Louis D

1 hour ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Hi Louis

How often do you use the 9mm Morpheus? I will be using it mainly in my 12" dob which will give a nice x167 - I can see it becoming my main eye piece going forward. 

Baz

Fairly often for mid-high power.  I compare it to my 10mm Delos sometimes to see which is giving the better view.  They're very close.  You won't be disappointed with the 9mm Morpheus.

3 hours ago, alex_stars said:

Hi Dave,

thanks for the input. The BCO 18 mm is a nice idea indeed. However is it not counterproductive to add barlow lenses in front of an ortho EP and add "glass" in the light path?

Clear skies,

Alex

It really depends on the quality of the Barlow.  Those in the list below consistently get high praise for "getting out of the way":

1.6x 1.25" Nikon EIC Barlow

3.0x 1.25" Televue Barlow

2.4x 2.0" Vernonscope Dakin Barlow

2.0x 2.0" AP BARCON (BARADV) Barlow

2.5x 2.0" Siebert Telecentric

2.0x 1.25" Carl Zeiss Abbe Barlow

2.0x 1.25" & 2" Baader VIP Barlow

If you can use a longer focal length more comfortably than a shorter focal length for a longer period of time by using it with a high quality Barlow, you're more likely to tease out fine details by being more relaxed.

The eye relief for eyeglass wearers is also better on the Morpheus than the Starguiders.  Contrast is better in the Morpheus as well.  I have the 9mm and 14mm Morpheus and the 5mm to 25mm Paradigms/Starguiders.  The Morpheus fit in well with the TV Delos and Pentax XWs while the Starguiders fit in well with the Meade HD-60s (of which I have the complete set).  Of the latter two, I prefer the HD-60s due to much better eye relief.

Was the flexure in the focuser or the mounting rings?

17 hours ago, SCOOBIE said:

Thank you, yes it was fairly clear here, the only problem apart from weather that I have is trees. Will take advice and try again. 

Definitely keep your rig light and learn the skies so you can move the scope around to dodge trees and other obstructions.  That's what I've had to do since the trees I planted 26 years ago in my backyard have since matured.  I didn't really consider the consequences related to astro observing when I planted them.  I was just thinking in terms of having shade from the intense Texas sun for my kids.

I've read that the Takahashi TOE and Vixen HR lines also do well at faster f-ratios.  They have decent eye relief, but somewhat narrow fields of view.  However, they are rated among the best planetary eyepieces ever made including the ZAOs, TMB monos, and Pentax SMCs, XPs, and XOs.

If you want the Vixen HRs, you'd better hurry as existing stock is quickly being depleted since Vixen hasn't made a new production run in a while and may not again.

What is it about your current 15x70s that you want to improve upon?

2 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Are you sure?

I think you can specify "extras" with your order - like type of coatings, barrel type, materials used and so on...

 

I have seen no evidence that there is any variance whatsoever.  They all seem to come from the same factory.  I seriously doubt that unless you were to order an entire production run of thousands of units that your could specify any of the build parameters.

3 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Many of those eyepieces are manufactured by same company, but may not be to the same level of quality or from same materials. I'm not saying that with BST Starguiders vs N-EDs is this case, but here are some such cases:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-uwa-planetary-eyepieces.html

vs

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p154_TS-Optics-7-mm-Planetary-HR---1-25--Eyepiece--58---fully-multi-coated.html

Again, TS version are more expensive but I think generally believed by many to be the best version of this planetary design (originally TMB) currently being produced.

Clearly, multiple Chinese factories have made their own clones of the TMB planetaries as evidenced in this thread:

I have seen no such evidence in the case of the BST Starguiders/Paradigms/Dual EDs/NED/etc.  That's why I tend to recommend them over the TMB Planetaries, their consistency across rebrandings.

1 hour ago, Stefan22 said:

The eyepieces from my old 114/900 newton are Huygens and have an "H" printed on them. As they are 0.965 inches, they are useless nonetheless for newer scopes.

You can pick up a 1.25" to 0.965 adapter off ebay for cheap if you want to give them a try.  I've found that some of the cheap Kellners (K) packaged with beginner scopes can actually be pretty decent performers.

