Eyepieces for Celestron Omni XLT 150 reflector, please HELP!

[chuluvski]

Hello guys, how are you doing today? I'm from Brazil, and I can mostly buy astronomy equipments only overseas. So, right now, I'm looking for some new eyepieces and a barlow, and hope that you guys could me throw something.

Here's the deal. My budget is limited, and right now, I do have the scope with it's original configuration, CG-4 mount and a not so good 25mm EP. I'm into planetary and deep sky, so I was thinking, in buying three more things: A barlow 2x or 3x (maybe US$100 and so), and two mid-range eyepieces (US$ 100 and so dollars each) 5mm and 16mm or something close to that. Until now, I read about these EP's:

- Badder Planetarium Hyperium;

- Televue Plossl;

- Celestron X-cel LX;

- Celestorn Luminous;

- Celestron Ultima;

- Meade Series 5000 HD-60;

About the barlows, I read about some Celestron x-cel and the Televue ones.

So, I'm really on a dilema on which to buy. Please, throw me any considerations, I would really appreciate.

Thanks mates.

[crazyjedi]

Hi,

You seem to have done some homework there and have found some good brands of lens all of which are good. I would not go for the Hyperions only because you have a fast (f5) scope and Hyperions don't perform as well as some others in the faster scopes. All the other brands on your list will work very well with your scope at any focal length.

The sharpest of the bunch you have listed are probably the Televue plossl's but you won't go far wrong with any of them bar the Hyperions.

Not to add to the confusion but have you considered the Explore Scientific range. Their 68 degree argon purged range are frequently appearing in sales on US web sites.

The only issue I can see for you is fitting it all within budget as the TV plossls are not far off £100 here in the UK and so may come in at well over $100. The Luminos will probably be too expensive too.

The Meade EP's should be around $100 each and the Celestron XL-cel LX's amy be available for less than $100 (just)

There are other good brands such as Vixen who offer plossls well under the $100 mark or alternatively the second hand market could be a good place to find bargains (I got myself a Televue Radian for £115 second hand)

Clear Sky

[Capricorn]

For 5mm you cannot get a 5mm TV Plossl, they stop at 8mm.

Hyperions have issues with fast scopes, f/5.

I think TV Powermates are very good in the barlow line but somewhat expensive, TAL barlows are said to be good but not sure if you can get one.

The remainder of the eyepieces are good, ES have an offer at present so may be worth looking at.

Also consider the Astro-Tech Paradigm's, very good performance and a very good price, $60.

[lestergibson]

The TAL Barlow IS hard to find since they aren't made any more. I got mine here: http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/sky_watcher/skywatcher_accs.htm (scroll down the page)

They had some in stock up to a few weeks ago and might still do.

[BuzzBomb]

The Tal Barlow is a must.

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

[glowjet]

If you want to consider Explore Scientific, Astronomics / Christopher's in the USA have a Summer Sale still ongoing with their range of 1.25" 82° FOV eye pieces

John.