7mm Pentax XW

[Damo636]

I had the chance to put my new 7mm XW through its paces last night and it passed its initiation with flying colours. The level of light transmission , sharpness and contrast across the entire fov is amazing! Viewing Saturn this morning at around 1.30am was breathtaking with this eyepiece! The shadow from the rings on the planet, the Cassini Division and at times some definate colouration in the different zones. Letting the planet drift out of the fov showed zero distortion or CA even at the extreme edge , at least that I could detect.

I also had a look at M13 and was completely blown away. Bright pinpoint stars resolved right to the core, simply stunning! Comparing the view with the 8mm Ethos I would say it was a draw in every aspect other than fov. The Ethos framed it nicely with the huge field.

Imho, and I realise that ep's are a very subjective item, I would have to class the XW as the complete package. For optical performance, comfort & ease of use, these would be very very hard to better.

[newman]

Never read anything bad about Pentax XW's, their performance always seems to be gauged as very similar / on par with Ethos and Delos, which is saying enough. There may be a 5mm XW in my future, too

[Damo636]

There may be a 5mm XW in my future, too

And mine

[Charon]

Good report Damo.

[RikM]

Looking at Saturn with my 7mm XW at the SGL starparty was the best view I have ever seen of this planet. I forget which evening it was, but everything just clicked into place. The seeing was fantastic.

[John]

Nice report Damo

I love my 5mm XW and would strongly consider the 3.5mm although I currently have a Nagler T6 in that niche and the wider FoV does help a bit with with very high magnifications that this focal length produces.

I find the light transmission and well controlled light scatter in the XW's really helps picking out things like the fainter moons of Saturn and the E & F components of the Trapezium.

To his credit, Steve at FLO was telling me how good the XW's are a few years back when I had a Nagler fixation

I sincerely hope that rumours of the XW's demise following the Japanese earthquake / tsunami last year are incorrect.

[Damo636]

Cheers guys. I have read that its the 2" versions that will no longer be produced John although I see a few sellers have raised the price of the entire range by as much as £20 per eyepiece, including the 1.25" parts. It will be sad if these fade away like the BGO's.

[AztecastroMcJ]

nice write up Damo, heard good things about pentax ep's aswell

surely the price of these should also been mentioned as its < half price of ethos is it not ?

wonder how 4.7mm ethos sx would compete against the above

maybe delos 6mm would be good comparison as more similar price of pentax and similar afov and ER

still xw's sound great value

James

[Damo636]

Its a good point as regards to the price James. The Delos would be the direct competition and also slightly more expensive. The Ethos on the other hand are a totally different experience. The XW, although an equal in every respect other than fov does not come close to providing the emmersive views offered up by the Ethos. Every time I look through the 13mm Ethos my jaw drops!

[AztecastroMcJ]

yeh i'm jealous still not got decent EP for my C11

[RikM]

I had both a 10mm XW and 10mm Delos side by side at SGL7 and gave them both a good run out in my 10" Dob. I couldn't split them. I felt the Pentax gave a very slightly brighter view but the Delos had a very slightly flatter field. Really there was nothing in it. Both fantastic EP's.

[Adz]

I had both a 10mm XW and 10mm Delos side by side at SGL7 and gave them both a good run out in my 10" Dob. I couldn't split them. I felt the Pentax gave a very slightly brighter view but the Delos had a very slightly flatter field. Really there was nothing in it. Both fantastic EP's.

Don't forgot the 24pan and 20XW

[Damo636]

Don't forgot the 24pan and 20XW

Another too close to call??

[newman]

surely the price of these should also been mentioned as its < half price of ethos is it not ?

Unsure about the UK prices, I got my Ethoi off Telescope Service in Germany and they were both slightly above 500€, considering the Pentax's were around 360€ a pop (iirc), they're not exactly less than half the price of an Ethos, though they certainly are considerably less expensive.

[Cjg]

Pentax like many imaging / photographic companies were struggling. Remember Minolta and Konica? Financial shenanigans with Olympus?

Pentax were owned by Hoya, but were recently sold to Ricoh. There maybe some consolidation / rationalisation of products, I don't yet have info, but will post when I do.

[RikM]

Don't forgot the 24pan and 20XW

Yes, that was a very good comparison too. Thanks for that

Another too close to call??

I felt there was more of a difference between these two, as you would expect from comparing two different focal lengths, but not a lot in it in terms of the quality of the views. Here it is more down to personal preference. I prefer the higher power, darker field and longer eyerelief of the Pentax. It also has phenomenal light throughput that suits my observing preferences (faint fuzzies) so I am very happy that I bought the XW over the Pan 24. If I lived more out in the country with darker skies and didn't wear glasses, the extra TFOV of the Pan 24 might give that the edge but there doesn't seem to be too much difference in field. The Pentax 20mm is a very immersive EP.

They are both truly wonderful eyepieces, and you can't say (well I can't) that one is any better than the other.

Adz and I also compared the Ethos 13mm and the Pentax XW 14mm...but that's not a fair fight Again, the quality of the view there is not much in it but the viewing experience of the Ethos field is just something else entirely (fortunately for my wallet, I actually prefer the smaller field and longer eye relief of the XW...but that's just me )

[twotter]

This thread smells like........changing eyepiece cases

I look forward to the thread titled 'finally on the Pentax posse'

[Stardust]

Must admit that I rather like the Pentax ep's the older 10.5mm XL is one of my favs

[newman]

The Delos would be the direct competition and also slightly more expensive.

Just saw this. The Delos go for about 290€ on teleskop service:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p4891_TeleVue-1-25--Eyepiece-DELOS-6mm---72--Field.html

The Pentax on the other hand go for about 310€:

https://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1614_Pentax-XW-7mm---70--Field-of-View---Premium-Quality.html

(price is the same for all XWs). So it's actually the other way around, the Delos is the one that's cheaper. It's not a huge difference in price, though. Since I already have green in my ep case I'd be more inclined to get the Delos for the 6mm slot I want, but if I ever want to go for a 5mm the Pentax is at the top of my list

[RikM]

The Pentax is cheaper than the Delos in the UK.

Pentax 7mm = £255 First Light Optics - Pentax XW 7mm

Delos 6mm = £295 TeleVue 6.0mm Delos Eyepiece 1.25"

[newman]

Huh, interesting. I'd have expected that if Eyepiece A is more expensive than Eyepiece B, it would remain that way in different countries as their prices would change but by a relatively similar percentage. Guess not, the 20€ cheaper Delos in Germany compared to a 40£ more expensive (than the Pentax XW) Delos in the UK is quite a difference.