100 degree bargain eyepieces?

[WayBig]

Alan at skies the limit has lent me a couple of "bargain" 100 degree eyepieces. They aren't branded but look identical ones being sold under the zhumell brand, 16mm and 9mm focal lengths.

Has anyone had any experience of them? Reviews seem mixed. I'll post up a quick review once I get time to write up my experiences with them.

They look identical to these:

http://www.telescopes.com/telescope-eyepieces/2-inch-eyepieces/zhumellz10016mmeyepiece.cfm

http://www.telescopes.com/telescope-eyepieces/2-inch-eyepieces/zhumellz1009mmeyepiece.cfm

[CGolder]

hello waybig,

I was tempted by a set of these myself, tbh from what i have read your scopes are going to be a big of a rough ride for these ep's so ill be interested in your conclusion.

i was tempted because my fastest scopes are f10 so should be forgiving

[John]

I've read some comments on these on the Cloudnights website. Here is a comparison with an Ethos:

Telescope Reviews: Z16 100º vs 17 Ethos - a quick comparison

I'll be very interested in your views though Chris - our USA friends can be a tad biased towards Tele Vue products

[WayBig]

I wouldnt really expect them Ethos competitors, given that they are 1/3 of the price, but i'm interesetd to see how they compare to, say, a meade UWA or ES 82

[John]

I wouldnt really expect them Ethos competitors, given that they are 1/3 of the price, but i'm interesetd to see how they compare to, say, a meade UWA or ES 82

Yes, that's a good point but the equivalent Tele Vue eyepiece does seem to be a benchmark that is widely used when describing eyepiece performance / value, as in "90% of the performance of a Nagler for 50% of the price" etc. Don't see many reports of eyepieces that exceed TV performance at lower cost, as yet. One can but hope

[spaceboy]

I see that Orion are also plugging a 100' FOV EP that comes in a very similar package to those at skies the limit. I have also seen in the new SW catalog (if I remember correctly) that SW have listed a very similar EP to the TMB clone. Off course one thing for sure that isn't similar is the prices I would be very interested to see a side by side comparisons between STL and the Synta EP's.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

They look very much like a TMB-branded ones for sale at Robtics. Same mechanical build, same focal length, same specs. Might be the same design. If reviews are variable, maybe quality control is an issue.

[great_bear]

I would expect these to follow the typical pattern: Great in F8 and longer scopes, somewhat "iffy" at F5, and a mess at F4.5

- but that's just a guess!

Be interested to hear your review.

[WayBig]

I see that Orion are also plugging a 100' FOV EP that comes in a very similar package to those at skies the limit. I have also seen in the new SW catalog (if I remember correctly) that SW have listed a very similar EP to the TMB clone. Off course one thing for sure that isn't similar is the prices I would be very interested to see a side by side comparisons between STL and the Synta EP's.

The orion giantview claims 6 elements. Skies the limit claim 8 elements so they seem to be different, beneath the surface. I'm not sure about the zhumell and TMB versions.

[great_bear]

Lens element counts have been known to be - how shall we say? - "inaccurate" in some eyepiece marketing materials in the past

[Rossco72]

Also, external appearance is one thing but source of the glass, level of polish, coatings etc can all vary to significantly reduce costs!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Also, external appearance is one thing but source of the glass, level of polish, coatings etc can all vary to significantly reduce costs!

Or simply the level of quality control. Maintaining multiple production lines may be more costly than doing triage: the best get brand A, the mediocre brand B and the worst C (NONE get binned unless the glass is not transparent )

[great_bear]

I think it's too costly to justify even doing that.

Much cheaper to just put them out there and let the customer return the duds.

[WayBig]

I've finally had chance to use and write up my thoughts on these EPs, i've put it in a thread in the equipment reviews section

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/153732-100-degree-bargain-eyepieces.html#post1928729