Burgess/TMB Planetary ll

[paul schofield]

Hello again SGL, I have been looking for a decent planetary eyepiece for some time now. I have been researching quite a bit on the internet etc. I came across TMB/Burgess Planetary eyepieces ll, for around the £42 mark. Going by quite a few reviews they seem quite decent for the £s. Has anyone experience of these eyepieces ? I have been looking at 3.2mm, 4mm, 5mm and 6mm versions, which one would complement my scope best for observing planets? My scope is SW130P. Or should I stick to 9.7 eyepiece with Barlow ??? If anyone has experience of these E.P's. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[F15Rules]

Hi Paul,

The TMB eyepieces are good quality and well made. Optically they will work well. I don't know what focal length your scope is, although I have heard good things about this model - I think it's a 5" Newtonian reflector. If that's correct, and if it has a focal ratio of F5 or F6, then you would have a focal length of between 635 and 760mm. I'd suggest that the highest useful power for your scope would be around x200 on a good night..to get that, assuming a fl of 635mm you'd need an ep of c3mm (635/200=3.17mm) and if it's 760mm you'd need a 3.8mm ep for x200 (760/200=3.8mm) and so on..

I'd personally avoid barlows with your scope..the stock one won't be fabulous quality and they can reduce the field of view and/or add in false colour - unless it's a quality brand such as Celestron Ultima, which aren't cheap.

Perhaps someone with experience of your actual scope model could chip in some advice?

hope this helps a bit:).

Dave

[russ]

The 4mm Planetary should work very nicely with the 130P. It will give a magnification of 162x, which is a good comfortable power for both your scope and the skies.

I recently sold my TMB Planetary 4mm to another SGL member (Alpharob) who owns a 130P too. He tested the eyepiece first before he agreed to buy. He was very pleased with the results.

[ponytale]

Paul if its any help i have just aquired off a slg member a tmb11 6mm i used it to look at saturn 2 weeks ago in my 114 x900 mm scope i was not dissapointed what a cracking eyepiece , also i am a specs wearer it seemed ok with specs on but better without, great field of view too, lots of bang for the £ imho. hope this helps

[paul schofield]

Thanks for that guys, the focal legnth of my scope is f650, yes F15Rules its a 5 reflector. I did upgrade my very shoddy supplied Barlow to a Tal x 2 (much better) Think I will probably go for the 4mm version. Brlliant thanks chaps. Happy gazing all..

[F15Rules]

The Tal barlow is a nice bit of kit, I've owned a couple!

Good luck Paul, enjoy your new ep :-)

Dave

[Donkeiller]

I got the TMB 3.2mm. It is rubbish.

Maybe I got a "bad" one, but the amount of "flare" it produces has to be seen to be believed.

I've gone back to using a 9mm, or 6mm bog-standard Celestron kit EPs with Barlow when seeing permits. They are MUCH better.

[johnkirkpatrick]

I have the 6mm and don't think a lot about it mate, Its great on the moon but just cant seem to get clear images of the planets with it, Can't remember where I ordered it from but only cost me £36 delivered. Don't get me wrong its not bad and is much better than the bog standard supplied ep's. But you do get what you pay for..

[AlphaRob]

The 4mm Planetary should work very nicely with the 130P. It will give a magnification of 162x, which is a good comfortable power for both your scope and the skies.

I recently sold my TMB Planetary 4mm to another SGL member (Alpharob) who owns a 130P too. He tested the eyepiece first before he agreed to buy. He was very pleased with the results.

He did, I did, and I was! Saturn looked much better than with the stock SW EPs/barlow, even though it was very low in the sky when I compared. Better contrast, better field of view

[paul schofield]

Mixed bag of reviews there chaps, mmm. Is there much of a difference between the TMB Planetary and the TMB Planetary ll ?. Does anyone know ? Most reviews I have read are quite possitive, think I will give the 4mm a go and hope its ok, will check returns policy too, as you say "you get what you pay for" but I am too much of a beginner to shell out £untold for eyepieces. Thanks all .

[johninderby]

There was only one "Type I" TMB Planetary, the 6mm which had a problem with the first production run and needed an updated part. All further production with the updated part and all other focal lengths were called Type IIs.

The clone "TMB Type or Designed" eyepieces are just fine up to 15mm. Avoid the clone 25mm as it's only good in slow scopes. In comparison testing I found the clones to have more consistent quality control. In particular with the 6mm TMB branded one there has been a batch of dodgy ones around on eBay.

A lot of SGL members have bought the clones from Skies the Limit. I found them to be very good in scopes over f/5.

John

[Damo636]

Hi Paul. If you could stretch your budget a little further a Baader genuine ortho will knock the spots off the TMB Planetary's. I had a 5 and 6mm TMB and they are good for the money but for a little more the BGO is way sharper. The trade off is narrow fov and tight eye relief but the quality of the view more than make up for that.

[paul schofield]

Thanks for clearing that up for me John. I did look at Baader Genuine Ortho, Damo636, but you have given me further food for thought, it was the narrow F.O.V that put me off a bit initially. My search continues, My budget is up to about £80 for a planetary e.p. Any further suggestions would be great, I am sure the choice is huge, but dont want to end up with a dud. cheers guys.

[russ]

There is always the Televue 8mm Plossl. Slightly larger field compared to the BGO. Eye relief not brilliant as you would expect with a short focal length Plossl (or Ortho). I preferred using my TV 8mm to the BGO 7mm. It's within budget too. And barlow nicely too 4mm.

But the 7mm BGO would be a cracking eyepiece. At least you would know optically it would be very hard to improve upon, so no nagging doubts you could have done better.

Another option could be a secondhand Televue Radian but it will blow the budget, even secondhand.

[John]

... I am sure the choice is huge, but dont want to end up with a dud. cheers guys.

I don't think any of the eyepieces discussed here could be classified as a "dud" to be honest. They have different characteristics and very slight differences in performance.

Another one that would be within your budget would be the William Optics SPL which also gets good feedback from those that have used them:

First Light Optics - William Optics SPL eyepiece

Eyepieces are a very personal thing, mainly because of the ergonomic characteristics such as eye relief and field of view. If you can buy used you can usually re-coup 90% or even 100% of your outlay if you decide that a particular type is not for you. If you buy new you would loose around 30% - 40% of the value, if you decide to move on.

[johninderby]

A second hand SkyWatcher Nirvana 7mm 82 degree eyepiece can often be picked up for under £100.00. Saw one go for £75.00 recently.

John

[russ]

There is a Meade 5000 UWA 4.7mm on Ebay that falls within budget. Awesome eyepiece, just shy of a Nagler T6. It's a new buy too and £80 delivered.

http://stargazerslounge.com/heads-up/140501-new-meade-4-7mm-ultra-wide-eyepiece-ebay.html

[johninderby]

This might be of interest.

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[paul schofield]

Great response guys, thanks for all the suggestions. Thats my afternoon taken care of, reading up on all suggested eyepieces. Much appreciated, Thank you all. Paul.