Telescope eyepieces

[edonk77]

I recently bought my dad a skywatcher explorer 130 for xmas, it seems quite impressive but the eyepieces that came with it don't seem like much, there's a 25mm wide angle, a 10mm and 2x Barlow. The 25mm seems perfectly adequate but that's only 33x magnification, the 10mm is a bit blurry and with the barlow as well it's worse and almost impossible to focus. So I was thinking of getting him some new eyepieces for his birthday. I was thinking of spending around £60 - £70 and getting something like a 3x barlow and a 6mm - 10mm lens, but I am completely new to astronomy and I don't really know which makes/models are good etc. Can good eyepieces really make that much difference?

any help would be very much appreciated

Thanks

[ronin]

If you go for a barlow then the Tal 2x has a good name.

For eyepieces then a different matter. You say 130, I assume not P and so 900mm focal length. How about a BST at 15mm and the Tal 2x barlow?

The 15mm alone would give 60x, with the Tal barlow 120x

BST's are £47 from Sky's the Limit.

Alternatives (in the 30-40 price range) are standard plossl's, or TMB planetary's, again Sky's the Limit. (There is a used 7mm TMB on UK Astro Buy and Sell at £27 presently).

[DOBBY]

Hi Edonk..& welcome to the forum

A 3x Barlow can turn a small fuzz into a big fuzz...can good eyepieces make a difference? oh yes...

as above..the TAL x2 Barlow gets good reviews... & the BST/Starguiders are good planetary eyepieces... the Vixen NPL 30mm (£40) is good for further out in space...as a 'one-off' quality eyepiece..£69...(12mm or 18mm)celestron X-Cel LX... or a 26mm Panaview

[JamesM]

I agree with the above suggestions in particular the TAL x2 Barlow (First Light Optics £36) as they are great value for money. Your budget is not going to stretch to a complete replacement of the original eyepieces but just to a decent barlow and realistically the BST which is a good performer, though I think the build quality and appearance (its a present after all) of the 14mm Meade 5000 series super Plossl eyepiece (Telescope House £49.99) is worth a look too.

James

[edonk77]

Hi thanks a lot for your replies, and thanks for pointing me to astro mart, I am thinking of buying that 7mm TMB from there now. Is there that much difference between the TMB planetary's and the more expensive eyepieces you pointed out like the BST's and the meade 5000's? It's just I liked the look of the TMB's (I liked the fact that the eye lens is large) but I would spend more If I was getting a better eyepiece. I am thinking of getting a 7 - 9mm eyepiece and a x2 or x3 barlow, do you think a x3 barlow would be to much power for my setup? Its just the highest magnification I get at the moment is 180x and that doesn't seem that big for planets (although very blurry with current lenses)

Anyway thanks very much, this has been really usefull