payday = new goodies

[banner001]

ok its coming up to payday, and as i now have a proper job i have decided to treat myself to a new (mostly) planetary EP.

it looking like a choice between two very differently priced optics, either the BGO ortho 5, or a Radian 5 (5mm gives me 240x mag).

so is the extra field of view of the radian worth paying over double the cost of the ortho for? from reviews the difference in image is too slight for me to really appreciate (i think), plus the cash saved would buy a UHC filter with money still in the bank...whats everyones opinion?

ortho + filter + cash saved

or

radian?

[DOBBY]

coming up Sunday here... whats a 'payday' ?

[Telrad]

coming up Sunday here... whats a 'payday' ?

..it's a day on which someone is paid or expects to be paid their wages

[banner001]

..it's a day on which someone is paid or expects to be paid their wages

and then the money can be used to pay for goods or services.

[Adz]

Ortho in my opinion. They have fantastic optical performance to price and it has been said that the radians are the dudes in the TV line up as they only really offer some more eye relief, but with a heavy price tag.

But is your tracking smooth and you dont wear glasses?

[Ags]

Dudes or duds? Big difference! lol

[Telrad]

and then the money can be used to pay for goods or services.

...astronomical ones, like a nice new Ortho 5!

[John]

The BGO 5mm performs excellently but it's tight eye relief and tiny eye lens don't always make for the most comfortable viewing experience IMHO - even more so with an undriven scope - at 240x objects move out of a 42 degree FoV pretty rapidly !.

If you can stretch your budget I'd recommend a Nagler Type 6 - I used some of these for high power viewing for quite a while and was always impressed with the views they gave.

Oh dear ! - I've pushed the £'s up even further now

[Telrad]

Oh dear ! - I've pushed the £'s up even further now

... might have to wait until next payday.. ?

[Bulkins]

... and there are a couple of Nagler Type 6 EPs on UK Astro Buy and Sell at the moment for the price of new Radians (not mine). I just picked up a second-hand Radian for slightly over 50% of the cheapest new price I could find. If you can resist the temptation to spend as soon as you have the money there are bargains to be had.

[Chris H]

X240 is nice to have but how much use will it actually get? I have a Pentax 5mm XW in my 10" Dob it gets used rarely. More often than not planetary viewing goes like this Nagler 12mm type 4 (x100) view nice and crisp but small, 8mm Ethos (x150) still very sharp and bigger, 12T4 & x2 barlow (x200) view beginning to get slightly mushy but bigger still, 5XW (x240) view pretty big but very mushy, back to the Ethos 8mm that'll do. Of course you do get steady nights when x240 is the business and different planets hold up to magnification in different ways but if it were me I'd get a Nagler 7mm type 6 should be worth the investment. Just my 2 pence worth. There is currently one on astrobuyandsell (not me selling it)

[Telrad]

... and there are a couple of Nagler Type 6 EPs on UK Astro Buy and Sell at the moment for the price of new Radians (not mine). I just picked up a second-hand Radian for slightly over 50% of the cheapest new price I could find. If you can resist the temptation to spend as soon as you have the money there are bargains to be had.

Bulkins, I'm going to scan Astro Buy and Sell... see if I can get a good deal on a new EP!? Cheers

[Bulkins]

Bulkins, I'm going to scan Astro Buy and Sell... see if I can get a good deal on a new EP!? Cheers

Good luck.

There appear to be a 7mm and a 14mm. I wanted a 10mm which is what I got with the Radian (just before the Naglers appeared). I've already got a WO 7mm UWAN which is very nice but if the Nagler 14mm had been around at the same time as the Radian 10mm I'd have been sorely tempted - but we must resist the temptation of these EP hussies and stick to our budgets!

[spaceboy]

A 5mm BGO IMO is an absolute no go for 2 reasons 1) x240 is simply beyond UK seeing for a great deal of the time and 2) Unless you have an EQP with that 250PX 40' at that magnification is going to have objects flying through the view more like meteors.

6mm FL is best suited to the PX but FOV is everything in a dob. so unless you want to spend more time trying to keep the object in view rather than actually observing it I would take the recommendations of a Nagler. In this case I would think a 13mm Nag with a good quality barlow would see you good for 2 wide angle EP's. Sorry my advice puts you on the waiting list for one to come up S/H but the nag x2 is 6.5mm and good magnification and FOV ticks all the boxes

On the other hand if you do have some form of tracking those BGO's are a superb EP for the money if you can live with the tight ER.

SPACEBOY

[spaceboy]

Talk of the devil U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell