Eyepiece help please.

[papalazaru]

Errr... not really, apologies for the attention seeking behaviour, but I was wondering if the wise folk of the forum could help me out, I've been itching to ask loads of questions, but each time I'm about to hit the new thread button, I find an informed and helpful answer to it, spoilsports.

Have a 250px, good unaided eyesight, using for dso's, cannot get to star parties, no time in evenings! I have to observe midnight plus.

Need a good mid range ep 11-14mm, shortlist:

ep good bad

hyperions modular coma at f4.7

explore scientific 82* excellent reviews from america ($100, but £157 here?)

meade 5000 uwa good reviews have to buy from america to afford

x-cel-lx rave reviews,cheaper smaller fov

bst positive reviews I'd always be wandering about other

celestron ultima lx ? ?

pentax xf posh dodgy review for f4.7?

Sadly, Nirvanas are 16mm, and I know I will enjoy something towards the 11mm end better.

Strictly can not go higher than these eps without being kicked out by wife, and was put off televue anyway when I saw a tv eyepiece bag in Astronomy Now for £130! A bag! £130! A bag! £130!

A BAG! ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ENGLISH POUNDS!.... I checked the specifications and the bag didn't even have "exotic" coatings......

(OK, I'm just jealous)

Advice on what to go for on above list will be greatly appreciated if you can forgive the thread title.

Ps. I like just chilling out and sweeping the sky, so have my heart set on a skywatcher aero 30mm, as well as one of the above eyepieces, but do you think it could be bettered at the same price? A 28mm would be perfect for scope. Cheers

[Damo636]

From your shortlisted selection the 11mm or 14mm 82° Explore Scientific from the states would be probably the safest bet. I think I read somewhere that the 11mm is supposed to be the pick of the line. I don't know which review you read regarding the XF but I cannot imagine performing at least as well as the ES, albeit with a smaller afov.

The Aero is a pretty nice eyepiece but at f4.7 the edge correction will suffer. Everyone has their own tolerance level as regards to how much astigmatism they can suffer. I am probably over fussy but I found the Aero just acceptable at f5.9. If you could go the extra for a Nirvana/Uwan 28mm, not only would the afov be much larger but the edge correction should be a lot better :-)

[Dunkster]

My scope is "slow" (f/10) but I really like my ES82 series - have the 8.8, 11 and 14mm. As a result of wacky pricing over here, they're not so popular here as in the US, but some have imported from the US during their sale periods like now for little more than half the UK pricing (when considering VAT, duty, etc). Might be worth having a peek on CN as there are a bunch of threads about the ES82 and ES68 (not to mention the ES100, but they're more expensive)... from memory, they do fare decently well in fast scopes. The eye relief is often talked about as being the main issue - basically ES being optimistic with the figures they quote. So long as you don't need to wear glasses to observe you should be OK.

Don't forget that for the cost of each one of these you could have 2 BSTs, or better still if you look on the used market.

I have no expertise in this area, but a 30mm Aero would at least be a fair bit lighter than one of the 82 degree EPs (from any manufacturer) in that focal length or nearby. SW Nirvana (28mm), ES82 30mm, TV Nagler 31T5... all tip the scales around 1kg

[papalazaru]

I see you both jumped on the ES82, and to be honest I was leaning toward this anyway. I thought that review of the pentax xf might have been a bit over picky, as you suggest.

I think time and astro buy sell may be the answer for the 28/30mm, cheers damo and dunk, but I quite like the idea of a 1 kilo eyepiece, as I picked up some ankle weights at a boot sale the other day in case I ever need to stop the dob heading south.

[Dunkster]

I think time and astro buy sell may be the answer for the 28/30mm, cheers damo and dunk, but I quite like the idea of a 1 kilo eyepiece, as I picked up some ankle weights at a boot sale the other day in case I ever need to stop the dob heading south.

LOL I find the idea of a 1kg eyepiece pretty daunting, doesn't make me want one any less

[alan potts]

Why not try the Meade UWA 14mm,it is a very good eyepiece. It is also good in fast scopes.

Alan.

[alan potts]

Telescope House are selling the UWA at 116 pounds.

Alan.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I used to have a Meade Series 5000 UWA 14mm: Excellent EP, even in Olly Penrices 20" F/4.1 Newtonian (sir Isaac). In his TEC 140 we looked at M13 and the stars were sharp right to the edge. The only reason i replaced this by a Nagler 12T4 was that the eye relief was a tad short for me (I wear glasses). For you this should not matter. It is a really outstanding EP.

[Brian Nordstrom]

All great eyepieces suggested here , but have you looked at the TelVue Delos range? I have my eye on the 14mm and for the price and size it looks to be the mid range eyepiece of choice ,,, for me anyway .

Take a look they are $360 australian at the moment , so about 150-180 pounds sterling ? have a look . My 2c worth .

Brian.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I think there was a Pentax XW 14 on Astrobuysell. Well worth a look see.