1 hour ago, johninderby said:

FLO is about 52 Euro vs 94 Euro. 🙀

TS has a lot of great items and while prices are good on some of them prices on other things are  a bit crazy compared to UK prices.

Their TS branded ED and APO refractor prices seem to be much lower than their UK and US equivalents.

1 hour ago, Stefan22 said:

teleskop-express.de is a german shop, I just did not realize the N-ED eyepieces are the same as the BST Starguider.

But when you look at the images, they really look the same:
https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4934_TS-Optics-1-25--ED-Eyepiece-8mm---60--Flat-Field---high-contrast.html
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/bst-starguider-eyepieces/bst-starguider-60-8mm-ed-eyepiece.html

Thank you!

They're also known as Astro Tech Paradigm and Agena Starguider Dual ED in the US.  Basically, if you order at least 300 of them at once (at least that's the number I've heard), the Chinese factory will screen print whatever name you want on them.  Even then, you may not get them branded correctly every time.  Some of FLO's BST Starguiders have come in labeled Astro Essentials.  Rest assured, they're all identical.

1 hour ago, Stefan22 said:

Never thought this could be a viable option, but even with shipping, FLO is way cheaper.

FLO also offers discount pricing at the levels of 2, 4, and 7 at once.

1 hour ago, Stefan22 said:

BST Starguider are often recommended, but none of the big telescope shops in Germany seem to sell them.

I see that TS Optics sells the range as the TS N-ED flat field eyepiece.  Aren't they German?

How about, why doesn't SGL have a proper classifieds area like Cloudy Nights?  What advantage is there to the SGL classified method?

6 hours ago, GazOC said:

I've owned a Skywatcher 120 and a clone of the Bresser 127, the latter was by far the better scope.

I'm assuming based on the title of the thread that it wasn't the Skywatcher EvoStar 120ED.  I've often wondered if a long focal ratio 150 achro would outperform such a 120ED on some objects.  I wouldn't expect a 127 achro to outperform it in any respect except perhaps mechanically.

1 hour ago, Stefan22 said:

Here are some telescopes of different type I'm looking at:

• Skywatcher Startravel-102 102/500: 10mm and 25mm and an amici prism
• Celestron 127 mm Maksutov 127/1500: 9mm and 25mm and a star diagonal as well as a red dot finder
• Orion 203/1200 SkyQuest XT8 Classic: 25mm and a red dot finder

If you need portability, the Mak is hard to beat.  I have a couple of them, and they're very nice and also gentle on eyepieces due to their long focal ratios.

The Startravel-102 is going to be very similar to the Travelscope 70/400, if not a bit worse with regards to violet fringing.  It will have slightly better resolution and light grasp

The 8" Dob is easily the best of the bunch here.  However, it is large and heavy, so be aware of that.  The views will be spectacular compared to anything else in this price range.

38 minutes ago, Stefan22 said:

1. How can I find out how good the provided eye pieces and other accessories of a given package are? Are there any hints or do I have to find reviews of that very package?
2. Are the provided oculars changing often? As in last year this package provided oculars with okay quality but the same package this year contains really bad ones?
3. Are there any brands that typically deliver better oculars than others? (I've already learned that most brands are just selling Synta products nowadays)
4. How much do I have to spend for an ocular that would be a visible improvement over the provided eyepieces?
5. As I have to wear glasses (more than 6 diopters and heavy asigmatism) I think I need oculars with long eye relief. How long should the eye relief of a ocular be at least when I'm watching with glasses?
6. And a bonus question: Let's assume I'll put the 70/400 travelscope on a better mount and tripod. Will a better ocular yield a noticeable improvement?

