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What's the difference with these eyepieces?


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Hi guys, I got a SW explorer 130 and I've been wondering what ep's to get and I thought I'd decided on a BST 5mm "Starguider" from Skies the limit to start with for viewing Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon ect. Then I seen the 6mm TMB which is cheaper and it says it's for planetary viewing, I am wondering what is the difference? The starguider is saying it has a FOV of 60 and the TMB is 58, I read somewhere on here that I would be better off getting the Starguider. I am also considering the Starguider 8-24mm zoom ep which has a FOV of 40-60, obviously it wont have quite as high magnification but I may get a tidy barlow, any help or thoughts appreciated.

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For the eyepieces the Starguiders are better. The TMB's are/were a reasonable step up, but the Starguiders are best described as "someone got it right."

The TMB's are actually an "old" eyepiece now (came out around 15 years back) they initially came out as TMB I's and they had problems, these were fixed and reappeared as the TMB II's but to an extent the design remained the same. A lot of the "problems" were stupid, they used nice shiny retaining and spacer rings inside, lens edges were not blackened. However they never performed as well as I suspect they should. The Starguiders perform better then you would expect.

If you do not want to believe me then ask Alan who sells them, he'll tell you the same. If I recall he told me I was mad :eek: , may have been right :grin: . But it was not about TMB's over BST's. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

No idea about the Starguider Zoom.

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Hi, I hope you don't mind me butting in, but when I was researching the BST on here, a few people stated the 5mm they had only got used on nights of good seeing (I'm sure there will be variation depending on scope/location etc). Anyway, I bought the 8mm as a result and am happy with its planetary performance. Just my 2p as I would not want you to buy it and find you did not like it. I'm sure someone with experience of owning one will be able to verify/deny what I have just said!!

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The StarGuider Zoom is just a rebadging of the Sky Watcher one and many others that come from GSO stable, 'StarGuider' was just added because of the reputation of the single ep's, and I guess a number of people have fallen into the trap of thinking that it is different and the same quality as the StarGuiders, it is not. The dead giveaway is that they all come in the same plastic case with a black top with the following code stamped on it: MZT8-24.  There is, however, not much wrong with this zoom, it actually works quite well, but I am not a fan of zooms.

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The 5mm BST is fine where appropriate. I have in my kit two short  fl refractors 760 and 600 so 5mm  generates 152x in one and 120x in the other. So do not be afraid of using the 5mm when appropriate. The Zoom whilst not being brilliant, is actually very good, and if you are out with a g&go scope it is really handy not having a bagfull of expensive ep's. And it does not matter when it gets dropped in the snow!!(has happened a couple of times)

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A 5mm BST Starguider will give your scope its expected magnification of 130x? Matching the telescope specifications.

I had a TMB Planetary II at 58° and was not comfortable with it, felt like looking through a barrel, and yes, only 2° diffence? compared to the BSTs owned at that time. The TMB was returned in favour of my 5mm BST, no regrets. My scope at F1200 f/6 is better with a 6mm.

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Thanks guys I ordered the 5mm btm this morning, can't wait for it to come :) I think you are right Mrbloke, I think seeing conditions need to be pretty good as its quite a powerful ep ( I'm not sure tho). I think I may get the zoom next month tho, I was going to get a nice low power ep next for clusters and nebulars ect but may wait until the nights are more drawn in for that sort of stuff.

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