Very pleased with the XW7 and XW10

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I just had my proper first light with the XW7 ad XW10, as detailed here. I must say the XW10 is a nice step up from the Radian, obviously in terms of FOV, but also in clarity and tonal neutrality (the Radian has an ever so slight warm/yellowish cast on the moon). Both XWs are very easy to use, and are razor sharp. The sky was steady enough to use the 7mm at 290x on the moon, really nice. I experienced little in the way of kidney-beaning, and on M13, the stars were sharp to the edge. It is also nice to have three parfocal EPs at the planetary end (the XW7, XF8.5, and XW10), nicely spaced in magnification, so you can tune magnification to conditions easily. The two XWs are much bigger than the XF, but they are not very heavy, so there are no balance issues.

All in all a happy camper. Bagging a supernova on first light is of course the icing on the cake

[alan potts]

Micheal,

Good to see you are pleased with the Pentax's, I have the 10mm myself. I think it is sad that reports suggest they are getting out of Astro production, it will be an open field for Televue in the top spot. I hope their standards don't drop, but wish their prices did.

Alan.

[John]

The XW's are excellent eyepieces and congrats on the supernova to Michael

No joy for me on the SN so far - it's really in a bad part of the sky for my observing site

On the XW's, I have the 5mm currently and borrowed the 10mm from FLO a while back to compare to the T6 Nagler 9mm I had at the time. The XW just seemed to edge the Nagler in terms of light transmission and control of light scatter - faint Saturnian moons seemed to pop out just a little more readily with the XW than they did with the Nagler.

From what I've read, the 10mm is the very best of this fine eyepiece range but the others are clearly no slouches either !

I hope that Pentax keeps the production of these going - otherwise TV will clean up in this niche with their Delos, as Alan says.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Your remarks on the comparison between the Nagler and XW chime with what I spotted, comparing the 12T4 to the 10mm. I also very much like the 72 deg FOV. It does not seem cramped after using a Nagler, wheras the 60 deg of the Radians and XF do (even the 68deg of the Paragon did, to some extent). I must say I am just a little bit tempted to get an 8mm Delos to have a whole sequence of 72 deg EPs at this end. On the other hand, the XF is superb, and I doubt the Delos will beat it on image quality. It probably makes more sense to start looking at t a bigger scope now, and not be side-tracked by EPs.

[Tinker1947]

There's no mention of the thread to mount a DSLR on the XW's needs a 43mm adapter ring....

[Mike73]

I'm waiting for the 8mm Delos to be released to make up my high power EP's, should be very interesting as it will sit between my 7/10mm XW's and I really like my XW's.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Haven't felt the need to use it that way. and I do not have a DSLR (yet). I might get a 5mm as well, for the 80 F/6, and just in case I get that fast dob.

[Moonshane]

trying my best to ignore such posts........I really am a bit obsessive when it comes to brands and feel bizarrely that my collection would look odd with anything not black and green. I was even happy when my BGOs were along the same colour scheme!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

trying my best to ignore such posts........I really am a bit obsessive when it comes to brands and feel bizarrely that my collection would look odd with anything not black and green. I was even happy when my BGOs were along the same colour scheme!

Well, the XWs seem to do what orthoscopics do, but over a 72 deg FOV, and with good eye relief (come on, you know you want one ). I now have two rows of EPs in my case: one row of three Nagler T4s, with the star diagonal at the end, one row containing the XW10, XF8.5, and XW7, and then there is the odd one out at the end: the 31T5 Panzerfaust, at right angles so it fits next to the diagonal.

[gooseholla]

31T5 Panzerfaust? That sounds like some WW2 tank!!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

No, it is the (German WWII) tank-busting shell (RPG, really) very similar in shape to the Terminagler. I found the name more appropriate than "Hand Grenade".

[Damo636]

Like Moonshane, I am also very partial to a bit of black & green, but I have to agree with Michael on the XW's. A while back I sold my 8mm Ethos and replaced it with the 7 & 10mm XW. Idiot that I am, I was curious about the Delos, so sold the 10mm XW & replaced it with the 10mm Delos! Today I sold the 10mm Delos & will be reaquiring the 10mm XW!! Thankfully these have all been bought used so I have lost very little. Having now used the Delos and the XW, I have concluded I prefer the XW, at least at these focal lengths. The Delos is a superb eyepiece, and opinion seems to be split 50/50 which is the better optically. I know I certainly couldn't split them in optical terms, but for me ,the XW just has that little something extra going for it.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I got the XW10 rather than the Delos just because I could get it secondhand. The 7mm is at a focal length covered neither by the Radian nor the Delos range, and yet it is a focal length I like a lot in my scope: 6mm is often too much magnification, even on good nights, 8mm doesn't quite get all the detail on really good nights. When I sold my 7mm Vixen LV, I had the 14mm UWA and 2x TeleXtender to fall back on. When the 14mm UWA went and was replaced by a Nagler 12T4 I really started missing 7mm.

[Damo636]

I also find the 7mm a very useful focal length, giving me 214x I find most nights I get to use it. The little XF, although optically excellent, tends to get bypassed a lot of the time if I'm honest. Still, I'm sure there'll be nights when the small step down in mag will be needed. I have found that Jupiter detail tends to resolve nicely from 175-200x so it might be ideal on it.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

For me it is a bit different, as the XF8.5 hits 239x, which is often as far as you can go. So with the XW10 giving 203x, which can be used many nights, the XF8.5 at 239x for good but not dazzling nights, it is the XW7 which will probably be used less. If I find the XF gets little use in the C8, I will put it in the case of the Lunt LS35. It pairs up just perfectly with that.

[Mike73]

Maybe a little off topic but does anyone know when the new Delos are available in the UK? I've made a couple calls but no one seems to know.