Looking for help in considering a few eyepiece options

[quesne]

I have an 8" f/5.9 Dobs with a few decent 2" eyepieces (Celestron 26, 32 and 40mm eyepieces plus 2" barlow).  I am looking, however, to augment my rather poor collection of higher mag EPs.

The options I am considering are the Orion Expanse, the Agena Starguiders or the BST UWA (same as Moonfish in the UK).  The prices seem pretty comparable, with the Starguiders being a bit more dear.

In comparing the FOVs and eye reliefs, they all seem to be in the same general ballpark.  The Orion Expanse series -- which is the most economical -- seems to have the edge in FOV at 66 deg, but the eye relief is a bit lower than the other two.

Does anyone have experience with one or more of these?  Considering these EP options, are there any glaring advantages of one line over the others?  Also, is there another line of EPs in the same price category that I should consider?

Any and all comments are much appreciated :-)

[Akiainavas]

I heard the Orion Expanse set is very good.

I myself went for Baader Hyperion due to modular design - with really cheap expansion rings you can change the focal and get 5 EPs from 1. And they are still "fixed" since you unscrew and screw them back, so no tricky, wobbly zooming etc. That was also what FLO recommended for me.

Also, whatever you decide on - an advice I got from Steve @ FLO - don't buy a set as you most likely won't need/use half of it for a long time. Get 2 or three EPs and a decent barlow for now.

[ronin]

The BST UW's are clones of the older TMB planetary's, the Starguiders are the same as the BST Starguiders here.

THe Starguiders will out perform the BST UW's.

The Expanse are again good, no great problems reported concerning them.

As Orion do not make equipment they will be running around under a different name somewhere.

So I would say your choice is the Starguiders or the Expanse, I would drop the UW's from consideration.

I have the Starguiders (in the older Explorer name) and they are good, also the set of 6 look very nice in a case. The Starguiders are also the Astro-Tech Paradigms.

One alternative for the US is the Celestron X-Cel, if I recall they are slightly more in cost but only by a small amount (not as much as the difference here)

[John]

The Starguiders will be the best, in performance terms, in your scope I think with the BST UWA 58 degree ones (not the wider 80 degree ones) next and the Orion Expanse slight behind them. I've personally owned some of the Expanse eyepieces and a couple of the BTS UWA 58 degree ones and there is much written on this forum about the Starguiders although they are known as the BST Starguiders or Explorers over here.

None of them are really poor eyepieces by the way, I was just thinkng of what would work best with your F/5.9 dobsonian.

[ronl]

I have the Starguider set and a couple of the BST UWA, the Starguiders are far better for me,

the Starguider here in the UK are known as BST Starguiders, but look the same as the 

Agena Starguider, I find that the Starguiders are a good all round eyepiece, whereas the

UWA is made for planetary observing, but I find the Starguider out performs the UWA 

while planetary viewing, the Starguider I find is very good for observing every type of 

target, I find they suit me and I find them very comfortable to use, and the twist up eyecup

is good too, If you wear glasses you leave it down, but you screw it up to where is suits

you for a comfortable view. This link will show you what they look like here in the UK.

 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-18mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-Branded-Starguider-/161049462890?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item257f4bc86a

[bingevader]

I have a similar 'scope to yours.

I can vouch for the 5mm and 7mm Celestron X-Cel LX EPs, both good crisp views, although the 5mm doesn't get much use over here at the moment.

The Williams Optics SPL 6mm is very good too and if the 12.5mm is as good, they'd be well worth considering.

I had a gap at 8mm () which I filled with a secondhand Televue plossl, an excellent EP if you don't mind the shorter eye relief.

[great_bear]

All variants of the BST UWA (under various brand names) suffer from slight ghosting reflection problems to some degree or another - although this doesn't bother everyone. The expanse 6mm and 9mm are pretty good eyepieces with a nice wide field (if not particularly sharp field stops). The 15mm expanse is pretty nice in a very long focal length scope of about F15 (i.e. not good in yours), and the 20mm expanse is basically unusable in pretty much any scope.

The Starguiders receive unanimously good reviews from all

(although their bodywork never appealed to me personally).

[quesne]

Greatly appreciate all of this good info and advice.  The Hyperions are very tempting, but a bit expensive for my 8 year-old son to handle, especially when changing the FL.  No question that I am settling toward the Starguiders.  

My next question is, quite simply, which of the Starguiders will best serve my scope.  Aside from the aforementioned 2" eyepieces and 2" barlow, I have four 1.25" EPs which, due to their similarities, do not give me a wide range of FLs.  They are: 

- Orion 25mm Sirius Plossl

- Meade MA 25mm

- Orion 10mm Sirius Plossl

- Meade MA 9mm

- Orion Shorty 2x Barlow

Given my F/5.9 scope and the EP selection that I already have -- and assuming that my budget will only cover three (3) Starguider EPs -- which of the Starguiders would you recommend I acquire?  And is the Orion Barlow I have good enough to work well with the Starguiders, or should I be looking to upgrade that, as well?

BTW - My second "travel" scope is a Meade ETX 70, and I would love to hear comments concerning the performance of these EPs in that scope.  But my main concern is finding good EPs for the 8" Dobs.

Thanks again to all for your great input!

[ronl]

The BST UWA do suffer from ghosting, and blackouts, that's because they don't have the

screw up eye cup, the Starguiders do, and they were made for f/5 and above scopes.

As for which eyepieces to go for, I went for the 18mm and the 8mm, but it depends what

you intend to view.

[John]

The BST UWA do suffer from ghosting, and blackouts, that's because they don't have the

screw up eye cup, the Starguiders do, and they were made for f/5 and above scopes.

As for which eyepieces to go for, I went for the 18mm and the 8mm, but it depends what

you intend to view.

I thought the BST UWA's did have a twist up top section, like the original TMB Planetary II's ?: