EP's for Skywatcher explorer 150PL

[ChrisThePuma]

Hi

i have seen talk on the supplied EP's for the above not being very good.

Can anyone recommend better ones that wont break the bank? I'm thinking a set of about 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, 25mm would be a good range of sizes (any comments on this welcome).

I have a budget of around £50 - £70 per EP.

Thanks

Chris

[rory]

there is a forum dedicated to e/p's , youll find alot of tips here.

Discussions - Eyepieces - Stargazers Lounge

bst explorers ,gso,revelation. are popular in the under £50 range.

[rwilkey]

Hi Chris, wow, that's a great scope, which is f/8 I believe. BST Explorers are a great choice in your budget range and will work perfectly at the stated f/ratio. From Sky's the Limit: 1.25" Eyepieces

[Damo636]

I don't know how Alan at Skies The Limit manages to keep the BST Explorer's in stock! Judging by the amount of times they are recommended on here he must be selling them by the shed load, good ep by all accounts. At the upper end of your budget the Celestron X-Cel LX are another option. The 150pl is a cracking planetary scope so a couple of Baader Genuine Orthos, again at the upper end of your budget would be a good choice. You would have to spend many hundreds of pounds more to match them optically. The trade off is that they have a relatively narrow fov and not a lot of eye relief at the short focal lengths.

[rwilkey]

There's a good reason for the recommendations, they are superb, having said that, so are the Celestron X-Cel LX's, great feel of quality to all these ep's. Eye placement is not so critical with the Celestron I believe.

[damnut]

Yup, not only are the ep's great his service is excellent.

Cheers

[ChrisThePuma]

thanks for the great advice.

now the next question....

I might pop a couple of hyperions into the mix - is it better to have the top quality EP's at the higher mag end or the other end?

[Paulb3098]

Chris

Great scope, wish I kept mine I've used Meade 5000's for sometime and IMHO they're great EP's and theres lot of good deals via the net. Good luck.

Paul

[RikM]

thanks for the great advice.

now the next question....

I might pop a couple of hyperions into the mix - is it better to have the top quality EP's at the higher mag end or the other end?

Depends on your viewing preferences. For me, priorities are colour, contrast and sharpness at higher powers (you'll likely not beat a BGO for this price range - Edit: if you can live with the eyerelief). For low powers, wide field and edge correction are more important.

I've used 13mm and 17mm Hyperions and they were very nice but don't know about the 24mm. Should be okay at f/8

[Moonshane]

I agree that at f8, you will get good performance from a lot of different ranges.

The BSTs were very good in my f8 refractor as were the William Optics SWAN eyepieces which have a wide field of 70 degrees. These come up used every now and again. The eyepieces supplied are not as bad as I used to think. I presume they would be the same as the ones supplied with a 200mm dob?

The 25mm is reasonable and even the 10mm gives an OK view so don't feel like you have to rush.

My most useful magnifications (most of the time) with that aperture are approx. 200x, 150x, 100x and 75x. In your scope (1200 focal length). Given that you already have the 10mm and the 25mm, it might be a good idea to try maybe an 8mm BST (this was my favourite when I had them) and then perhaps go from there. I'd always suggest taking your time and buying used if you can as that way you lose less if for some reason you on't get on with an eyepiece.

I personally don't like barlows but a lot do and with the TAL ones available again through FLO it might be an option worth considering?

[rwilkey]

Hi ChrisThePuma, Hyperions are a great choice, I have the 24 and the 8mm to cover high and low magnifications, good quality comfortable ep's in my view