New Televue Subscriber

[Damo636]

At the weekend i got to try out my newly aquired 24mm Panoptic and 14mm Radian. Both were bought used and in excellent condition. This is not a review as i don't think i have the experience as yet to give a detailed account of the pro's and con's of both these excellent ep's. All i can say of the Panoptic is WOW . This is without doubt the finest ep my relatively newbie eyes have ever looked through. I had been using a 24mm Hyperion and found it fairly good but the Panoptic is a definate step up in quality. I have never seen the double cluster look so beautiful as it did through this ep. The real surprise of the evening was the Radian. I bought this on a bit of a whim to replace a 13mm Hyperion and again i can't really fault it. If i was being slightly critical i would say the colour tone is slightly warmer than the Hyperion when viewing the moon. I thought i would find the Instajust feature a bit of a pfaff but have to say it works extremely well. Two clicks up and i never once experienced a single black out. I spent about 45 minutes evaluating the Radian on mostly double stars and the moon and the more i used it the more it impressed me. It is razor sharp across the entire fov in my f6 Dob. I absolutely love both these ep's and could not recommend them enough. I took advantage of the 10% off sale at Telescope House over the weekend and ordered a 13mm T6 Nagler (will replace the 14mm Radian with an 8 or 10mm). It's my first 82 degree ep and if its as good as either of these ep's i will be a very happy chappie indeed

[newman]

Thanks for that post, I'm looking at some TV ep's myself, pretty impossible to find anything negative about them. Trying to find a (discontinued) 10mm Radian, will get a 24mm Panoptic (and possibly a lower power later on) and then save up a bit for a 17mm Ethos. Figure you can't go wrong when there's that green lettering on the side of your ep..

[swamp thing]

Hi Damo

You've got yourself some nice pieces of glass there buddy.

The Nagler T6 13mm packs one hell of a punch for such a small eyepiece. Enjoy.

Regards Steve

[Damo636]

I had convinced myself i would never spend more than £100 on any ep but i have finally caved to the power of the dark side

[MjrTom]

Sounds like you are making the same decisions as me, Used the Hyperions and find them very good EP's however I took the opportunity recently to pick up the 13mm t6 Nagler and the 24mm Panoptic and yes as you say they are much better, night and day differences with my scope.

The three Televue EPS I have cover all my needs pretty much.

The 24mm Panoptic = 3.1 degrees FOV, Exit pupil 3.8mm, Magnification 21x

The 13mm T6 = 2 degrees FOV, Exit pupil 2.1mm, Magnification 39x

The Nagler 3-6mm Zoom = 0.6-0.3 degrees FOV, Exit pupil 1mm-0.5mm, Magnification 83x-167x

Maybe a 1 degree EP like the Nagler 7mm would also be nice but in no rush yet, see what comes up for sale

[swamp thing]

will get a 24mm Panoptic and then save up a bit for a 17mm Ethos.

Hi Newman

The 17mm Ethos would make the 24mm Panoptic redundant as it has a larger true field and higher mag.

You would be better off getting one or the other.

Just my 2p's worth

Regards Steve

[newman]

Thanks for the advice. I thought the lower power would be helpful despite having a 100 deg medium power ep? Or should I go even lower? The reason I thought I'd splash our for an Ethos is that my f8.3 scope has a sweet spot right between 16 and 17mm - I'll get best results in this segment. So I thought an exquisite ep in a 17mm range would do great there - also that magnification combined with a 100deg apparent fov would make for some pretty awesome DSO views. What would you recommend as a low power, not-quite-as-expensive-as-Ethos but still top quality ep? My scope's focal length is 1000mm.

[Damo636]

Sounds like you are making the same decisions as me, Used the Hyperions and find them very good EP's however I took the opportunity recently to pick up the 13mm t6 Nagler and the 24mm Panoptic and yes as you say they are much better, night and day differences with my scope.

The three Televue EPS I have cover all my needs pretty much.

The 24mm Panoptic = 3.1 degrees FOV, Exit pupil 3.8mm, Magnification 21x

The 13mm T6 = 2 degrees FOV, Exit pupil 2.1mm, Magnification 39x

The Nagler 3-6mm Zoom = 0.6-0.3 degrees FOV, Exit pupil 1mm-0.5mm, Magnification 83x-167x

Maybe a 1 degree EP like the Nagler 7mm would also be nice but in no rush yet, see what comes up for sale

Hi Mark

It does appear we are following a similar track. I want to have no more than 4 top quality ep's along with my orthos. I hope to add maybe a 31mm Nagler to the mix at some point for dso's as it seems to get consistently excellent reviews.

[MjrTom]

Hi Mark

It does appear we are following a similar track. I want to have no more than 4 top quality ep's along with my orthos. I hope to add maybe a 31mm Nagler to the mix at some point for dso's as it seems to get consistently excellent reviews.

Yeah Ditto maybe 4 or 5 top quality ones.

I was looking more along the lines of the 35mm Panoptic as its cheaper than the 31mm Nagler although the Nagler has a slightly larger true FOV.

[johninderby]

I had convinced myself i would never spend more than £100 on any ep but i have finally caved to the power of the dark side

I think you mean "I have finally caved into the power of the green side"

But seriously once you start getting used to premium eyepieces like the Televue you just can't go back.

John

[ollypenrice]

The 13 Nagler won't be 'as good' as the Radian, it will be better! I was star testing a scope for review recently and got near perfect diffraction circles at the edge of a Radian. But then, at the edge of a similar FL Nagler, they were perfect all the way to the edge. Stunning.

