Fantastic BGO

[Damo636]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to share a few thoughts about the above ep's. I am going through a phase of trying to settle on a couple of dedicated planetary ep's. I have in my possession at the minute a 5 and 6mm Baader Genuine Ortho and the 5 and 6mm TMB Planetary ll. I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination but just wanted to see if anyone had similar thoughts as to mine to do with these ep's. I have owned a couple of TMB's in the past and liked them very much but had never really considered orthos because of the tight eye relief and narrow fov. Boy have i been missing out! The BGO's are a stunning ep imho. Yes the fov is narrow and the eye relief tight but the the quality of view more than makes up for this. The seeing was very good here last night so i had only one target in mind, lovely Saturn. There is no doubt the TMB ep's are very comfortable to use with the dob. With the adjustable eye relief and 58 degree fov it definately wins on comfort of use. Strangely enough i found the 5mm easier to bring to focus than the 6mm. With the 5mm, 240X, i could just about resolve the Cassini Division but could not with the 6mm. With the BGO i managed it with both. With the 5mm it looked like someone had drawn a black pencil line around the circumference of the ring. I had never seen it like this and was in total awe looking at it. The planet through the TMB looked a little warmer compared to the BGO and the contrast not quite as nice. I did notice some internal reflection with the TMB but when i put a towel over my head they all but disappeared. I did not have this issue with the orthos. The TMB is a good ep for the price but for out and out quality of view the BGO wins this with ease. I will be ordering the 7mm to complete my planetary collection.

Ps. Does anyone know how well they barlow? Considering the 9mm + barlow combo instead of the 4mm ep.

Cheers

Damo

[Revs]

Agreed, BGO's are superb for planetary use. I've got the 12.5mm which I tend to barlow using the Ultima, which works very well. I wear specs so this method suits me more than a using a 6 or 7mm.

Awesome EP's

[John]

BGO's do barlow well - I was using my 5mm BGO with a 1.6x Antares barlow last night to give me a 3.12mm and it worked well enough but the whole point of orthos is minimal glass in the optical train so I guess adding couple more lenses in the form of a barlow defeats that a bit.

I usually use a University Optics 4mm ortho, which is nearly as good as the BGO's, for highest power viewing - you can pick those up for £25 and I reckon the optical quality is better than a barlowed BGO.

[Damo636]

BGO's do barlow well - I was using my 5mm BGO with a 1.6x Antares barlow last night to give me a 3.12mm and it worked well enough but the whole point of orthos is minimal glass in the optical train so I guess adding couple more lenses in the form of a barlow defeats that a bit.

I usually use a University Optics 4mm ortho, which is nearly as good as the BGO's, for highest power viewing - you can pick those up for £25 and I reckon the optical quality is better than a barlowed BGO.

Out of curiosity John, is it the HD 4mm or the volcano top you have. Some say the vt are slightly easier to use.

[John]

Out of curiosity John, is it the HD 4mm or the volcano top you have. Some say the vt are slightly easier to use.

My 4mm UO is the VT type. I've just moved from UO VT ortho's to Baader GO's for the 7mm-6mm-5mm focal lengths but held onto the VT for 4mm as there is no 4mm "flat top" by Baader or UO in the HD range.

I do find the VT's ergonomically easier to use actually but wanted to get some BGO's because everbody raves about them

Finding the tiny eye lens of the 5mm and 4mm in the dark is a challenge with either type of course !.

I have to be in the "right mood" to enjoy the orthos to be honest as they are not the most relaxing eyepieces to use I find - my scopes are undriven and on alt-azimuth mounts so tracking can be challenging. I enjoyed them last night though and the views of Saturn with the barlowed 5mm BGO through my Vixen ED102 refractor were better than I had any right to expect at 212x

[Damo636]

My 4mm UO is the VT type. I've just moved from UO VT ortho's to Baader GO's for the 7mm-6mm-5mm focal lengths but held onto the VT for 4mm as there is no 4mm "flat top" by Baader or UO in the HD range.

I do find the VT's ergonomically easier to use actually but wanted to get some BGO's because everbody raves about them

Finding the tiny eye lens of the 5mm and 4mm in the dark is a challenge with either type of course !.

I have to be in the "right mood" to enjoy the orthos to be honest as they are not the most relaxing eyepieces to use I find - my scopes are undriven and on alt-azimuth mounts so tracking can be challenging. I enjoyed them last night though and the views of Saturn with the barlowed 5mm BGO through my Vixen ED102 refractor were better than I had any right to expect at 212x

Cheers John. I found the 6mm not too bad and the 5mm more of a challenge but definately rewarding none the less. I had the dob base freshly Turtle Waxed yesterday and it was buttery smooth so i guess this helped a lot. The 4mm would probably get most use in the RS as i think 300X with the undriven dob would be very very trying! I will keep my eye open for a UO 4mm or similar.

Damo

[Ags]

No no no! Now I want some BGOs, again... I've managed over the past few months to be happy with my TMBs, but you make the BGOs sound fantastic!

[cs1cjc]

I have found the Antares orthosopic (similar to BGO) 9mm to give better detail contrast on Jupiter and Saturn than both the black barrel TMB Planetary II and the Barsta ED "TMB design" eyepiece. This difference remains even when the ortho is barlowed (Vixen 2X ED) and compared to the 4mm TMBs. However I think that stray light on the large TMB eye lens may be at least part of the reason, my site not being completely dark and I wear eyeglasses. I have yet to test properly with a towel over my head...

[Moonshane]

I am a huge fan of BGOs and have an 18mm, 12.5mm, and a 7mm. I also have a 9mm University volcano top. I am considering changing the 9mm VT for consistency but also as I prefer using the flat tops to the VTs. for some reason I find they fit my eye better. you may be different of course.

For planetary I prefer these to anything else and for lunar too although I also love my Nagler 6-3mm zoom on the moon. I think my 12.5mm BGO is better than my 13mm Ethos for planetary and lunar but if you want wide field deep space, there's no contest.

Bizarrely I find the eye relief although a bit tight, not too bad as I like to see the field stop and at 40 degrees approx it's easily done. Furthermore, I find them easier to use than my 11mm TV plossl as they have a slightly recessed eye lens.

If you have never owned one then I highly recommend them if you don't wear glasses to observe, especially if you have a driven mount although this is not essential.

Don't be fooled either that these are only planetary eyepieces. They are so 'clear' and sharp, they really do help with picking up detail in DSOs too, although a wider angled finder EP works best first!

Yes, I'm a fan.

[A McEwan]

I've just built up a complete set of the BGO's (apart from the 7mm which is an Antares clone) and they are superb. For the 4mm length I use a Siebert Starsplitter 3.0mm which is a modified Ortho with 60 degree field and reasonable eye relief. I actually haven't used it yet as part of a power-progression using the 7mm, 6mm, 5mm BGO's. I have used it boefore without the BGO's for comparison and it served very well.

Can't wait to get them all in use on Saturn...

Ant