Hypnotized by Televue

[ismangil]

I'm just starting to build my eyepiece collection.

Invariably during research you WILL find out that TeleVue is the best ever eyepiece brand in the whole universe. The price is also the best ever, reads more like NASA budget! (Maybe Al Nagler developed that idea as well...) Everywhere you look: forums, magazines..

I then resolved not to buy TV for a while, just buy used, good value brands and cheap designs like Plossl until I sorted the rest of my kit out.

So what happened as I was looking on UK ABS?

A used 20mm Televue Plossl is on sale for £40 all inclusive. And I bought it.

Never mind a brand new good brand plossl is £30 max. Or even good non-branded for £20-ish.

I think TV fans in SGL have implanted a subliminal suggestion in my head...

It's in the post now. It better be worth it!

[Capricorn]

The TV plossls are good, they are also double the cost of most others.

Buying them used is good fun, when one pops up go for it. Makes for an amusing time, and you will miss quite a few, eventually you will get them all. I did.

The advantage of TV plossl's is that the QA checks seem pretty good and so it seems unheard of anyone getting a dud.

Will however suggest that you think about collecting the BST Explorers. These are £41 a piece and being 6 in the set it is much more affordable to get the lot. Another advantage is that BST's come in a 5mm variant. TV plossls stop at 8mm.

[ollypenrice]

I don't go for this brand guff. I think the ED80 is a giant killer. I have reviewed budget apos favourably in print. But I have a small collection of EPs (six, I think) and they are all TeleVue. To be honest, the only Plossl (32mm) is the one with the smallest advantage over the opposition. The wider the field, the more I prefer TV.

Lets not bash TV. They invent the new designs then nasty cynical companies whose products are often lousy produce cheaper clones. Well great, but what do they invent? When I needed help with a 20 year old TV scope I rang TV and spent ten minutes or more with an optician who gave me all the info I needed. I like TV. Ever tried talking to Skywatcher, William Optics, etc etc?

Olly

[ismangil]

Yup, seems a good way to start with BST. I've ordered the 12mm and a 2x Barlow. So for now I have 20mm and 12mm, plus with Barlow 10mm and 6mm.

Let's see if I want to see Jupiter closer then I'll think of getting 5mm and below...

[Moonshane]

I think what often gets forgotten is that good/best quality eyepieces have nothing magic about them. They show the same things as other eyepieces just with a slightly better view.

As with all optics and technology once you get past decent, the costs of improvement are greater and greater for less and less improvement by, say, percentage.

I have only TV eyepieces and a few BGOs thrown in and am really happy with them. I see them as a lifetime purchase (which can be swapped for little loss) and as long as I look after them then there's no reason they won't be.

I have a couple of TV plossls, a 32mm and a 15mm and they are really excellent giving images which are almost as good, if not as good as, the first 50 degrees of my wider field eyepieces as far as I can see.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have slowly had my EP-case taken over by green lettering (2 Radians and 3 Naglers). Originally I had planned to get an Explore Scientific 30mm 82 deg EP, but what can you do if a Nagler 31T5 comes up second hand (whispering your name, you know you want it, it must be fate, etc. )?

The lonely Meade 14 UWA showed excellent quality in several scopes: first my C8 (at F/10 nothing special, perhaps), then my APM 80mm F/6 (more of a test), and later in Olly's TEC 140 and 20" F/4.1 Dob (most stringent test). It passed with flying colours. So why is it going to be replaced at some point by the Nagler 12T4? Nothing to do with branding, it is simply that the eye relief of the Nagler 12T4 is just a tad more, and that makes it much more comfortable. Given that I am pleased with both the 17T4, and the 22T4, why should I look elsewhere.

[ismangil]

Hope I don't come off as bashing TV, that wasn't my intention at all!

I'll probably at some point upgrade to that level once I can appreciate the difference...

Thanks for the comment guys, TV ownership is something to aspire to at least!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hope I don't come off as bashing TV, that wasn't my intention at all!

I'll probably at some point upgrade to that level once I can appreciate the difference...

Thanks for the comment guys, TV ownership is something to aspire to at least!

TV "usership" is what counts. Just letting them sit in a box unused doesn't count

[ollypenrice]

TV "usership" is what counts. Just letting them sit in a box unused doesn't count

Olly

[Chris H]

Enjoy your purchase but remember that at the end of the day it may be a Televue but it is still a Plossl it won't make objects bigger or brighter than any other good 20mm Plossl. Televue ep's really excel in the wide and super wide field of view models i.e. the Panoptics, Delos, Nagler and Ethos ranges. What I'm saying if if you're expectations are not met by the Plossl don't be put off Televues.

