First eyepiece purchase - Any ideas?????

[Tony S]

Hi all, as a newbie to astronomy I have just bought my first telescope and have the standard supply 2" 28mm eyepiece that came with my telescope. Does anyone have any ideas what would be an ideal next eyepiece purchase for my set-up? I have seen 1.25" eyepiece kits available in metal cases that have 5 or so eyepieces with filters in and maybe thought this would be a good purchase to get a wide range of views for the money, although I do already have a set of filters anyway. Or would it be better to spend the same amount of money on approx 2 eyepieces of a better quality (Assuming that the eyepieces in the kits are of a lesser quality)? I obviously don't have a bottomless pit of money to spend but would welcome any thoughts.

[newman]

Whether to go with a few more expensive or more cheaper eyepieces that you can have right now without having to save up and wait has been a matter of debate, and it's something only you can answer. Some people prefer to have many eyepieces. Others find they can have less of them if they invest in some premium wide fields. I find myself in the latter category, but that doesn't mean that both approaches aren't right - it's a question of whatever works better for you.

In general though, with a higher budget I'd recommend staying away from kits and filling up your ep collection one pricey premium gem at a time. With a more restricted budget a good kit might be a worthy investment. My only issue with kits is that you'll almost certainly end up with 2-3 eyepieces that won't end up being used much - if at all. For example, let's say that an owner of a Celestron C8 SGT (SCT with 2032mm fl) buys a kit that includes 3, 4 or 5mm eyepieces. He'll find little if any use for them. It might be worth checking with the retailer if they'll let you customize the contents of the kit so it works well with your scope. I seem to recall this being possible at some point with a Baader Hyperion set / case included, that used to be on offer on teleskope service (not sure if it still is). I think the offer included a metal case, a few (6?7? Don't recall) Hyperions, and the possibility to change the focal lengths on offer.

[Mr Spock]

With your focal length scope I'd be looking at a 12-13mm for deep sky and a 5mm for planets.

Reasonable eyepieces start with BST Explorers at £41 each, Celestron X-Cel LX at £69 each and go up from there.

[wiseman]

I would buy two bst explorers and see if you get on with them, I prefer them to hyperions which cost twice as much!

[faulksy]

or for great views skywatcher nirvanas or explorer scientific well worth the coin