First Taste Of The Delos!

[Damo636]

I got to try out my new 6mm Delos last night for the first time and I am happy tp report its nothing short of superb!!

I managed to track down Saturn before it was anywhere near fully dark (or darkish this time of year) as to have the planet as high in the sky as possible. With the dob well cooled and collimated I started with the 8mm Ethos at 187x to test the water. Everything looked pretty good, some nice banding on the planet itself and the Cassini Division clearly visible. I skipped the 7mm XW and went straight to the Delos and 250x and even though Saturn is now past its best, I was rewarded with some excellent views of the ringed planet. The different colours in the zones and the Cassini Division still clearly visible but much more pronounced with the increase in magnification and contrast. The sharpness and the contrast of the Delos is fantastic, and contrary to some reports I found it extremely easy to look through and hold the exit pupil, definitely on par with the XW.

The afov at 72 degrees is very comfortable to use and I can't quite put my finger on why, but this eyepiece, more than any other I have used, just seems to disappear in use, if that makes sense .

[swamp thing]

The afov at 72 degrees is very comfortable to use and I can't quite put my finger on why, but this eyepiece, more than any other I have used, just seems to disappear in use, if that makes sense .

That is the mark of a great tool IMO. Good tools disappear in use.

Nice report Damo.

[estwing]

nice one damo, another rock solid performer from TV.

[faulksy]

sounds good mate nice report

[Mike73]

Sounds very nice Damo.

Are you planning on keeping all 8/7/6mm EP's or has one got to go?

[Damo636]

Cheers guys. I intend keeping all three Mike as the mags at 187x, 214x & 250x are all very useful. I can get to 5mm/ 300x (rarely needed) with the 8mm Ethos/barlow combo so now well sorted in the high mag department

[Damo636]

Just as a side note its very simple to remove the sliding housing if you felt the need to go "naked"...

Before

And after crash diet!

[John]

Nice report Damo. Clearly another superb product from Tele Vue

I agree with you about keeping a range of high powered eyepieces - you never quite know what the seeing conditions will support and it's frustrating to have a gap in your eyepiece range right at the optimum point for a given session.

[Bart]

Nice one Damo, lets not write off a 'summer' but roll on those darker nights, goodluck with that beauty.

Barry

[Charon]

Great report Damo. I would like a 6mm Delos but I am not sure if it will suit my CPC800 and how much actual use I get from it will warrant me buying one hmmm Decisions decisions.

[Dunkster]

Great report Damo. I would like a 6mm Delos but I am not sure if it will suit my CPC800 and how much actual use I get from it will warrant me buying one hmmm Decisions decisions.

6mm might be a bit of a reach Charon, but the 10mm might work nicely

Nice first taste Damo, how does the view feel compared to the Ethos? (I know there's a couple of mm between them, but thinking more subjectively...)

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. I am looking for something more high powered than my Pentax XF 8.5 for my C8. I have used the Nagler 12T4 with TeleXtender 2x, and that worked well (when the seeing was really good), but I do prefer working without any kind of Barlow. The Delos 6 sounds neat, though maybe I should get a Pentax XW 7 first (would be used more than the 6mm), as I have 6mm focal length available. Your report suggests it will be a toss-up between the Pentax XW 10mm and TV Delos 10mm (to replace my Radian 10).

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

6mm might be a bit of a reach Charon, but the 10mm might work nicely

Nice first taste Damo, how does the view feel compared to the Ethos? (I know there's a couple of mm between them, but thinking more subjectively...)

The 10 will be fine, but the 6 is useful in a C8, especially for Mars and the moon. See note above about the XW7 vs the Delos 6 in a C8, however.

[Damo636]

Nice first taste Damo, how does the view feel compared to the Ethos? (I know there's a couple of mm between them, but thinking more subjectively...)

