Recommendations please !!

[JimFR]

I'm in the market for eyepieces - I want to improve upon my experience given by the bundled eyepieces (scope details below).

not sure how much to budget, but I don't want to go above £50 per e/p, and that might mean I only get one.

I've looked at (but not tried) the Skywatcher Plossls, and the meade 4000, but I'm not sure which is best for my scope - also bearing in mind that I may upgrade that too at some point !

[Ags]

Have a look for the BST Explorers. They seem widely recommended and are in your budget.

[rwilkey]

I agree, the BST Explorers are very good performers at a great price:

1.25" Eyepieces

[damnut]

Another vote for the BST's, I have the 8mm and its a keeper.

Cheers

[JimFR]

hmmm... three different people say the same thing...

might be a goer !

I like the sound of the 8mm - that gives me 125x with the barlow - good exit pupil / eye relief ?

anyone recommend a dealer ?

[ajg]

I'll throw in another vote for the BST Explorers. IMO they're a hair off the Baader Hyperions for about half the price and 1/3 the weight.

[Doug]

Hi

I will give my vote to the Meade 4000 and I still use them for planet viewing and a few other things, I find then very clear and crisp they are 52 FOV and easy to use and at £29.00 a bargain

Doug

[Pug]

I like the sound of the 8mm - that gives me 125x with the barlow - good exit pupil / eye relief ?

anyone recommend a dealer ?

1.25" Eyepieces

Here you go Jim, they do a try before you buy option as well.

[JimFR]

Thanks mate ! I'll have a look at that

[Charon]

. IMO they're a hair off the Baader Hyperions for about half the price and 1/3 the weight.

Are they? I don't think so.

[ajg]

Are they? I don't think so.

I do.

[JimFR]

I do.

dunt bother me how close they are as long as they don't approach the hypo's price, and they are quantifiably better than the dodgy e/p's skywatcher bundled with my scope

out of interest, how much better are they than those ?

[John]

I don't know how to quantify how much better one eyepiece is than another. Even the best ones don't actually show you things that the basic ones can't - they do show things more crisply, with more contrast and less distortions. The differences in performance tend to get smaller as the price rises so a £400 eyepiece is only a very little bit better than a £200 one - but astronomers tend to be fussy about these small differences

[Mr Spock]

The BSTs seem to be winning lots of friends. At £41 they do appear good value.

[Pug]

I'm in the process of upgrading myself. I've reckon that eyepieces are like wine, I can tell the difference between a £5 bottle of plonk and something that costs £20. I can't tell the difference between a bottle that costs £20 and one that costs £50. I'm going to try the the bst's out!

[John]

It's worth trying the odd £50 bottle when you can though, just to see

[Pug]

Lol! More of a thunderbird and stellar sort of bloke really! (I just pretend to be posh on the internet)

[Dunkster]

Only problem being £70 is a lot to spend on wine for an evening just to see how they taste

[Dunkster]

Oops almost missed my contribution... I have the 15mm after reading a couple of threads here and found it gives me much clearer views of Jupiter than my 9mm (bundled!) Celestron. Thinking of getting a shorter one now. My scope is almost f12 though

[faulksy]

i have the 8mm bst and think it is great well worth the money cant fault it

[rwilkey]

All BST's should work well at f/12, I wouldn't go any higher than the 8mm though as you have enough magnification in the scope focal length.

[JimFR]

Thats it then, I'm decided !

I was looking at the 8mil anyway, as 100x isn't quite enough on jupiter and saturn in my poor skywatcher bundled jobbie I'm not keen to go beyond that, though cos of eye relief, etc..