What 6" Eyepiece?

[Yidoboy]

I'm looking at purchasing a half decent 6" planetary eyepiece but have a couple of questions -

Which E/P would be the best to get with a budget of circa £40-£50? (or is this too cheap to get a decent e/p?)

Is a better quality barlow a better idea than a decent e/p initially?

I have stock equipment at the moment and am pretty sure the barlow and e/p's are ok but nothing special. I really like AP and wondered if a better quality barlow would enhance my current e/p's or not?

That said and for the sake of mumbling aloud.......I also like the idea of having a decent E/P to use with my 'scope.

I hope you can understand what I mean better than I can write it down!!!!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I trust that you mean 6mm. The TMB Planetaries and their clones get good reviews, as do BST Explorers. I would prefer the extra EP over a Barlow. Barlowing the stock 10mm to 5 is rarely a good idea. I used to have Vixen LV 7mm and 9mm EPs (they also come in other focal lengths) and they were very nice. They can be found secondhand for very decent prices.

[gooseholla]

WOW! Could you imagine a 6 inch eyepiece though!!

[Yidoboy]

Now a 6" eyepiece would be lovely...what a 'scope that would be!

I do mean 6mm. Sorry!

[Dunkster]

WOW! Could you imagine a 6 inch eyepiece though!!

Can you imagine the scoe to put it in

[Dunkster]

Oh drat and double drat! Meant scoPe to put it in

[wookie1965]

Ive got same scope as you ive just got the BST 8 mm and thats fantastic im going to get the 5mm especially for when Saturn comes up again and for Jupiter when it gets higher earlier it will be great in there much better than using the 10mm that came with scope and the barlow.

[E621Keith]

I can't image what a 6" eyepiece will look like. Pentax XL 60mm is around 3" and has a 77mm filter thread. It is huge when photographed next to a Nagler

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=320

A 6" eyepiece should be around the same size as my C6.

for 6mm eyepiece, have a look at a Circle T orthoscopic from Lyra optics or a BST explorers. If you can stretch a bit, you should also consider the Celestron X-cel LX.

[John]

You can get 4" eyepieces for observatory class instruments. Here is an 80mm eyepiece with a 40mm 2" Pentax for scale:

[alan potts]

My goodness, I want one how much are they, 1000's I bet.

Alan.

[faulksy]

can you imagine the size of the counter weight for a 6" e.p. you would need something like a car engine sorry couldnt resist. bgo,s are very good also the ts hr are great, try modern astronomy they sell both

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

6" EPs are commonly used in Brobdingnag

[Hanuman]

It's not your job to be as confused as Nigel.

[rwilkey]

+1 for the BST Exporers/Starguiders, incredibly good ep's for the price, around £49 each.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have a 4mm Celestron Omni which i dont get to use often but when i do, the views are amazing. I think a 6mm Omni would be very usable. Maybe a tad expensive.

A 6mm Vixen NPL (£30) from FLO would be great. They really are amazing EP's.

[LukeSkywatcher]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/vixen-eyepieces/vixen-npl-eyepieces.html

[Moonshane]

if you can find one then a used 12.5mm BGO would be excellent with your current barlow and be within budget. you can eventually buy a better barlow which might improve things a little. a 12mm BST with barlow would also be a decent option.