George Tatsis

Couldn't agree more. This combination gives all my planetary eyepieces a run for their money ,especially with my 120ED. Should an apocalyptic event take place, that's my grab n run (not go) eyepiece .💥 George

Had five of them in the past and they were all great. They can easily put to shame the vast majority of the so called top tier planetary eyepieces. Since it's a five element eyepiece design with the two barlow/ smyth elements found at the bottom of the barrel, I assume that the remaining elements are of the three element Konig design ,not Abbe ! I'm not an expert , but it makes more sense to me I guess. https://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/ae5.html#konig George

Just for the record. Had it not been for your report John, I wouldn't have started looking into these particular eyepieces.Thanks a lot 👍 George

Ok guys, I received the 4mm,5mm and 6mm SLVs much earlier than I expected, so I had a couple of good observing sessions with some buddies of mine. The 4mm and the 6mm have a black spacer whereas the 5mm a matt gray one. Needless to say, when I saw the spacer in the 5mm I got cold sweats all over LOL ! Jupiter was on the menu, so I tested all three of them and compared them to a 12mm barlowed Brandon using the Celestron X-CEL 2x, 2.4X (parts of the 2X and 3X barlows combined together) and 3X barlows. The mags used were 150X, 180X and 225X in my SW 120 ED. The single arrow shown in the picture above, provided by Fate 187 ,is matt black in all three eyepieces I received, not just the edge of them but the whole thing. Long story short, I am really impressed because there were no reflections at all. In addition, there were no flares close to the edge of the field to telegraph that there was a planet entering or exiting the field. Razor sharp optics with excellent contrast easily matching the Radians and the XWs I used to have along with my unbarlowed orthos and the NZ 3-6. The Jovian belts were a bit more pronounced in the SLVs compared to the Brandon and I believe it has to do with the lanthanum elements found in the design. Overall these are the kind of eyepieces I've always wanted because they are like mini XWs that weigh close to nothing compared to the Radians and the XWs. Over the years I've grown an aversion to big and heavy eyepieces but it took me seven years to pull the trigger on the SLVs and risk receiving a lemon ....or three! AFAIK Vixen discontinued the SLV line back in 2018 without any official announcement made. A very underrated line in the States mostly due to a lack of reviews, reports and articles. One may find some, but not enough to form an opinion about them. Thank you guys for all the SLV threads you've started all these years allowing some of us at the other side of the Pond to appreciate these little gems. George

By next Friday I'll have received the Vixen SLV 4mm,5mm,and 6mm eyepieces purchased brand new from some reputable European dealers because the price is right compared to the very few ones left in the States. Keeping my fingers crossed they will be reflection-free, at least for planetary and I won't have to share some horror stories with anyone🤞