Hyperion Dilemma???

[M4lcs67]

Am looking at another Baader Hyperion ep to add to my collection. Having a 24mm (that cannot be changed) and a 10mm that I can use my 14 and 28mm fine tuning rings with I am not considering something in the middle. Maybe the 17mm. I also have a Celestron 2x barlow which adds extra flexibility. I love the Hyperions as not only do they have a wide fov 68d egrees, but I love the fact that they are modular and with the addition of the ftr's you can increase the focal length. I would therefore be using the ftr's with the new ep. The 10mm that I currently have gets things down to about 8.1mm with the addition of the ftr's, but that is only when seeing permits, which will be not very often. Therefore in reality I have most bases covered in the high powered department. What I do have missing is an eyepiece in between my 24mm Hyperion and the barlowed 24 which takes things down to 12mm. That is why I was considering the 17mm. Does anybody have any experience of the 17mm Hyperion? I am really sold on these eyepieces and love the chunkyness of them as well. I would be using it with my C9.25 SCT as well as my 127 SLT Mak.

[Damo636]

I have owned the 17mm Malc, nice eyepiece. With the 14mm fine tuning ring added you get a 13mm into the bargain

[alan potts]

I like the feel of the hyperions to but could not be bothered to fiddle about with them changing the F/L, apart from dropping things in the dark you also have any amount of dust and grit that can get inside from your hands. Why not buy the 17mm and leave it at 17mm, it's a good eyepiece without being a show stopper and a F10 you will be fine. They tend to drop off at the edges as scopes get faster. Instead of changing the F/L of the 17mm barlow it for your higher magnification as most people would.

Alan.

[faulksy]

i know you say you like the hyperions, but even better why not try a bgo or ts hr planatery e.p.s these are very good

[E621Keith]

i know you say you like the hyperions, but even better why not try a bgo or ts hr planatery e.p.s these are very good

Or go one step up and get some green on black.

A C925 is a F10 scope so most eyepieces will work well on it in terms of edge correction. Transmission, scatter and internal reflection control is more important factors to consider.

[alan potts]

Keith,

Or go one step up and get some green on black.

One step up?

Alan.

[M4lcs67]

Thanks for all your comments. Definate food for thought on all counts. Got to finance a dew heater and all associated gubbings first as currently the scope is unusable because of the moisture on the front of the scope (even with my dewsheild), so have decided to get a bit more serious and get the heater. Will be getting that extra eyepiece pretty soon though as well as a polarscope for the CG5 mount.

[steppenwolf]

I have the 24, 17 and 8mm Hyperions and I love the 17mm as it is a great 'gap filler' and has that extra flexibility of using the FTR which you can't do with the 24mm. Call me sad but I rather like the idea of a matched set!

[Virgoman]

Glad to hear your recommendation, Steve, as I am about to purchase a 17mm Hyperion myself! Like the idea of the FTR for flexibility. I am still using the eyepiece(s) that came with my scopes.....think I might be missing out!!

[John]

Glad to hear your recommendation, Steve, as I am about to purchase a 17mm Hyperion myself! Like the idea of the FTR for flexibility. I am still using the eyepiece(s) that came with my scopes.....think I might be missing out!!

Hyperions are good eyepieces with a slow scope (F/8 or slower) but not so good with fast ones. Horse for courses, so to speak.

[CGolder]

I found they are a little lacking in even as slow as f10 but they are OK eyepieces, big upgrade over the standard. I sold mine as they showed way to much coma for my liking and you can grab a second hand nagler instead of 2 hyperions

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[steppenwolf]

Coming from an imaging background, eyepieces of any kind are the work of the devil but in my f6.3 refractor, the huge improvement over my original OEM 25mm and 10mm EPs made them worth every penny - if only money was no object!!

[Dunkster]

17mm Ethos

Would be a beaut in your C9.25 Malc...

[alan potts]

Coming from an imaging background, eyepieces of any kind are the work of the devil

Steve,

You of all people should know man was looking at the heavans with an eyepiece long before the photographic plate was invented.

Alan

[M4lcs67]

Hey Dunk.