First impressions are that it compares very well indeed. Its actually a bit more comfortable to use than the Ethos with its 20mm of eye relief & the 72 degree afov feels surprisingly immersive. More time in the scope is required but I'm fairly sure its a keeper

Nice report. I am looking for something more high powered than my Pentax XF 8.5 for my C8. I have used the Nagler 12T4 with TeleXtender 2x, and that worked well (when the seeing was really good), but I do prefer working without any kind of Barlow. The Delos 6 sounds neat, though maybe I should get a Pentax XW 7 first (would be used more than the 6mm), as I have 6mm focal length available. Your report suggests it will be a toss-up between the Pentax XW 10mm and TV Delos 10mm (to replace my Radian 10).

The 7mm XW is absolutely superb Michael and I could not recommend it enough. Completely flawless as far as I am concerned! I replaced the 10mm XW, another peach of an eyepiece, with the 6mm Delos as I found I didn't really need it having the 8mm Ethos and like you I am trying to minimise use of the barlow. I think a flip of a coin is the only way the Delos/XW could be seperated, they are that close!

[paul schofield]

Congrats on your new E.P, I am not jealous at all. Great report, it gives us mere mortals something to aim for. Clear skies.

[dharma66]

Thanks Damo. Yet another good review for the Deloi...I think my mind is made up!

[Damo636]

Thanks guys. With the rest of the Delos range about to be released and if the rumors that the XW's are being discontinued are true (hopefully only groundless speculation), I reckon TV are going to have massive success with this line. I for one would quite happily fill my case with them!

[E621Keith]

Thanks for the good review.

The Delos range does sounds very attractive and represent a good alternative and a backup should Pentax decide to leave the astro market. Pentax seriously need to refresh it's eyepiece range or risk losing even more market share. Even Nikon, who aren't interested in astro, has released a range of astro specific 70 and 100deg eyepieces in the last few years. I'd love to see Pentax updating the XW line and do a full range of XO and XF.

[Saleratus]

I've been liking the Delos line a lot. One thing that appeals to me about it--aside from the wonderful visual characteristics--is the fact that all the Eps in the line so far have similar weights, and are definitely not in the "hand grenade" league. This means that a series of Delos could be used on a smaller dob without introducing balance issues, and the transitions between Eps when observing are fluid and smooth, and don't interrupt the experience.

I don't know if the Delos line will eventually include 2" Eps, but until it does, the 27 Panoptic is a very nice wide field companion to this set, as it weighs almost just what the Delos do, with a similar FOV--and of course, the 27 Pan is one of the great classics itself.

[E621Keith]

2" Delos sounds appealing, especially Pentax has now officially discontinued the 30mm XW and some Japanese dealers list 40mm XW as discontinued too.

[Dunkster]

Pure speculation on my part, but from the looks of TV's business model, it's predominantly geared toward the shorter FL for folk with fast scopes... with some obvious exceptions of course... but with the Ethos maxing out at 21mm, I'm not (at least) appreciating their intent to spend much time at the 2" end of the scale..... again with obvious exceptions

Not saying I don't fancy the idea of an Ethos in the high 20s... then again, maybe they'll push out a Nelos or Hethos in 30+ to replace the Panoptic?

[Saleratus]

Dunkster,

Televue maxed out at a 21mm focal length for the Ethos line because with a 100 degree FOV, there is only so high you can go with a 2" light cone coming into the EP, and 21mm is close to it. Theoretically, they might have gone maybe a couple mm higher, but the result would have been a massive and uncomfortable EP to use.

Since the FOV is only 72 degrees on the Delos, Televue has much more flexibility to create longer focal lengths in a 2" format. I don't see any reason to think they wouldn't, eventually, since all of their other wide field lines have been taken to--or close to--their theoretical maximums in the past.

[Dunkster]

Thanks Saleratus, hope is not lost

[DirkSteele]

I just purchased a 10mm Delos as part of my airline portable setup (includes the APM LZOS 105/650 LW APO Refractor- Only 4 weeks till delivery!). Was a little hesitant after reading the "Delos - What is this?" thread on CN where one owner experienced a plastic disc falling out of the bottom of the eyepiece. However I hear from Televue it was limited to 2 customers. Cannot wait to try it out. 20mm eye relief should make for a a very relaxing observing experience.