Legalpusher

Thanks for the advice. I opted to buy the 12.5 Morpheus to fill the gap between 16.5 and 8. It is a nice eyepiece at a reasonable cost. It fills my need quite nicely. I am quite pleased with the view and built quality. It has its own distinctive quality as compared to the Pentax and Tele-Vue eyepieces. I am trying to decide if I should buy the 2x Powermate now, or save up for the 4.7mm or 3.7mm Ethos for planetary viewing. Another option would be the 4.7 Williams Optic. I heard it is just as good for half the price. Please share your views.

I have a 12” f4.9, 1500mm Dobsonian.

I am new to astronomy. While searching for suitable eyepieces for my newly acquired Dobsonian, I came across the Pentax 16.5 and 23. My experiences with Pentax in my youth prompted me to buy them. Compared with the OEM Celestron Omni 32mm, I was happy with the purchase, and added the 40mm XW as well. They were comfortable enough to use with glasses, although is much more comfortable without the glasses in between. A months later, I bought a Tele-Vue Ethos 8mm, the 100 degrees AFO blew me away, I bought the 6mm as well. They were comparable in comfort and view quality. The wider view gave them a unique feel. Don’t think I’ll be buying the 4.7mm soon. The lack of funding, a common condition since I acquired the hobby, & the weather doesn’t favor its use, maybe later in the fall. The 4.7 TeleVue at 110 degree of apparent field of view probably won’t be used frequently due to condition limitations. Should I buy a less costly alternative like a Nagler, Pentax XW, or skipping it totally? May be a Powermate? Having 4 mm and 3 mm eyepieces with the same field of view at the cost of 1/2 an Ethos is appealing. What pitfalls am I not aware of? If any? Waiting for a $40, 100mm Vixen eyepiece to replace my OEM red dot finder. My arthritis prevents me from using it since day 1 totally. How anyone able to use it on a Dobsonian is beyond my comprehension. Can’t wait to see how it works out. May be I should replace the red dot with a right angle finder for $80 instead?