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BGO's out of favour?

A McEwan

By A McEwan
in Discussions - Eyepieces

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Moonshane

Moonshane

Posted
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They all sold to one person. Lucky fellow.... bet it was MoonShane :)

I'm sure if you can live with the tight ER you will be impressed by the BGO's Mark. For me they have the edge over the 3-6 zoom. If only Baader did an ortho zoom.

ha ha not me matey! my rather silly daughter ran up a contract phone bill (in my name of course) and therefore my astro-pot is empty again.

I do though have some on the way from a week or so ago from Stu (9mm and 12.5mm) ;)

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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LOL Kids hey who'd have them...?

I think this is because everyone reads reviews on how good they are hastily buy them then realize they can't put up with the tight eye relief. For the money I have not looked through a better EP so I'm prepared to put up with eye strain for the improved sharpness and contrast but some may consider it too much of a price to pay. I would be the first to agree the 5mm is hard work after 10 minutes.

Another thing I forgot to add that may be a common reason for resale of BGO's is there ability to gobble up focus. The most notably I found to be the 6mm. My low profile DS focuser requires a 50mm extension for most of my TV's to come to focus and the 5 & 7 BGO but the 6 needs a 35mm extension. I have also found the 6mm fussy in a standard SW crayford as well. If you use a webcam for imaging then you often have a selection of extension tubes but if your purely visual then reselling the BGO is going to be the favorable choice over the additional £19 for an extension tube. I doubt most visual observers would have any reason to know you can use a barlow with the lens removed ??

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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LOL Kids hey who'd have them...?

Another thing I forgot to add that may be a common reason for resale of BGO's is there ability to gobble up focus. The most notably I found to be the 6mm. My low profile DS focuser requires a 50mm extension for most of my TV's to come to focus and the 5 & 7 BGO but the 6 needs a 35mm extension. I have also found the 6mm fussy in a standard SW crayford as well. If you use a webcam for imaging then you often have a selection of extension tubes but if your purely visual then reselling the BGO is going to be the favorable choice over the additional £19 for an extension tube. I doubt most visual observers would have any reason to know you can use a barlow with the lens removed ??

A 28MM (or a combination of a 28mm and 14mm etc) Baader fine tuning ring screwed onto the end of the 2" - 1.25" adapter can sometimes allow the eyepiece to be push out a little more of course. :)

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Lol I would definitely not complain with the eyepieces you have Shane :)

I have a pretty decent set myself but there is still a few that you had which I would like myself. In particular the 31mm Nagler and any of the Ethos :)

A quick update from me, I took delivery of the 5mm and 9mm BGO yesterday and managed to test them out last night as the skies were fairly clear.

The 9mm is a beaut! I compared it to my 9mm circle T ortho which I got with my recent scope purchase and performance wise they are very similar.

The BGO has slightly more FOV and is slightly sharper off axis. On axis they are difficult to split.

The 5mm by comparison is just as nice. The eye relief is a bit short to say the least but the views make up for it. Viewing conditions were not great last night so 5mm was a bit too much magnification for the 1000mm focal length Achro (200x) and I could not be bothered to drag out the ED80 to test it at 100x magnification instead. Save that for another day.

I did compare the view from the 5mm BGO with the view from the 3-6mm Nagler at 5mm and I must say the BGO probably had slightly more detail visible when aimed at the moon. Some surface features that the BGO was resolving were just that little bit more detailed than the Nagler zoom.

Not an easy eyepiece to use for long periods due to eye relief but I can live with it. :)

I lastly compared the two BGO to the Nagler 7mm T6 that I have and again the performance was on par. OK half the FOV when using the BGO but the performance was again was difficult to split. During last nights Io transit the shadow was just that bit sharper from the BGO than from the Nagler zoom or T6.

Conclusion... I want the full set of BGO's!

I shall hang onto the Nagler zoom as well as the eye relief is much nicer and the focal range is perfect for my grab and go refractor. The BGOs are more suited to my 102mm scope which is not that grab and go to be honest :)

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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I have the 5,6,7mm that are x250, x200, x166 respectively. I was able to use the 5mm on Saturn earlier in the year and after that I was hooked. For me the subtle darks become more pronounced and defined against the glare of the big gas giants. I also found the neutral colour the BGO's offer over the zoom helped with detail. I agree there is not a great deal in it between the 7mm BGO and 7mm T6 other than the BGO is a tad sharper. As odd as it may sound I find the large FOV of the T6 to be slightly distracting so prefer centering Jupiter in the more compacted view of the BGO. This is obviously works better with my tracking mounts where the planet can remain stationary for a long periods under scrutiny.

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John

John

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The case for a small FoV when viewing planets was made when the TMB Monocentrics were launched a few years back. They have an AFoV of around 30 degrees - maybe that's taking things too far though :)

The TMB Mono's are reputed to deliver some of the finest planetary views though.

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Hey John,

Yeah as much as I would like to try out a TMB Monocentric the 30 degree FOV would be just a bit too tight for my liking. I quite like the 40-50 degree view from my othos or Nagler 3-6mm zoom.

Oh by the way I could not resist and have just ordered the 7mm BGO to fill the gap between the 9mm and 5mm BGO I like them that much!

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John

John

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....Oh by the way I could not resist and have just ordered the 7mm BGO to fill the gap between the 9mm and 5mm BGO I like them that much!

Good for you mate :)

I have to confess that I've just picked up 6mm and 7mm BGO's (again !) to add to the University HD Or 5mm. What is it about these orthos ! :)

I guess it's the fact that for just under £50 a throw you can't get better, optically :)

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Good for you mate :)

I have to confess that I've just picked up 6mm and 7mm BGO's (again !) to add to the University HD Or 5mm. What is it about these orthos ! :)

ooh lovely! Yeah what is it about these EPs?

I actually prefer them over my Naglers for planetary work which I thought I would never say :)

I shall do a head to head against the 7mm T6 when the BGO arrives tomorrow.

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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Will you all please just stop already :) I am trying to save up for a bigger dob and now you lot have me thinking i need to reinvest in some BGO's :):icon_scratch::)

Haha sorry! If its any consolation I was supposed to be saving for my 10" dob but still cant help myself :)

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Damo636

Damo636

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For the first time in a long time i have shown excellent self control and turned a blind eye to that one :) It's nothing to do with the fact that 2 little boys are pointing out everything on the tv that they want Santa to bring, honest :)

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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For the first time in a long time i have shown excellent self control and turned a blind eye to that one :) It's nothing to do with the fact that 2 little boys are pointing out everything on the tv that they want Santa to bring, honest :)

Yes I can imagine :)

My first child is only 9 months old so have a little while before the astro funds get siphened off for other purchases :)

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MjrTom

MjrTom

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No guessing who offers to get up in the middle of the night to feed the baby :):)

Haha so true! :)

Well especially if the skies are clear :)

one advantage of my refractors are they are ready to go in a few minutes for Some early morning stargazing. :)

Orion has been fun to see it again for another year now with better kit I had last year.

M42 With the 102mm refractor, 13mm EP and a UHC filter is very nice :)

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  • 1 month later...
nightfisher

nightfisher

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having the circle T 9mm and 12.5, and rather liking them, i will be getting the 18mm BGO, that will give a very clean 150x in the mak and barlowed will give 111x in the tal, the views of lunar with the mak and 18mm should be really impressive :)

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