[MG1]

Yup, seems a good way to start with BST. I've ordered the 12mm and a 2x Barlow. So for now I have 20mm and 12mm, plus with Barlow 10mm and 6mm.

Let's see if I want to see Jupiter closer then I'll think of getting 5mm and below...

Or you could get a TV powermate!

And as Kris...start saving...you're going to want to widen that FOV at some point.

I LOVE my pan to the point of excessive hyperbole...but my favourite views always seem to be through my 14mm Pentax XW...I just wish I could afford a set of those!

Enjoy your usage though...they are after-all a tool to be used.

[Mr Spock]

I find eyepieces are horses for courses. I use whatever suits me best.

Some people do get wrapped up in a name, somehow ascribing magical properties to a particular brand. This often leads to strong for and against camps. The best thing to do is put all that negative psychology out of your head and just use an eyepice for what it was meant for - looking through!

[ismangil]

And as Kris...start saving...you're going to want to widen that FOV at some point.

Enjoy your usage though...they are after-all a tool to be used.

Agree about wide FOV, coming from bins it was quite a shock... That's why for the workhorse and small focal one I'm planning to start 60 deg and above.

[ismangil]

I find eyepieces are horses for courses. I use whatever suits me best.

Some people do get wrapped up in a name, somehow ascribing magical properties to a particular brand. This often leads to strong for and against camps. The best thing to do is put all that negative psychology out of your head and just use an eyepice for what it was meant for - looking through!

True, though I do think some brands do deserve their reputation.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

True, though I do think some brands do deserve their reputation.

I agree some people idolise certain brands, which is never helpful. However I have yet to see a dud Televue EP. The Meade Series 5000 UWA is equal in quality to the TVs I have, but was not that much cheaper over here when I bought it. Whether they are worth the price is up to the individual observer.

[Peter Drew]

I use a set of TV Plossls for solar observing, all purchased 2nd hand and in immaculate condition, average price £45. Main advantage for me was the fact that they are parfocal.

[swamp thing]

Eyepieces are indeed tools and personally as a craftsman who uses tools every day. I pick tools that have some after market service. TV supply this, I'm not sure the others do.

As Olly states you can ring them and often are able to speak to the actual designer of the eyepiece.

They will supply spare parts and will also repair eyepieces that are damaged.

They provide piece of mind that their products are not just sales figures. I appreciate that in my tools.

Their high quality speaks for itself and needs no help from me.

Regards Steve

[ollypenrice]

I agree some people idolise certain brands, which is never helpful. However I have yet to see a dud Televue EP. The Meade Series 5000 UWA is equal in quality to the TVs I have, but was not that much cheaper over here when I bought it. Whether they are worth the price is up to the individual observer.

I come back to the idea, also, that Meade simply ripped off the TV design, I guess because such designs are near-impossible to patent, and tried to market it a bit cheaper. I don't want to reward that and will pay TV for what they brought to EPs. Meade like the letter of the law. Buy a 14 inch SCT, have trouble with it, and they say 'send it back.' Yeah, sure.

Olly

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I come back to the idea, also, that Meade simply ripped off the TV design, I guess because such designs are near-impossible to patent, and tried to market it a bit cheaper. I don't want to reward that and will pay TV for what they brought to EPs. Meade like the letter of the law. Buy a 14 inch SCT, have trouble with it, and they say 'send it back.' Yeah, sure.

Olly

The Meade is a somewhat different design, with slightly less pin-cushion distortion at the cost of slightly reduced sharpness at the outer edge of the FOV. Similar design, probably, simple rip-off? Not really. Anyway, the Meade will go to make room for a Nagler 12T4. I will then only have TVs and a TMB, both produced by innovators.

[ismangil]

I will then only have TVs and a TMB, both produced by innovators.

So this is the real TMB then (ducking and running away....)

[John]

So this is the real TMB then (ducking and running away....)

The TMB Paragon (that Michael is referring to I think) is out of production now.

Apparently the Skywatcher Aero ED's use the same optical layout and perform very similarly to Paragon's. At least Skywatcher don't slap the TMB brand on the Aeros though.

I have a TMB Supermonocentric - I bet nobody is going to clone that !

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The TMB Paragon (that Michael is referring to I think) is out of production now.

Apparently the Skywatcher Aero ED's use the same optical layout and perform very similarly to Paragon's. At least Skywatcher don't slap the TMB brand on the Aeros though.

I have a TMB Supermonocentric - I bet nobody is going to clone that !

Yep, I mean the Burgess-TMB Paragon 40, the real deal . I am completely safe if ever I enter a discussion on CN