John

I've noticed the Opticstar ones but they are listed as "out of stock" currently. I'll mail them and see if they can get any more.

Cheers

Very nice Tak !

If you want to try some white light solar with your Tak (to compliment the H-Alpha scope) the Lunt Herschel Wedge works really well with it - great surface details

I think I've already asked this question but where did you source the tube rings for it ?

What I guess would be interesting would be to know what the tolerances for the tests are, ie: how much varience from "ideal" is OK ?

Ultimately it would also be interesting to know the rejection rate for the various models and brands but I guess others have 1st dibs on that information !

It's a good initiative though and I appleaud FLO for introducing it

Superb !

I'm sure Peter will be pleased to see them so well sorted.

Those eyepieces are just saying "look though me"

@Alan White: I'm glad you like them and that my report was some use.

@Moonshane: Shane, I seem to recall that they reach focus a little further in than a TV plossl but not as far in as a Baader GO. Not very precise but the best I can do from memory !

Superb Steve

These long refractors do make some demands on mounts but they also reward the effort and cost when you do get them properly sorted.

I've chickened out with my 5" and gone for one that is just F/9.25

A "poodle" as Neil English has reminded me, while yours is a true Bulldog

3 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

Agree with John - don't see these relatively new Vixens much on the forum. Interested to hear your thoughts on how they perform.

Here are my thoughts, for what they are worth:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/255080-vixen-ssw-ultra-wide-angle-eyepieces-review/

I'd be interested to hear wht GreyRaptor thinks of them as well

1 hour ago, popeye85 said:

great read! thanks for that. Have you got any additional tips for anyone ( by anyone I mean me) that doesn't have a finder scope but uses a telrad alone? I know most people use both but cant afford to (be caught..) spending any more on the scope for a good while yet.

I used to use just a Telrad / Red dot finder.

With a Telrad it's very useful to have a star chart and to make an acetate overlay with the 4, 2 and .5 degree circles of the Telrad marked on it. You can then overlay that onto the star field where your target lies and get a good idea of reasonably bright stars that you can position within the Telrad rings and note where your target object will be in relation to them.

Welcome to the forum.

They are very fine scopes when properly sorted. The pictures show one that may be fine or it may not. If there are any issues with it getting them sorted could prove pretty difficult because they are not produced any more (as far as I know) and there are very few owners out there.

Unless you have some previous experience of scopes of this design I would recommend considering something more mainstream.

It might help if you could introduce yourself in a new thread and outline your interests in the hobby so that some suggestions of equipment that might suit you can be made.

Nice set of eyepieces !

You don't see many folks using the Vixen SSW's.

My Tak FC-100DL out tonight. 1st split of Rigel this season and hoping for more Orion delights later

Wonderful craftsmanship

Welcome to the forum by the way !

I can't recall whether I've posted this - my Tak FC100DL in white light solar mode:

Some good stuff in there - I like UWAN's as well

I found the 4mm UWAN an excellent high power eyepiece with the ultra wide field a bonus for those of us who have to track manually.

Probably a good move to change it if you didn't like it.

The ES 24 / 68 eyepieces are excellent, show as much sky as a 32mm plossl, darker background sky (if you have some light pollution) and are less expensive than the TV plossl. Well worth considering I reckon

18 minutes ago, Alan White said:

So one extender as a starting point.
This is one expensive Plossl.

I've almost always bought my Tele Vues on the used market to be honest - they are very expensive now to buy new.

The Nagler 31mm is now £600+ and Ethos 21 £800+ to buy new - try not to get a taste for such things 

1 hour ago, jetstream said:

I don't wear eyeglasses and I find that a single extender works for me. I use these 32mm TV plossls in binoviewers with VG success and also with my Quark.

Yep, a single extender did the trick for me and I don't wear eyeglasses when observing. The extender made the 32mm TV plossl a very comfortable and relaxing eyepiece to use.

9 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

Went round to nigels recently and there was a 25mm .965 ep in then. I tried looking through it then stuck a vixen 25mm plosll in. Preferred the plosll i have to say but then the fact its got 22mm eyerelief probably helped me. In terms of sharpness, contrast and colour.  Dont recall there being any difference.  Ih it was solar ha btw

Funny thing is, if you take the Vixen .965" orthos apart, you find an optical layout very close to a plossl (ie: 2+2 elements) rather than the 3+1 layout of the abbe ortho. They still work nicely though.

Ah, the Vixen .965" orthos ! - I had some of those with my old Vixen SP102M.

The ZJ ones are very nice too !

2 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

What a great thread.  I've got a 32mm as well, and while it's my default low power eyepiece I have to work hard to position my eye and usually wear my glasses, which means stray light can easily get in.  Interesting that  the eye relief is too much for a lot of people; I find that too and was worried whether I'd cope with upgrading to Ethos etc.

I had galaxy hunting sessions a couple of years back where a 32mm TV plossl was the only eyepiece I used all night long. I was using an eyecup extender though which makes a lot of differing to the ease of eye positioning with this particular eyepiece.

FWIW all the Ethos eyepieces have 7mm less eyerelief than the 32mm plossl - the 15mm that the Ethos have can make it difficult for those wearing glasses when observing to see the full field of view but that is a slightly different issue I think.

I'm not expecting much difference between the ES 24 / 68 and the Maxvision 24 / 68 to be honest. I sold the latter thinking it would not be needed and then rather quickly found that I missed having that focal length / FoV in the 1.25" size ! 

Lovely Tak

What tube rings are you using ?. I'm using the Tak clamshell with my 100DL but I might fancy a change to rings at some point.

What a nice selection Dave

There's a lot of glass in that Morpheus eye lens !

I'm glad you like the 24mm ES 68 - I've just ordered one. Amazingly it will be just the 2nd ES eyepiece that I've ever owned.

I've been using a 30mm Takahashi LE lately which seems a very nice 1.25" low power eyepiece. Similar in performance to the 32mm TV plossl I'd say. Even more costly to buy new though

I agree with the views above. The TV 32PL is excellent WITH the eye guard extension but that pushes the price up even further

It's one design where TV should have recessed the eye lens a bit to ensure that the rubber eyecup was long enough to correspond with the eye relief.