Celestron Eyepiece and Filter kit #94303

[Baz6170]

Anyone out there using a Celestron Eyepiece and Filter kit #94303? It's the 1.25" kit. I can get the kit for £125 and I wondered if it's a good investment for a beginner like me? Will probably be hooking this kit up to a Celestron NexStar 4SE. Any advice welcome!

[dag123]

Hi Baz,

I have what I belive to be the same set as you are asking about.

I asked a similar question back in January, after I purchased it and found the EPs sizes were different from advertised. Here is the link to the original thread: (not sure if I have added it right???)

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/127253-advice-wanted-eyepieces-celestron-eye-piece-filter-kit.html

Your scope is different from mine so these are just my thoughts based on my experience.

I don't use the filters other than the moon one. I probably don't really know how to use them, however my 3-year-olds love to look through them at lights and such.

I think the kit has been a worthwhile purchase if nothing else, just so I got a good idea of the difference each EP made when viewing various objects, moon, Saturn, stars, nebulas etc. They are much better than the EPs that came with my Astromaster but certainly there are better EPs out there.

The best EP in the kit is the 32mm, it is certainly my most used. With it I am finding it quite easy to find what I want to look at. My red-dot-finder is pretty useless, but the FOV with the 32mm certainly gives me enouth of a view to locate any given star with a rough starting direction from the finder.

I then move on to the 17mm or 13mm depending on what I am looking at. The 8mm and 6mm are not used so much other than planets/moon, hardly at all now that I now have a 10mm and 5mm Celestron X-Cel ED.

I also make some use of the 2xBarlow, most recently the splitting of the "double double" near Vega with the 5mm X-CEL ED.

So in summary, if you are a complete novice and just want to get an idea of the results diffrent EPs can do withyour scope, the kit would be worthwhile.

On the other side, if you already have some idea, or if any other NexStar can advise, you might be better spending your money on one or perhaps two more expensive "better" EPs.

Hope this helps

Dag123

[Baz6170]

Hi Dag123

Many thanks for your reply; I just checked the eyepiece sizes in the ad I'm looking at and they are 6mm, 8mm, 13mm, 17mm, and 32mm, so the same as the set you received. From reading your linked thread (worked fine btw!) it appears this set is better to use than the original set (4mm, 6mm, 9mm, 15mm, and 32mm) so I think I'll go for it. Maybe the coloured filters will come in handy for later on if I get into taking photos etc!

Thanks again!

Cheers

Baz

[rwilkey]

Hi Baz, this is a great set for finding your feet, many have started off with this set or the Revelation set, a good place to start and they work well in most scopes including fast scopes, will work great at f/13. The 32mm is superb and was my most used EP, the Barlow is also of the highest quality, I say go for it and try them out, certainly better than the EP's your scope came with. I still have my set and would not part with it.

[matsey]

I've got this set as well and agree it is a great way to start out.

I was pretty clueless myself about what eyepieces I needed for viewing different types of objects when I got my scope a couple of months ago. So that was my thinking, to get a good range at a relatively cheap price, get some experience on what ones I'd use most, and then eventually look to upgrade those to more premium pieces as and when over the years. I also really like the 32mm and the 17mm I use a lot too, but I do find it really useful to be able to change up and down a wide range of EPs to see what works best.

The filters I haven't really used much, with the exception of the moon filter, which is really useful.

(And to confirm, mine came with the same range as Dag's kit).

[rwilkey]

Mine came with the 4, 6, 9, 15 and 32mm, yes they do vary quite a bit I think, most useful and great quality plossls, you can't go wrong in my view.