Ethos 13mm as a purpose in life (of stargazing)

[ismangil]

At the moment I have 24mm Hyperion for my 200mm f6 reflector, as it gives the widest field at 1.3deg.

It's not entirely satisfactory, as I feel the sky is not dark enough at 50x, so if I want to improve this I need to push magnification without sacrificing too much FOV, and the next possible eyepiece would be a 100 deg design alias the much vaunted 13mm Ethos... which would give 84% more magnification while only sacrificing 15% of the FOV.

At a stroke that would do away with the need to have the 12mm as well.

So that, in essence is what gives me a purpose in life of stargazing: replace all my eyepieces with the one eyepiece to rule them all: Ethos 13mm!

[m.tweedy]

Thin end of the wedge:)

[swamp thing]

Now I just know one day I'm gonna start down this slippery slope to financial ruin, as I made the mistake of looking through a 17mm one a while back and now can't get the view out of my mind.

Aaaaagh!

[newman]

It's the classic story.

Boy meets Ethos.

Boy has to buy Ethos but only plans on buying one.

Boy buys Ethos and begins to plan on another one shortly thereafter.

Seriously. It happened to others. It happened to me (got a 17mm, and a 10mm is currently in shipping, I expect it in a few days). It will happen to you

[Damo636]

I would love to add a 21mm to complete a set but at over £700 its not likely to happen anytime soon!

[Charon]

The 13mm Ethos has to be my next buy, but it will have to wait quite a while as a new log burner has to take priority.

[Moonshane]

The 13mm Ethos has to be my next buy, but it will have to wait quite a while as a new log burner has to take priority.

I have a 13mm Ethos and as superb as it is, if I had a 17mm and 22mm Nagler, and was in the market for another wide field, I think I'd buy the 12mm T4. This gives more options and you get roughly the same field with the 17mm T4.

That said, I am happy I have a 13mm Ethos and use it a lot, especially in my big dob where it and the 26mm T5 are virtually all I need unless doing planetary/lunar when I prefer eyepieces like BGOs and my Nagler zoom.

[Matthew]

At SGL7 i was fortunate enough to use the 6mm and 13mm ethos in my 12" Dob which totaly blew me away,i used to think ' surely their not worth that much money ',but i can confirm THEY ARE!!!!!!.Needless to say since i came back from lucksall ive been trimming down my eyepiece case in preperation for a 13mm ethos , all i can say is buy one it will transform your viewing experience.

[calibos]

I ended up buying them all last year after a confluence of events made it possible.

I happened to have spare funds at the time.

Televue were doing a 20% Sale.

A particular US vendor had an active 11% online discount code doing the rounds.

The Dollar/Euro exchange rate was $1.45/€1.00

I had relatives in the states that I could have them shipped to, who would forward them on to me.

I got them all for half the price they are over on this side of the Atlantic. Still a lot of money but I reasoned that at that price, they were actually a safe investment and if needed I would be able to sell them for more than I paid for them for years to come, so effectively the funds were just sitting in my eyepiece case and available to look through rather than sitting in my bank acount and available to look at (as a bank balance on my statements)

That said, I only bought the full set because it was an 'investment'. I didn't need the full set and even Televue themselves don't really expect anyone to buy the full set. Al Nagler himself recommends buying 3 to cover a range of magnifications/TFOV's. Which 3 you should ultimately get depends on the focal ratio of your scope. For some that would be the 21mm, 13mm & 8mm and for others it might be the 17mm, 10mm & 6mm.

[ismangil]

Thanks for all the encouragement folks!

What is a fair used price of Ethos 13mm?

Just in case something comes up in UK ABS or elsewhere. I know the new price here is (list) £525, in US it works around £420 or so (if you get it there that is, not counting shipping and customs).

[Moonshane]

I'd suggest about £350 but it depends on condition etc. Personally I'd never buy something at that price unless I could see it and preferably use it in my own scope first.

They are truly excellent eyepieces and the 13mm is probably the pick of the bunch as it's so useful in all scopes.

[ismangil]

I'd suggest about £350 but it depends on condition etc. Personally I'd never buy something at that price unless I could see it and preferably use it in my own scope first.

They are truly excellent eyepieces and the 13mm is probably the pick of the bunch as it's so useful in all scopes.

