TheLookingGlass

Vixen LVW's have insanely excellent correction in fast scopes. Sure it's only 65° afov, but still good, even at F/4.

Yes, $299 USD. Shipping, (First class, which is the minimum rate and cost), is $37.02 USD = $336.02 USD = $438.60 CDN, and possibly get hit by customs ,(more than likely) = $57.02 for a grand total of $495.62. If not hit by customs, it would be $438.60. Not much less, and possibly even more, lol. Almost $50 to ship an eyepiece now, which is ridiculous, IMO. It used to be about $18 USD or so before that for First Class shipping. Priority shipping is even more of a gouge at $51.59 USD, which is almost $70 CDN !!!! Time to stop ordering online now. LOL

I just ordered two brand new Baader Morpheus eyepieces. A 12.5mm and a 9mm. Both were $900 CDN. 🤔 😲

Undercuts? I detest them too! None here. I just leave twist lock adapters on mine and all 4 are parfocal as well. Same as the two barlows. O-rings to parfocalize them, and twist lock adapters so all are now in 2 inch mode as I only own 2" filters. I still need a 30mm UFF eyepiece, a 17.5mm Morpheus, and a 5mm XW to round off my set. Cheers!

I've owned two GSO coma correctors. It def helped clear up coma and some field curvature, but at the expense of very noticeable chromatic aberration on bright stars at higher powers. I also noticed on axis that planets are sharper without one. I prefer to not use one at all now. I now use a 22mm Ultima LX, 12.5mm, 9mm and 6.5mm Baader Morpheus and all four are fine without the coma corrector. One less piece to add in between for me now. A good observing friend of mine said his Televue Paracorr, (newer type I believe), does not have any of these aberrations. Very expensive though! If you don't mind the above aberrations, the GSO coma corrector does fix up the outer edges nicely and the cost isn't too high. It all depends on what you can tolerate.

I've owned about 6 of these over the years. They are "hit and miss" filters. Some were good, while others, not so good. My last one wasn't very good and I know this because I compared it directly with a really good Lumicon UHC on the Lagoon nebula and a few others. In the Lumicon UHC on the Lagoon, the three parts of the nebula was mottled and bright, while in the Orion Ultrablock, the three parts were half as bright without any mottling. I don't think I would chance getting another Ultrablock, but will be getting a DGM NPB filter instead. We compared the DGM NPB to the Lumicon UHC and it was a tie between the two. I highly recommend the DGM NPB !!! Clear skies!

Congrats !!! Enjoy !!!

Ah yup.

I ordered the same one not too long ago, but sold it because I preferred the Celestron Ultima LX. Mine was the Astromania version direct from China. The metal ring around the outside of the top lens on the Astromania version is shiny, and I would see reflections every time I used it. I also didn't like the stiff rubber eyecup. But, it is "glasses friendly" because the stiff eyecup screws off like you said. Here's a comparison pic. The Astromania is on the left and the 22mm Ultima LX is on the right. You can see how reflections would occur on the Astromania compared to the Ultima LX even in bright light. Below are two pics of the 22mm Astromania, without and with the stiff eyecup. Cheers Louis D !!! Thanks for your post.

Glasses friendly? ....It is now !!!! I wanted to post about the 22mm Celestron Ultima LX. This is my 4th one I have owned. (I sold my others to try other eyepieces in this range, but I always seem to come back to this particular eyepiece because it has excellent correction and is very comfortable to use). However, I found that when using this with glasses, (even with the rubber eye cup rotated in the down position), I was barely just getting the entire FOV in. I had to really press in a bit to get the whole field in. So, I remembered that I cut the top off of another one I owned a few years ago and I kept it. I was able to take the original eye cup off easily after pressing it outwards away from the glue and I was able to get it off without any damage to it at all, or any damage to the rubber housing over the eyepiece itself. I then put on the old one I had with the top lip cut off, (I also sanded it as smooth as I could with sandpaper), and it went on nice and securely. I found a cap that fits right over the top and it stays on nice and snug. With the newer eye cup on there, I can now see the entire field of view while wearing glasses with it screwed all of the way down. I can still rotate it all of the way up if needed. I only use glasses to read Stellarium on my cell phone or when I am sketching at the eyepiece. it's pretty amazing how much difference a few millimeters can have on your observing, especially if you need glasses while at the eyepiece. Just thought I would share my new 22mm Ultima LX. I still have the original rubber eye cup on this one if I need to put it back on. In the last pic, you can really see just how much more eye relief is gained. It isn't "pretty" by any means, but I don't get eyepieces to "look at them", I get them to "use them". Now, it is "glasses friendly". Clear Skies !!!

