantastic so much more detail and apparent size, Jupiter also very sharp and clear and able to see the bands very clearly on both.

They are much easier to look through too, don't know if this is eye relief or exit pupil or whatever but my eye does not have to be almost touching the lens and dead centre to get a good view.

I cannot imagine how a Televue or Pentax etc ep could improve much on these, not saying they don't just how impressed an upgrade this was for me personally.

I now intend to fill the gaps with 20mm, 28mm, 34mm and a descent 2x or 2.25x barlow.

I also tried the 8mm BST but was underwhelmed by this ep, it is not enough of an upgrade to the stock 10mm to be worthwhile in my opinion, yes there was a bit more mag, detail and sharpness but not enough. I think the 5mm would have been a better choice of BST, but the Maxvisions appear to be in a different league although I obviously haven't a like for like comparison with the Maxvision.

Thought I would just share this information with any new astronomers like myself who are considering ep's.

The only downside is that they will keep you up all night, I was out till 3.30 am last night as it was very clear, swapping ep's like crazy and falling asleep at my telescope.

Cheers

The answer is that the equivalent TVs will not blow your socks off in terms of image sharpness. An incremental upgrade yes, but you will be paying double for an extra 5% of performance and most of that will be at the edges. I also agree with respect to the BSTs. I had most of them as my first upgrades and they are very, very good value. In real terms the MVs, which are essentially clones of much more expensive designs, have overtaken them at the longer FLs.

Now, whilst it may seem like a good idea to shell out on the rest of the MVs, I would suggest (given that I have had all of them) that you don't. Don't get me wrong, the 20 & 28mm are very nice too, but you will find that you tend leap past the 20mm and don't use the 28mm, as faffing with 1.25"-2" adapters is a pain. My scope is equivalent to a 300p (FL=1500mm) and I find the 24mm is my most used EP.

If I were in your position (and I have been) I'd either have a look at the ES 2x Focal Extender (you'd end up with a 24, 16, 12 & 8mm spread which is really nice) or, as suggested above the 8.8mm ES82. I had that EP and it was cracker and the extra aFOV is handy when nudging a Dob.

I'd seriously look at the 2x ES FE first though. It is a very transparent device and in use leaves the eye relief of the EP in use unchanged - It is NOT a Barlow. If the financial bottom fell out of my world, the ES FE would be one of the last things I flogged.

Russell

[rory]

I agree with Russ . I actually had the set up he suggests with my old 200p.

I bought the 16 and 24mm mv's, and got a bresser SA barlow ( the same as telextender)

Which gave a nice spread of options

X50,75,100,150.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Congrats on the new EP. The MVs perform very well in my F/6 80mm scope, so should be great in your 200P. Great value for money

[phoobar]

Hi thanks for the feedback everyone and great advice, very much appreciated.

Russel where can I purchase one of those focal extenders, I have seen them over seas but not sure about uk. Also just breezed through a post of yours about them from 2013, I have a SW 8" dob and am slightly concerned about the possible weight issue?

I did also dwell on the 1.25" and 2" flaffing around you mention and totally agree. Strangely (or maybe not to you experienced people) the 28mm is 2" but the 34mm is 1.25"? For this reason I would probably still get the 34mm as I like to just browse around at times so a wide fov for me would be useful, much easier to see where you are with relation to other stars in your fov.

Cheers

[YKSE]

 The strange thing is the faults on the Meade 24mm show themselves as a coma problem would appear and my scope has no coma, however the Tele-vue is sharp to the edge,

Alan, are you sure it's coma you saw in the Meade, not field curvature or astimatism?

[bish]

I have the 24mm MV and it is a great ep. Certainly the best value for money for me.

[Ruud]

The Maxvisions are top shelf eyepieces and very comfortable to use. I have the 20 mm, 24 mm, 28 mm and 34 mm, all 68°, and love them as much as my TV Plössl, Nagler and Delos eyepieces. For me the Maxvisions are well on the side of good enough.

When it comes to value for money, the Maxvisions are my best eyepieces, followed by the Skywatcher Nirvana (16mm) and then the TV stuff I have.

Congratulations Phoobar on an excellent choice!

[russ.will]

Hi thanks for the feedback everyone and great advice, very much appreciated.

Russel where can I purchase one of those focal extenders, I have seen them over seas but not sure about uk. Also just breezed through a post of yours about them from 2013, I have a SW 8" dob and am slightly concerned about the possible weight issue?