That is a good point. I should frequent more star parties then

[ismangil]

This gives more options and you get roughly the same field with the 17mm T4.

I looked this up, as I have only 1.25", the closest is 16mm T5. Which then leads on to 16mm Sky Watcher Nirvana . Which I saw on UK ABS for £100 once.

So I suppose while waiting for Ethos, I can trade up my 24mm Hyperion for the 16mm Nirvana.

And still have something for the higher mags.

[Moonshane]

I have never used a Nirvana but many people say they are very close to Naglers and therefore very worth considering. You might not even feel the need to 'upgrade' if you can find one. I suspect in your f6 scope the differences would be very miniscule.

If you do get the 16MM Nirvana I'd be interested in having a look myself at PSP12!

[ismangil]

I have never used a Nirvana but many people say they are very close to Naglers and therefore very worth considering. You might not even feel the need to 'upgrade' if you can find one. I suspect in your f6 scope the differences would be very miniscule.

If you do get the 16MM Nirvana I'd be interested in having a look myself at PSP12!

Yes, there is a CN review comparing exactly WO UWAN (which are Nirvanas) and Naglers, the reviewer even told a story how he mistook the UWAN 16mm view for the Nagler 16mmT4

So there you go, a lesson on how setting a goal in your life can clarify a path!

I'll let you have a go if you let me peek through Ethos in my scope, deal

Perry on mobile (so blame strange words on text prediction!)

[John]

I used to own a 16mm UWAN (same as a Nirvana). I decided that I wanted to replace it with a 16mm T5 Nagler for consistency with my other eyepieces and the "upgrade" cost me around £60 to achieve. It was not money well spent with hindsight as the CN review was right - there is very little difference in the performance of the 2 eyepieces in an F/6 scope. If you had an F/4 or F/4.5 then the UWAN / Nirvana might loose out a little more on edge sharpness.

The Ethos are a small but noticable step up from Naglers though and my own "slippery slope" has led me to own the 13mm, 8mm and 6mm. I'd be tempted by the 4.7mm and the 21mm under the right circumstances too. There is so much more to them than the ultrawide field of view - I'm recalling the view of Saturn with the 6mm Ethos though Mat's 12" Skywatcher Flextube at SGL7

[Moonshane]

Yes, there is a CN review comparing exactly WO UWAN (which are Nirvanas) and Naglers, the reviewer even told a story how he mistook the UWAN 16mm view for the Nagler 16mmT4

So there you go, a lesson on how setting a goal in your life can clarify a path!

I'll let you have a go if you let me peek through Ethos in my scope, deal

Perry on mobile (so blame strange words on text prediction!)

hi Perry - no sweat mate. look forward to it!

[ismangil]

Shane,

Excellent, I'll have some kind of ultra wide angle by October for sure!

John,

Great testimony for the Nirvana as a stop gap to Ethos!

Perry on mobile (so blame strange words on text prediction!)

[Matthew]

It was a sight to behold John,and the highlight of my weekend !!!

[ismangil]

It was a sight to behold John,and the highlight of my weekend !!!

Is that why you're ahead of me and looking for one right now?

Perry on mobile (so blame strange words on text prediction!)

[Matthew]

It is Perry,in fact ive found one that MAY be for sale, im waiting patiantly

[albedo0.39]

I can only agree... 13mm Ethos on my scope had M42 "on fire" in my eyes.. a haunting image that is there forever

Stunning.

Invest, you will not regret it !

:-)

[ismangil]

Started the journey, I guess, by grabbing a used Nagler 13mm T6...

Haven't had a chance to use it, stupid weather.

It'd better be a massive improvement than the 12mm BST or it's going on sale right away!

[Dunkster]

Nice one ismangil, hope you enjoy it

Weather is not promising this week

[John]

Started the journey, I guess, by grabbing a used Nagler 13mm T6...

Haven't had a chance to use it, stupid weather.

It'd better be a massive improvement than the 12mm BST or it's going on sale right away!

It will be an improvement but "massive" might be pushing it as the BST's are not poor eyepieces by any means. In all honesty the improvements are smaller the more you pay. So the Ethos 13, magnificent though it is, is not twice as good as a Nagler 13mm depsite costing twice as much.

I'm sure you will enjoy the Nagler 13mm though - the eye relief will be tighter than the BST and Naglers do take some time to get used to for some folk.