Mandatory at F/4 if you want sharp stars across most of the field. I use one at F/4.7 and without it, my 100 degree eyepieces are swamped with coma.

3 yrs later, just wondering what happened to the 13mm Ethos vs 13mm HDC comparison?

Thanks for that !!!

Out of curiosity, do you have a 31mm Axiom LX? I'm curious as to how much it weighs with the cover off of it.

I just tried it with glasses for a friend who needs them while observing to help him out. I don't use glasses, so I am even more lucky, lol.

Yes, I can "*just* see the entire 100 degrees with glasses, with the glasses just touching the rubber eye guard folded downwards. I put a baader morpheus eyeguard on my 20mm XWA.

I just went through the same thing, but not an entire eyepiece lineup change. I owned the 22mm Nagler T4 and now I own a 20mm APM XWA 100°. I also own a coma corrector. Field curvature was still seen in the telescope and the coma corrector, so I sold the 22mm T4 and I am more than happy with the 20mm APM XWA over the 22mm T4 Nagler. When removing the 20mm APM XWA, the only thing I see is pure coma. There is no FC at all in that EP. I would take the 20mm APM XWA over the 22mm T4 Nagler without hesitating. The eye relief on the 20mm XWA is good enough if you want to use glasses. I tried that and it works. My glasses rest against the folded rubber eye guard. It's super immersive and perfect in the coma corrector.

Seems like an ongoing problem with these. 🤨

I see a bit of FC in the 12.5mm Baader Morpheus, but in a CC it's gone!

I had one of those eyepieces sent to me a few years ago and on the bottom was fungus. I returned it to the seller.

There's no kidney beaning in the 17mm Hyperion. You just got too close to the lens and it blacked out.

I have the 9mm Baader morpheus. Works great at F/5, no coma corrector.

I will throw another into the mix: 20mm APM 100 degree. It's really nice.

Cleaning eyepieces will NOT harm the coatings when done properly. I personally use ROR, (residue oil remover), which has been recommended to many astronomers. Before doing the ROR, I use a blower bulb to remove any hairs, etc. Then I use the brush at the other end of my lens pen and gently brush away any fine debris. Then another once over with the blower bulb. I then use a Q-Tip and put ONE DROP of ROR on it. I then gently "swirl" it over the lens and clean. I then use a blower bulb to dry off as much as I can. I then use a new lens pen and swirl in circles until the lens is clean and dry. Sometimes I will do a final cleaning with the dry end of the Q-Tip. A few "huffs" of your breath and another drying is sometimes needed for the final cleaning. I've been doing this for about 26 years without a problem, but I think just the Q-tips are better then a lens pen, even though it may only be used a few times, junk that gets picked up by the lens pen can go right back onto the lens and possibly scratch it.

I own the 9mm, 6.5mm and 12.5mm. The 9mm has the longest eye relief, with the 12.5mm very close. I have no problems with any of them as far as eye placement goes. Yes, the 6.5mm has shorter eye relief, but I don't use the M48 extension on it, nor do I use it on the others. I find therm very easy to use with just the supplied eye cups that have threads on them. For me, the 6.5mm is do-able with glasses, but they are almost touching. If you put one of the older eye cups on the 6.5mm and you do not use glasses, (some like to "hover" above the lens), then you gain 1mm in eye relief. I've also tried the 17.5mm and really liked it.