Baader zoom eyepiece

[lhuchison]

i have 4 skywatcher brand eyepieces, would buying the Baader zoom eyepiece improve the viewing on my explorer 200p ?

The skywatchers seem good but i have nothing to compare with.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Most likely yes, it's also convenient.

[JamesM]

Using the Baader Hyperion zoom Mk III will certainly be a lot more convenient than having to keep swapping your existing eyepieces to frame your view, although its not the lightest eyepiece which may cause some balancing issues for your dob. It has about 15mm eye relief though the field of view drops off from 68 at 8mm to 50 degrees at 24mm. I have read that although they show good contrast, the overall quality is very near but not equal to the fixed focal length Hyperions, (I don't own any so can't confirm) and there is some distortion in the stars in the last 10% of the field of view.

To be honest I'm nit picking here and have been very happy using mine in a number of different scopes. On your scope it will work fine as on any scope that is F5 and above. As good as they are, the are not the panacea that will enable us to throw away our eyepiece case but it is a very useful item to have for general observing with the click stops to mark each change but you can stop anywhere in between. Better still is the Pentax zoom but don't go looking at the price - you'll need a lie down and its the size of a tin of soup!:D

Clear skies

James

[pluto2884]

I've got the dob 200 and along with the standard 10mm + 25mm that came with it, I also ordered the skywatcher pack that was on offer at the time.

last month I got the Baader Zoom and only had time to test and compare using the planets.

I baader allowed me to see alittle more detail but not a massive amount, and the more I zoomed in the more I noticed the inside of the barrel if I moved slightly off centre.

overall It's useful to have as you don't have to change eyepieces, but do you need both hands to turn the eyepiece, and the screws butt up right against the bottle of the eyepiece making it hard to tighten up (good thing you don't have to keep changing eyepieces!)

I think in the long run it will turn out to be a good piece of kit, especially if in a few years time I upgrade to a bigger scope.

[AWR]

I'd try before you buy if you can, they're not everyone's cup of tea.

Andrew

[twotter]

Going off recent threads the Baader zoom is a popular upgrade, if you can afford it (they don't seem to come up that often on the AB&S or eBay). There there have been some recent reports of problems with the zoom mechanism. As James says the 24mm FOV is rather tight, certainly when compared to the fixed focal length 24mm Hyperion, so you may want to consider a seperate widefield option.