James9

I see what you mean. I will buy for now and go with the Plossl. Thank you!

Thanks again. Going back up thread a little I think I'm missing a trick. Looking at: 32mm celestron at £65 for 50deg fov 30mm Vixen npl at £58 for 50 deg fov 25mm BST starguider for £55 for 60deg fov The cheapest of the three, widest fov and best regarded is the starguider. Acknowledging it might not be as good as the plossl at the edges on an f5. But it is otherwise a better eyepiece. Fov of the vixen and BST starguider is the same, the celestron and the astro essentials (£29 52Deg fov) are bigger but the same. https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/?fov[]=104|2245|||1||&fov[]=104|64|||1||&fov[]=104|2245|||1||&fov[]=104|389|||1||&messier=42 So it is a shootout between the 25mm BST starguider and 32mm astro essential? I lean toward the BST for the better regard and 60deg. I would like an eyepiece I can linger at if the feeling takes me. And feel like I would have an ep to keep rather than just a stand in for now. My only concern would be how bad it would be at the edges for my eyes. Am I making sense or am I just easily influenced?!

The prices of the 32mm celestron and 30mm vixen are close enough (£65 and £58) I could take either. Is either objectively better in use/quality? I think the Ultima edge is a little out of my price range for now. I had been meaning ask, is there a way of calculating what ep would be better on a fast scope or does it only come from looking through it?

Ok, I have a confession to make. At the weekend, I found the new SVBony 3-8 zoom on the manufacturers website with ~£20 off, able to deliver just in time so I can collect it when I am in the UK over Christmas. So I bought it 😊 Seemed decent reviews so far... thought fast scopes have a question mark?... and not 10s of road tested reviews yet... but that is what I have done. Hopefully it works out 😬 😅 So I will drop the 5mm, use the svbony to explore that focal length region, and join the 9mm/32mm club. 32mm Celestron Omni Plossl 50º fov 9mm Baader Morpheus 76° fov I might be tempted back for an even wider fov in a year or two if the Morpheus works out.

Thanks for the continue input. Trying to weigh up cost, where I am now, where I might be in the future and so on... no one has screamed I am making a terrible mistake (yet) so I plan to plump for: 32mm Celestron Omni Plossl 9mm Baader Morpheus 5mm Starguider Thank you all, I have learned quite a lot from your considered inputs. Feel free to still scream I'm making a terrible mistake if need be!

There seems to be a Christmas sale on from the manufacturers website: https://www.svbony.com/svbony-sv215-1-25-3mm-8mm-planetary-zooms-eyepiece/ £106.78 + £21.09 for "Free Customs Clearance Shipping(8-15 business days)(Including customs clearance and taxes)". Total £127.86 delivered. $129.99 + tax et al to US buyers. You can pay only £8ish for 25-35 day shipping but I presume you pay custom and taxes on arrival? I think I will chance this for my fast Celestron Travel 70 at this price, unless anyone has heard otherwise? Hopefully it will be a nice useful little grab bag.

AFOV for the above eyepieces for: Travel Scope 70 SLT 130 Nexstar 8SE (example of my current planned future scope)

Wow, thanks everyone. That is a lot to digest. I started planning to buy 1-2 long term eye pieces, switched to shorter timeframe for what I have now and I am now moving back towards longer term..! My takeaways are: Barlow's, while they have a use of effectively doubling your number of EPs, aren't popular! So I will use my existing Celestron in a pinch but try to plan not to rely on one. I gather the Nirvana's are just rebranded cheaper versions of the Explore Scientific's? When I said I was tempted by 82 degrees before, it was the Explore Scientific's I was looking at. I discounted the Explore Scientific's on cost so curious about the Nirvana's now. Going back to my original plan of 1-2, the Baader Morpheus could be best life long eyepieces. 32mm plossl is better for widest field of view, which seems a common choice. Latest thought based on everyone's comments: 32mm Celestron Omni Plossl - any other recommendations gratefully received, if there are better cheaper ones. 9mm OR 12.5mm Baader Morpheus. A life time purchase for now and future use. Ratlet and Elp use 8-9mm with a 30-32 exclusively, but Pixie's and Louis recommend the 12.5mm (at least over the 15mm). A 12.5mm might be better for long term than f10? I am leaning towards the 9mm, at the moment. 5mm Starguider for my current scope, knowing it will be no good on an f10. And slumming it down to 2.5mm for max mag with my barlow when needed 😁 I considered the 4mm Nirvana but 2x barlow down to 2mm is outside the useable magnification (x325, above the upper rule of thumb limit of 307). I could plump for the extra cost of the Nirvana if this is still a useable magnification in practice? Though the AFOV appears very similar, maybe it isn't worth it? I put the links in to make sure we are talking about the same products! 👍 Thanks for your continued input!