1. Read reviews here and on Cloudy Nights.  Typically, the 25mm eyepieces aren't too bad while the 10mm eyepieces are generally bad.
2. The eyepieces are basically unchanged since you were a child except that manufacturing has moved to mainland China.
3. Tele Vue, Pentax, Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, Takahashi, and a few others generally produce only high quality eyepieces.  Baader and Explore Scientific are a step down from them.  Orion, Celestron, Meade, and a bunch of others sell a massive range of eyepieces under their own brands from several different Chinese and Taiwanese optical houses.  The quality varies from line to line.  Then there are the various astro retailers' house branded eyepieces which typically come from the same suppliers.
4. A GSO/Revelation or similar Plossl would be an improvement over the included eyepieces for not a lot more money.  The BST Starguiders offer better eye relief and a wider field of view for a bit more money than those Plossls.  After that, it generally takes major jumps in spending to see noticeable improvement in performance.  Those jumps come in the areas of resolution, contrast, apparent field of view, and usable eye relief (among others).
5. You generally need at least 18mm of usable eye relief for eyeglasses I've found.  It can be less if your eyes aren't set as deeply as mine or more if you wear glasses that don't fit closely to your face.  In general, be very skeptical about eye relief numbers quoted by dealers and manufacturers.  Many are quoting design eye relief which is measured from the center of the eye lens.  If that lens is deeply concave and/or deeply recessed in the housing, the usable eye relief can be much less.  I recommend asking on here about specific eyepieces and whether or not they are comfortable for use with eyeglasses.
6. Probably a little, but not a lot.  That scope may have a decent objective lens, but it also has loads of violet fringing at higher powers.  I have the 70/300 version that I converted into a super-finderscope, and it needs a field flattener due to the very short focal length.  However, with a high dollar wide field 2" eyepiece, a 2" 99% dielectric diagonal, and a high dollar field flattener (over $500 together), it does work surprisingly well at 8x for a $25 ebay find.

Orion used to have a very generous return policy that is now down to 30 days for any reason in new condition with no restocking fees.  They are also based out of California.  Both of these reasons and others have contributed to their higher costs.

As for the products, the Orion is basically a retasked GSO 50mm finder scope.  It still focuses by the objective end.  The SvBony is basically the 50mm version of Orion's 60mm Multi-Use Guide Scope with Helical Focuser which itself appears to be the same as this ebay offering.  If you want a helical focuser at 50mm from Orion, you would want their Deluxe Mini 50mm Guide Scope with Helical Focuser which appears to be GSO made.  It appears to focus at both ends.

It comes down to weight, features, and whether you want to buy Taiwanese (GSO) or Chinese (SvBony) made sold by a US or Chinese retailer.  It's been rumored that GSO sources some of their components from Chinese factories, so there is that as well.

1 hour ago, Matt01 said:

Hello Louis 

I am lucky enough to still have 20 20 vision

So unless they do correctors for perfect eyesight...

Well, technically, 20/20 only refers to distance correction.  You're neither near nor far sighted.  You could still have undiagnosed astigmatism that you would only notice when viewing bright stars because they are THE acid test of eyesight, telescopes, and eyepieces.  Only when all elements in the optical chain are well corrected will you see nice tiny pinpricks of light across the field.

At f/6, the Maxvision 68° or Meade 5000 SWA 40mm work really well to max out your true field of view and your exit pupil without breaking the bank while providing a very well corrected field.  They can be found in the astro classifieds at times.  You can always put in a "Wanted" to see if someone has one to sell.

You never mention if you need to wear eyeglasses with your EL 42s due to astigmatism in your eyes.  If you do, this becomes an important consideration when purchasing eyepieces that operate at larger exit pupils.  They will need to have enough eye relief so you can still see the entire field while wearing eyeglasses.  There is an alternative called Dioptrx from Tele Vue, but it doesn't fit on all eyepieces, nor do all eyepieces have enough eye relief for it to be used successfully.

5 hours ago, Stardaze said:

I’m staggered that no brands supply replacement caps. Ive recently bought a secondhand Ethos and would like to replace the cap, the Eyeguard is an expensive option at £33 to replace the cap.

I've read that you can request replacement caps directly from Tele Vue, at least in the US.

You could try masking off the broken part and see how objects look when viewing the night sky.  It costs nothing to try (except for the cost of some blue masking tape), and it might yield surprising results.

9 hours ago, Charlie 2436 said:

Thanks for your advice Louis D 

If I could stretch my budget a bit on the 2” eyepiece to £150/£200, would you still  recommend the Aero or is there any others you would recommend. I already have the 8mm and 25 mm bst .

thanks Robert 

The 30mm APM Ultra Flat Field (UFF) would be my pick for a very well corrected, yet moderately priced, 2" wide field eyepiece.