Skywatcher zoom eyepiece...

[Gloris]

...8-24mm Skywatcher Zoom Eyepiece going for £50 on ebay...

just wondering if this is a good idea and money saver (compared to buying separate eyepieces), or a waste of money that could be saved toward some better quality eyepieces?

I've just ordered my 8"Dob from FLO, which will hopefully be here this time next week

so do you guys think this is a good idea? or should I just stick to the included 10/25mm EP's that come wiht the scope for now and save up for some better equipment?

[John]

I would save your money for now and have a go with the supplied eyepieces. There are good zooms around (eg: the Hyperion 8mm - 24mm) but they cost a lot more than the Skywatcher one. Personally I think fixed focus eyepieces are much better performers than low cost zooms.

[Madhatter]

I would also suggest save your money:) i have the 7-21mm version and personaly am not too keen on it , it suffers from tunnel vision somewhat.. but is a cheap way too boost your EP collection.

[Gloris]

yes, that's what I was thinking too. I guess you get what you pay for, so when something seems too good to be true, it probably is. I'll probably just try out with the supplied pieces first, maybe also grab the 6.3mm plossl for £20 off FLO, just so i've got some more magnification should I want it...then save towards some decent EP's.

I've seen another 7-21 zoom on amazon by the way, made by "Danubia by Dorr"? similar price to the skywatcher one.

I did have a quick read through the eyepiece sticky in this section of the forum. which suggested I shoud be looking for 5/10/16/25mm eyepieces....so I'll probably end up saving towards those instead, but like i said, the zoom lenses seemed like a bargain ha ha.

Thanks again, for your input guys.

[Madhatter]

Your welcome:) to show the differance in tunnel vision i have taken some photos for you, the first photo is down the eyepeice of the skywatcher zoom at 11mm setting, the second is down the eyepeice of a celestron X-cel 10mm, whilst the differance is obviouse..i acctualy find it even more noticable at the telescope!.

[John]

I expect the Danubia zoom is a re-badged version of the Skywatcher one - much Danubia branded stuff seems to look identical to the SW versions. There is a lot of this with astro equipment - multiple versions of the same item but with a different brand name on. In some cases the detailed spec is very slightly different but often there is no difference.

[todd8137]

spend the money on some thing else a 15mm tmb

[southernman]

I have the skywatcher 8-24 zoom and find it sometimes useful. It in no way matches the performance of a fixed focal length ep though. Maybe a good Barlow would be an alternative.

[twotter]

After building up a set of plossls I got an 8-24mm zoom which cost the same as your SW. Narrow FOV is the drawback but it can be convenient for a very quick obs session or zooming in and out splitting double stars. My plan was to see if I liked using a zoom before splashing out a lot more money on a Baader zoom, and it turns out I prefer fixed focal length EPs, either my GSO and Meade 4000 plossls, or now my Hyperions.