Thanks for the replies so far! I am very tempted by the Svbony 3-8mm (SV215) for the travel scope. At the very least, I would learn what focal lengths I like on each of my current scope and develop me a little further. But it won't be delivered in the time I am in the UK to collect it over Christmas. So it is one for the future. You may have talked me down from the 100 degrees, I wish I had the opportunity to use one on my scope as I am still tempted. But I have also seen the APM may also have some issues on my F5. I was briefly tempted by some 70-82 degree eyepieces but I think the below is good for where I am right now. I like the comfort that there seems to be with the BST Starguiders (21m lens diameter and 16mm eye relief). I should upgrade my Celestron Barlow to the BST Starguider Barlow to match the same quality as the eyepieces? Current thoughts to buy: 25mm BST Starguider 15mm BST Starguider 5mm BST Starguider 2x BST Starguider barlow for 12.5mm, 7.5mm and 2.5mm (2.5mm will give comfortable max usable magnification in both my current scopes) Option: drop the barlow and 5mm and get the 3.2mm and the 8mm instead? I could use my existing 2x Celestron Barlow when needed I suppose, if that wouldn't cause too much of a degradation. Any further comments will be gratefully received! Thanks Note: I have just seen FLO give 15% off if I buy 4, so the 4th one is effectively heavily discounted. Recommendations for the best option for 4 would be appreciated.

Hello All, I am an intermittent observer, depending on my work and general life stresses. Upgrading kit comes close to being a stress so I would like some help ! A new job on the horizon will also give me a more time for hobbies. I have a Nexstar 130 SLT (f/5), a steal from a pawnbrokers for £200. When I opened the box, it contained the SkyQ Link wifi module ! Albeit I think the version 1, it is grey and not orange around the clip. My 'best' eyepieces are Celestron AstroMaster Telescope Accessory Kit: 15 mm Kellner Eyepiece - 1.25” - Decent enough for me to use. 6 mm Plossl Eyepiece - 1.25” - I find very difficult and uncomfortable to use. Like looking through a straw. 2X Barlow Lens with T-threads - 1.25” (As also have Celestron 25 and 9mm eyepieces and an unbranded "Super 10mm" eyepiece (Skywatcher? I still have a Celestron Travel 70 scope, one of my previous rungs on the ladder)). In the next 2-5 years, with sufficient growing experience and enjoyment permitting, I would like to upgrade to whatever the Celestron Nexstar 8 (f/10) variant (or last generation, second hand) is around then. I would like to keep the same, better eyepieces I will hopefully begin investing in now. I also have a Canon 5D camera, used mainly for travel and some night landscape Astro but would like to leave the door open to taking a variety of astro pictures through the scope. I am looking at buying 1-2 eyepieces for £200-550 total and I have been drawn to wide (and even wider) angle eyepieces. Initially, I looked at the Panorama II that seems to have got good reviews in 2018 but with some niggles. I read the Hyperions are good but poor at f/5 so wouldn't do me any good for the next few years. I am currently considering my best bet is the the APM 13 XWA and either the APM 20 XWA or the APM 5 XWA. Tempted by the 5mm so I can get high magnification on my f/5 with the 2x barlow and then use it on it's own on the f/10. But maybe the 7 or 9 mm would be better? I don't wear glasses but the 6mm has made me gun shy and would like a comfortable viewing experience for the what I buy. Interested in everything, would like to see larger images of the planets and better views of DSOs than my current set up. I have tried to do my research but I'm still an improving/advanced beginner and my head is genuinely aching after 2-3hours so I will have to have some water and a lie down! Any feedback or oversights I am making would be appreciated. I am hoping these purchases would be for life so would like your help to get them right. Thank you for reading!