Olly

[spaceboy]

Great to hear you are a new subscriber to the TV firm Damo. It is interesting to see that anyone who purchases a Televue often never have a bad word to say about them no matter what the scope they use them in. I recently found that despite my 31mm baader being superb in my reflectors it lacked the same consistency in my other scopes. A well timed sale recently seen that issue resolve

If you are impressed now? wait until you get chance to get out under dark winter skies and experience 68' - 82' FOV's full of stars.

[jnc71106]

the naglers are definitely moorish once you start you wont want to stop with them. good to hear you got the panoptic ok and that you like it

jake

[swamp thing]

Thanks for the advice. I thought the lower power would be helpful despite having a 100 deg medium power ep? Or should I go even lower? The reason I thought I'd splash our for an Ethos is that my f8.3 scope has a sweet spot right between 16 and 17mm - I'll get best results in this segment. So I thought an exquisite ep in a 17mm range would do great there - also that magnification combined with a 100deg apparent fov would make for some pretty awesome DSO views. What would you recommend as a low power, not-quite-as-expensive-as-Ethos but still top quality ep? My scope's focal length is 1000mm.

In your slower scope you needn't buy premium eyepieces and you will still get great views.

Unless you intend on buying a fast scope at some point I would go with a cheaper option eg Hyperions.

This approach will save you a lot of money which you can put towards an Ethos of your choice in the ideal focal length for your scope.

Regards Steve

[MjrTom]

I recently found that despite my 31mm baader being superb in my reflectors it lacked the same consistency in my other scopes. A well timed sale recently seen that issue resolve

If you are impressed now? wait until you get chance to get out under dark winter skies and experience 68' - 82' FOV's full of stars.

Yeah my Baader Aspheric 36mm is pretty mediocre in my ED80 however its fairs better when used with a Dob.

In all likelihood I will be replacing it with the Panoptic equivalent when funds allow. The 35mm panoptic is one hell of a hand grenade of an EP though!

My next scope purchase will be a 10 inch f/4 Newtonian.

I have a trip booked in September to go visit the in-laws family on the west coast of Ireland out in the sticks of county Limerick. Cant wait to take the scope along for some late summer star gazing!

[spaceboy]

I did like the 31mm Baader so much but now having gained a variety of scopes I needed more compatibility. It just so happens that came in the form of a 31mm Nag which works great in all of my scopes

[newman]

In your slower scope you needn't buy premium eyepieces and you will still get great views.

Unless you intend on buying a fast scope at some point I would go with a cheaper option eg Hyperions.

This approach will save you a lot of money which you can put towards an Ethos of your choice in the ideal focal length for your scope.

Regards Steve

Thanks. I know that slower scopes can get away with cheaper ep's.. I guess the two crappy ep's that came with the scope annoyed me so much I jumped to the other extreme I don't wear glasses but I find the almost-zero eye relief on those ep's extremely annoying.

[swamp thing]

Yeah my Baader Aspheric 36mm is pretty mediocre in my ED80 however its fairs better when used with a Dob.

In all likelihood I will be replacing it with the Panoptic equivalent when funds allow. The 35mm panoptic is one hell of a hand grenade of an EP though!

My next scope purchase will be a 10 inch f/4 Newtonian.

The 35mm Panoptic might give you too large an exit pupil at f/4.

The 27mm Pan is a beauty in a 10" f/4.5 newt ( wish I'd kept mine ).

Regards Steve

[MjrTom]

The 35mm Panoptic might give you too large an exit pupil at f/4.

The 27mm Pan is a beauty in a 10" f/4.5 newt ( wish I'd kept mine ).

Regards Steve

Thanks for the reminder Steve

Yes the 35mm Panoptic with the 10 inch f/4 would be a far too large exit pupil at 8.8mm. In the case of this scope I will probably stick with the 24mm Panoptic which is a nice 6mm exit pupil.

I might pick up a slightly slower newtonian, although cant be a lot slower otherwise the Nagler zoom becomes a bit redundant.

Not made any firm decisions yet. Will decide closer towards autumn time.

[whirlpool5194]

I love green and black!!! My 13 mm t6 is my most used (and loved) eyepiece.....

Wp

[Damo636]

I think i might just get away with the 35mm Pan with the dob (exit pupil 5.9). I didn't realise the 35mm Panoptic was almost £200 cheaper than the 31 Nagler In fact i hadn't realised that the Nagler was near £500 to buy new

[MjrTom]

I think i might just get away with the 35mm Pan with the dob (exit pupil 5.9). I didn't realise the 35mm Panoptic was almost £200 cheaper than the 31 Nagler In fact i hadn't realised that the Nagler was near £500 to buy new

Yeah hence my comments regarding 35mm Panoptic vs 31mm Nagler

Too pricey for me!

[Damo636]

Ditto

[swamp thing]

They do come up second hand you just have to be vigilant and patient.

There were three 35mm Pans for sale on here a while back in as many weeks.

The 31mm T5 do seem a bit rarer though. Probably cause people think a bit more before they lob out nearly £500 on an eyepiece.

Regards Steve

[Nexus 6]

Great ep you have bought Damo, I have nothing but praise for the 24 Pan, after a 4 hour session on saturday/sunday I kept going back to it.

The view of M57 the Ring Nebula was astounding with it and a Baader OIII filter.

As for the 13mm Nagler...great views are in store