Issues with eyepieces

[John]

The BST Explorers and TMB Planetary clones can be bought here:

1.25" Eyepieces

The planetaries are being called wide angle planetaries on there now. Both types have more eye relief than the Vixen NPL's which means that your eye won't need to be so close to the top lens of the eyepiece, especially on the shorter focal length models.

Optically I think they will all be pretty close - I've been a great fan of the Vixen brand through all my years in the hobby so I'd probably go for the Vixen NPL's but then I don't wear glasses when observing.

[robstopper]

I very rarely need to wear my glasses as my sight isn't too poor, although they obviously do help if I am observing at all, so maybe the Vixen NPL's may be the way to go

[glowjet]

Rob, after all that has been said, eye guards in winged or standard in soft rubber are available from Telescope House at between £3 and £5 each I think, last time I looked, probably a cheaper experiment than investing in new eps for the time being

John.

[robstopper]

cool, thanks for that John

[LukeSkywatcher]

Would I be better off then with the BST Explorers and TMB Planetary clones or the NPL's?

To be honest..............on another thread its a VERY close call between BST and NPL.

NPL are just in the lead.

[Gomtuu]

Which basically means that you SHOULD wear them for reading,watching tv,observing etc.

That's not true unless you're strongly myopic. I'm only mildly shortsighted and though I wear glasses to drive, it's too uncomfortable wearing them for reading, using a computer and observing. I can read perfectly (crystal clear) without them, it's only after about a meter out that it starts to blur slightly!

The only issue I have observing is that my eyes are slightly different, so if I switch I need to slightly refocus.

[cotterless45]

Bst Explorers every time. 25mm for searching, 12mm for galaxies, star clusters etc.,8mm for Moon and planets, nice.

[robstopper]

great stuff, thanks for all the advice everyone, very impressed with all the assistance from this site!

[ChrisThePuma]

<quote>I think it was Sir Patrick Moore who likened eyepieces to gears in a car. The car is not much use with 1 gear, 2-3 gears are somewhat more useful and 4 or 5 will get you more or less anywhere.</quote>

Is having a zoom ep like having an automatic gearbox? ;-)

[robstopper]

nah, more like a CVT!!