How do those compare in your 11"? Neever having considered the Ethos what are they like performance and cost wise? Hyperions are £100 a pop, but with the ftr's you are getting several ep in one. Obviously the supplied ep that came with the C9.25 is of far better quality than the one I got with my 127 Mak. Really need some time with the scope in any case, but what with the rubbish weather and my eye op I have only had the opportunity to use the new scope once since I got it in late July. Still gonna be a while yet anyhow as I go and see the eye specialist on Thursday and will have to go back into hospital for a smaller op in a few weeks time. Then some more recovery time. Hopefully I should be sorted. Really chomping at the bit and desparate to get to grips with the new toy. Am really looking forward to the views that it is going to give. Thats the reason I bought it in the first place. It is so highly regarded.

[John]

The Ethos cost around £500 each (more for the 17mm) and have 100 degree fields of view. Not really fair to compare them with Hyperions perhaps ?

The Celestron X-Cel LX's seem to get good feedback on here and are around £70. I'd be considering those to if I was looking for an SCT eyepiece. If you ever come across one the Vixen LVW's are excellent. They are similar in size and heft to Hyperions and a similar spec but optically are quite a bit better I found when I compared the two ranges. The Vixen's cost £200 new but you can get them for around half that used, if you can find one. The Tele Vue Radian's would also be worth thinking about - they cost about as much as a new Hyperion on the used market and are sharp to the very edge of the field even in fast scopes.

[Dunkster]

Yeah the weather has been a real dampener (sorry for the pun) I've been out once (ok and a half) in the past month and that was at full moon

The Ethos is frightening. Sharp from edge to edge, but my sight is such that I can't take it all in at once and have to move my head around. I find 82 degrees from the ES82s plenty immersive though, don't really notice the field stop without eyeballing around.

What EP came with the C9.25?

This is maybe a bit left field, but have you considered an 82 degree like the SW Nirvana? A bit pricier but the 16mm should work really well and the Nirvana are highly regarded. I don't understand the ftr but what other FL does it give?

[M4lcs67]

Hey John. Thanks for your additional info. Blimey. That price is well out of my reach. The wife would kill me. Especially after just buying a new scope whic I had to break to her very gently. They may be regarded as the pinacle of ep's, but for the amount of real usage I would be getting I couldn't justify spending that kind of money. I would have to be out every night for a year to really warrant spending that. I need to be realistic, but still would like to fill the gap in my eyepiec collection. If I went with the Hyperion 17mm then with the fine tuning rings I would get the following focal lengths: The effective FL of the 17mm eyepiece is as follows:

With 14mm FTR: 13.1mm

With 28mm FTR: 10.8mm

Combined FTR: 9.2mm

So with that in mind I am inclined to go with the 17mm Hyperion due to it's flexibility, but I have considered the Celestron LX's before as many people recommed them as well. Blimey. I can be impossible making a choice sometimes as there are so many different options and people have such varied opinions.

I was given a handy tip for changing the ftr's and that was to do it outside, so the internal element cannot be contaminated with dust. Can be really tricky if you are outside in the dark, but I would seriously consider setting up a little table where you can do the swap-over without running the risk of dropping anything in the dark. Also I bought a can of compressed air from my local branch of Staples which is great for removing dust from you eyepieces and other optical parts of your scope. Still have a large blowerbrush and a Celestron brush pen. I hate dust..........

Dunk,

The scope came with a 25mm Plossl, although I don't know which model. It has orange writing on it.

[jgs001]

I started with the 17mm and when my Hyperions get looked through, it tends to be the most used. I have the both FTR's but don't tend to bother with them too much... If I'm going to use them, I'll add them indoors. The changes of cross threading, or dropping something in the dark and cold isn't worth it to my mind, and I just barlow them instead. I've read that you shouldn't barlow a Hyperion, as the lower lens element is a barlow in it's own right, which is why the FTR's work, but I've never had a problem. Ok, I've never looked through a Nagler or comparable, and to be honest, I hope I never will... because, then I'll probably want to replace my Hyperions and I can't afford that

[M4lcs67]

Interesting thoughts, John. Thanks for that. Never knew that you were not supposed to barlow a Hyperion. Well that has scuppered me once again as I was contemplating using my Ultima 2x with it. Worth a punt to see what happens though. I'm always one for trying things out to see what happens (as long as no damage is done of course).

I certainly wouldn't fancy chopping and changing the ftr's several times during a sesh. Have a bit of a play to start with then decide which ep to set up and stick with it for the night. I can't see things being that tricky that you need to change it several times. Chances are you will have an alternative in your ep collection that would cover things.

[jgs001]

It never worried me, and always worked fine, be that with my Tal x2 or Ultima x2. I still do, now that I know you're not supposed to, as before I found out, it all worked ok