New scope on the way, but what eyepieces?

[Dodge]

Hi guys and girls,

I've just purchased a Skywatcher 130P Flextube Dob. It comes with the stock SW 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, which I understand to be a little bit average.

I understand these are not great, so I'm thinking of buying either a set of eyepieces, one or two quality eyepieces, or one quality zoom eyepiece.

Ideally, these eyepieces will still be relevant if/when I upgrade to a more powerful scope.

My budget is around £150-180, and I've been considering the Celestron Eye Opener and Revelation kits, but I'm also thinking a decent Barlow and a couple of high quality lenses or a zoom lens might be more appropriate.

Any thoughts?

[Pete Presland]

depends what you are going to be looking at.

the 2nd hand market is a good place to look such as on here (you will need 50 posts and 1 month membership) or astro buy and sell.

the meade 4000 super plossl's,would be a good all round upgrade to the normal supplied eyepieces and they are sold 2nd hand quite often as people tend to upgrade again eventually,they normally go for £25-£40 depending on focal length and whether they are the more sought after made in japan version.leaving you some cash for a barlow maybe?

there are also some nice ortho's that are more suited to planetary observing.

the baader hyperions are very nice quality eyepieces as well but they will cost around £70 2nd hand.

[Chris H]

You have to be careful with weight with this scope, put in an ep or ep plus barlow which is too heavy and the top of the truss will bend slightly which will throw out your collimation. Stick with the supplied ep's for now and upgrade when you've had more observing time and know what magnifications you require.

[Dodge]

You have to be careful with weight with this scope, put in an ep or ep plus barlow which is too heavy and the top of the truss will bend slightly which will throw out your collimation. Stick with the supplied ep's for now and upgrade when you've had more observing time and know what magnifications you require.

That's good advice - didn't think of that.

I'll see how I get on with the stock eyepieces. I can get the SW LET set discounted at around £70 from the distributor through buying the scope new, but I understand they're not that great.

[rwilkey]

I have read some criticism of the LET eyepieces, but I find them OK, IMHO

[todd8137]

i made the mistake of a kit one good zoon ep is the way forward imho

[rwilkey]

Fair comment todd8137, I have bought my wife and grandson zooms, I prefer the individual eyepieces, esp. if they are parfocal.

[Dodge]

I have read some criticism of the LET eyepieces, but I find them OK, IMHO

I think for ~£70 I'm inclined to think it's a small risk.

i made the mistake of a kit one good zoon ep is the way forward imho

Any recommendations if I do go down this route?

[rwilkey]

I bought my grandson the Skywatcher 7-21mm and my wife the 8-24mm from Sky's The Limit, both pretty good at a reasonable price, under £50. But I have read on this forum that the Baader Hyperion 8-24mm zoom from FLO is also extremely good.

[John]

I would not buy either a zoom (other than the Baader 8-24mm perhaps) or Skywatcher LET eyepieces which, personally, I don't think are particularly good (I've used 4 of them).

My advice would be i) to get your scope and use it for a bit before jumping into additional accessories then ii) consider a couple of the BST Explorer ED eyepieces from here:

1.25" Eyepieces

That's £80 well invested in something that will be a big improvement over the standard eyepieces and that will work well in any future scope you might get, if the astronomy bug bites.

[rwilkey]

I agree whole-heartedly, I have a very high opinion of the BST Explorer, a fine eyepiece and great improvement on packaged ep's

[4lefts]

i only have the 8mm BST explorer, but it's probably what i use the most. really comfy too.