bst vs gso vs npl

[Spec-Chum]

Just been reading the plethora of info on here regarding decent ep's for a decent price and just wondered if anyone has an opinion on the 3 in the subject for my f/6 200p. I'm asking because most of the posts on here seem to be for f/5 200p's and I'm confused which would be more suitable for my scope.

I'll be looking at pretty much anything, moon, planets, DSO's. Whatever I can point the scope at really, so I guess I'm looking for a general purpose ep.

[Andy_E]

The BSTs should work well with your scope. My advice would be to get something in the mid range between your two existing eyepieces... say a 15mm. This will give good views of DSOs, and give a 'full frame' image of the moon. it can also barlow up to a 7.5mm, which will be fairly good for planetary use.

hope this helps

Andy

[rory]

the gso are good standard plossl's. they along with the vixen's would work fine . the bst's (starguider) would edge it for me at the higher mags ,as the exit pupil is a little bigger and they give a bigger f.o.v .

all of the above would probably improve views over the stock e/p's , although saying that a few people lately have mentioned the 25mm to be fair.

so depending on what sort of budget you have,if your only going to buy one for now, id keep the 25mm .

ive the same scope as yourself and ive found the bst's worked fine, but id imagine so will the others you mention. you might also consider meade 4000,meade 5000 and celestron's x-cel lx .

[Spec-Chum]

Budget is quite tight, to be fair.

I'm going to have a play with the stock ones first anyway, but by the look of it I'm leaning towards a cheap but decent barlow (tal ?) And a BST 12mm as my first purchase in a month or so, then probably 40mm GSO in due course.

Only reason I chose GSO really is they're a couple of quid cheaper than the vixen's.

That sound reasonable?

[Spec-Chum]

That said, if I was more patient and only bought an EP every few months I could go a bit higher on the budget (say £80 - £100 per EP). Which would bring the Celestron X-Cel LX , the Baader Genuine Ortho's and the Hyperion into play.

What would your recommendations be for that kind of budget? Are those EP's worth the extra cash? In past experience (PC engineer) I always thought it was best to pay a little extra (pay an extra £100 for a graphics card so it'll be current longer, for example)to get better quality for the long run, but I also understand there is a point of diminishing returns.

[John]

By and large you do get better optical performance for a higher investment. Whether that justifies the additional cost is I guess an individual decision but it's also true to say (I believe) that the performance differences get slighter as the cost increases. Astronomers are fussy about optical performance though so many of use do "migrate" up the cost ladder over time, seeking these small gains.

In all honesty there is little or nothing that a £500 eyepiece will show you that a £50 won't in the same scope under the same conditions. What improves are things like the way light scatter from bright objects is controlled, the contrast and sharpness of subtle and faint features, the width and sharpness of the field of view, etc, etc. Small differences but enough to pursuade many to invest heavily in their eyepiece collection

[Moonshane]

The BSTs are excellent value for money but you will also be extremely happy with the average plossl, especially the 15mm and higher (e.g. 20mm, 25mm) as they retain good eye relief and quality. you could buy a used 15mm plossl for about £15-20 and it will be very good. Shorter than this and their eye relief gets a little tight.

If you can afford the BSTs then I'd go for those but I'd suggest a used plossl (I got a Meade 15mm for £15 and it's really very good) and with an also used generic 2x barlow (£10) it provides a 7.5mm eyepiece too. I have used the 15mm and barlow in the school's 8" SW dob to great effect with excellent views of e.g. Jupiter.

If you get on with this arrangement you can always upgrade again in due course and there's always a ready market for cheap but half decent used plossls.

[Moonshane]

p.s. I have a Televue 15mm Plossl myself and this often surprises me as to how well it performs - it just seems to fit best with my big dob sometimes (122x) when the seeing is poor. the Meade in truth is not that much worse and although I 'feel' I could tell the difference, I have never actually put them against each other. maybe I should.

[Spec-Chum]

Cheers guys, that really helps. After reading this it looks like I'll be going for a BST 15mm, I'm sure the extra £17 above the NPL won't break the bank.

I'm also very interested in DSO, so I'm also thinking of treating myself to a 32mm PanaView 2". Or maybe I'll go for the 38mm...

Too many choices!!!! lol

[LeeB]

I have used all three on said scope, if you want to save money I would go BST's for high mag and Plossl for mid low mag where eye relief does'nt matter. As a side note have fallen in love with orthos again for planet stuff, it may be me but they look brighter......

or are the eyes going.....

[Moonshane]

I totally agree Lee. i use a 12.5mm BGO in preference to a 13mm Ethos for planetary even with my manual dob.

[Spec-Chum]

Cool, thanks Lee, just saved £17 if the difference is negligible

[nightfisher]

Its a tough call between orto`s and bst`s, bst`s have a larger eye relief but the ortho`s are that touch sharper, have a look at the ortho`s sold at lyra optics, they are very sweet, but if you go ortho`s, the high power ones have very short eye relief, the 18mm is a true classic, very sweet