I did also dwell on the 1.25" and 2" flaffing around you mention and totally agree. Strangely (or maybe not to you experienced people) the 28mm is 2" but the 34mm is 1.25"? For this reason I would probably still get the 34mm as I like to just browse around at times so a wide fov for me would be useful, much easier to see where you are with relation to other stars in your fov.

Cheers

The 34mm is definitely 2" because a) you can't fit a 68deg aFOV at 34 mm inside a field stop that would fit inside a 1.25" barrel and I've got one. [emoji1]

I bought all of my MVs from explorescientific.eu although I think 365astronomy.co.uk now stock them and if I recall there is little difference in price.

Russell

[russ.will]

I forgot to mention that all of the 2" MVs are very much bigger than even the 24mm. In my ES DOB, they do tax the balance somewhat, whereas the 24mm and Delos don't.

Russell

[phoobar]

365 have the 34mm listed at 1.25"  http://www.365astronomy.com/Explore-Scientific-MaxVision-68-Eyepiece-34mm-1.25-ES-0215234.html  although looking at the pic I think they may have made a mistake, es.eu have it at 50.8.

I am trying to locate the ES focal extender but can only find it in the usa

[russ.will]

The Bresser SA Barlow (don't know why they call it a Barlow) is the same thing as both the ES and Meade. They're 4-element telecentric multipliers. Televue Powermates are another.

Russell

[rory]

The Bresser SA Barlow (don't know why they call it a Barlow) is the same thing as both the ES and Meade. They're 4-element telecentric multipliers. Televue Powermates are another.

Russell

Indeed they are . Worked nicely with the mv's

[rory]

price wise I don't know how they compare to ES or the meades .

[AndyWB]

I also tried the 8mm BST but was underwhelmed by this ep, it is not enough of an upgrade to the stock 10mm to be worthwhile in my opinion

I've all the Starguiders apart from the new(ish) 3.2mm and the 25mm, and I also feel that the 8mm was the weakest of mine. The 5mm, though, is pretty good.

[phoobar]

Hi Andy thats good to know that its not just me. I think I will probably try another BST  when my credit card has cooled down a little, maybe March or April when Saturn is around.

Russ thanks for all the advice. At the moment a barlow would give me a combination of 5,8,10,12,12.5,16,24 and 25 not bad really apart from the 12 and 12.5. Still tempted by the ES MV 20 though @ £60 :/

Clear outside is currently predicting clear skies from xmas eve through to boxing day so hopefully will not have to wait long to try them all out.

[russ.will]

I guess clear is a pretty good result for London! What do you do for dark? 

I'm pretty sure that you will find the SW EPs get left in the case very quickly. The 25mm isn't actually bad. Indeed, I personally think most of it's bad rep, is because most users ownership coincides with the period during which they are least capable of accurate collimation. I got my second one with a second hand 300p FlexTube and was highly surprised how good it was compared to what I remembered from my baptism with my 200p - The first one got replaced with acres of BSTs, including focal lengths I didn't need. FWIW, I reckoned the 5 & 25mm were the weakest of that lineup. 8 to 18mm  and in particular the 12 & 15mm were very, very good for the price.

Back on track; Barlowed or not, the extra field of view and far better correction at the edge of field of the MV 24mm means you will not find yourself reaching for the SW. Even if all else were equal, 1mm at 24/25mm is not a difference you need and even Barlowed to 12/12.5mm, the 0.5mm difference is irrelevant. In the 1500mm of my Dob, I only find 0.5mm becomes an issue at sub 8mm focal lengths.

If you want a higher power planetary recommendation sub 8mm, have a look at the Williams Optics SPL 6mm. The one I used was very sharp and easy to use - nice big eye lens and 20mm of eye relief - I even forgot it 'only' had 55deg aFOV as I was too busy drinking in a pin sharp Jupiter.

Also, don't forget to check the classified ads.

Russell

[Charic]

+1 the WO SPL. although I'm still waiting for that perfect night to give mine a real test 

[alan potts]

I think it was Russell that suggest that the 20mm was maybe a bit too close to either the 16mm or the 24mm in your scope which makes sense to me. I did have all of the range but this was in a scope with a 3048mm focal length so the jumps are much larger. The 34mm is a nice eyepiece though as said a bit of a fat lad, the run 34mm,24mm and the 16mm would be very nice.

Alan.

[bingevader]

The WO SPL 6mm is a very fine eyepiece.

[russ.will]

The 34mm is a nice eyepiece though as said a bit of a fat lad....

Alan.

And your problem with fat lads would be?

Russell