Skywatcher panaview 38mm or Revelation eyepiece kit?

[Madhatter]

After much saving we finaly have the money together to order a Skywatcher dobsonian telescope!! (well after the 28th)

we have been debating a 12" with no extras or eye peices or a 10" with £150 for extras..after much talking on whats best, countless changes in opinions..We are set with what one to go for..The 250px solidtube! we decided that considering we live in fairly light poluted skys..the 250px will be that much easier to transport to darker skys and leave us the extra cash for bits and bobs.

Skywatcher 250px

Cheshire

These are decided.But now the question of eye peices!!

We are wondering what would be the better option..the revelation eyepeice kit for £127 from FLO..(naturaly this will give us vastly more versatility..but how well suited is it to this scope?)

OR

Skywatcher panaview 38mm - just one eye peice but should provide beautiful views of DSOs and thats our primary focus.

Do you think the standard EPs will suffice for planets and the moon and the panaview for DSOs , or do you think we would be better served going for the much more complete revelation kit.?

Any advice is greatly appreciated and we all appreciate you guys taking the time to help us with this important buy for us:)

[david o]

Congrats on your choice! Hope you get lots of enjoyment out of it

Of your two options, I'd plump for one decent EP to give nice, wide views.

I'm not sure how well the 38mm Panaview performs in fast 'scopes though - you may find one of the SW Aero EDs better corrected across the FOV at f/4.7.

HTH

[John]

I think the standard 25mm eyepiece is not to bad but the 10mm and the barlow (if you still get one with it) are rather poor so it will be medium to high power where your initial "gap" lies. Many deep sky objects really benefit from medium levels of magnification which is why the 13mm focal length is considered a "workhorse" in many scopes. Add to that the fast focal ratio of your scope which is a factor that will affect the performance of wide field low cost (relatively speaking) eyepieces like the Panaview. Also the 38mm is too long a focal length for F/4.7 as the exit pupil it delivers (8mm) is too large for most folks eyes so light will be wasted.

It's complicated with fast scopes isn't it ?.

If it was me, I'd be looking to add a 30/32mm, 13mm and something around 7mm (or a good 2x barlow to use with the 13mm).

On a limited budget, I'd probably go for decent plossls to start with (eg: the GSO's or Meade or even Tele Vue if I could find them used) in 32mm, 13mm and 7mm focal lengths.

I'm sure you will get loads of other suggestions though

[Madhatter]

Thanks guys! i must admit this is all extreamly confusing for a newbie, i have read the eyepeice stickies and im still confused!

Seems like choosing the scope was just the start!!

How do the Celestron Omni Plossl rate?.

I might start a new topic so people can find it easier since my question is different now, i had thought myself a few decent EPs will be better than a set of mediocre ones:)

[david o]

No probs

I like my Omnis, they perform nicely in my 'scopes (f/7.5 & f/15), but not sure how well they'd cope at f/4.7.

A TV Plössl would be a much safer bet.

[4lefts]

i have the 38mm panaview and i love it. it's probably my favourite eyepiece. but i wouldn't say it's great for deep sky. it's more for just monging around with the scope, drinking in the milky way vistas, i think. it doesn't really give enough mag to get into any DSOs (except for huge ones). i have the 200p dobsonian btw.

the size of the exit pupil may be an issue - my scope is f6, so the exit pupil with that ep in my scope is 7 and a bit. it will be more, so light will be wasted, in your scope.

i think for a lot of deep sky, about 17mm is nice. maybe a hyperion? plossls are nice (i have a 17mm tv smoothside plossl that i really like), but they have less field of view than something like a hyperion, so you keep having to move the dob to follow things, and you can't get as much in the view (like, i can't quite get m81 and m82 in the same fov with my 17mm, but would be able to with a 17mm hyperion). i dunno.

the hyperion zoom is slightly more than your budget, but covers 24-8mm and is supposed to be great. i'm getting one when i get paid.

maybe head to a club and try things out, and see what different mags and fovs are like with different objects.

[DOBBY]

the 38mm is too heavy & too big... try the 32mm panaview...ok in a 200mm F5 & 400mm F4.5 & maybe a TMB plantetary or... as 4lefts says hyperion

[swamp thing]

the 38mm is too heavy & too big...

I borrowed one the other day and was surprised how light it was.

Felt like it was empty.

Certainly didn't need any extra counterweights on my 10" Dob.

Best add, wouldn't buy one for your scope though. exit pupil is way too big.

Regards Steve

[4lefts]

my 8" dob gets a bit tippy with the 38mm and the 9x50 finder and the telrad. to be honest, i don't often use the finderscope, so mostly i don't bother attaching it and just have the telrad. then the scope balances fine. with a 10" mirror i think you'd have no problems.

has anyone used the longer focal length bst explorers? the 15, 18 or 25mm? i have the 8mm that i like - i was wondering if the others are as good? i wish they made a 6mm.

oops - threadjack alert.