Celestron x-cel lx 9mm or 12mm?

[bendiddley]

Hi all. I've just bought myself a Celestron X-cel LX 7mm which I am very pleased with. I am now looking to get another LX but I'm not sure whether to get the 9mm or 12mm. Does anyone have experience with these at all and which they prefer? I can only afford one more at the moment, which is why I'm in a bit of a quandary, if I had more money I would probably buy both. My hunch is that the 12mm is probably the right one at the moment but I think I just want other peoples take on it. Thanks.

[Spec-Chum]

I think the 9mm is a too close to the 7mm you've just bought. I'd go for the 12mm, or possibly the 18mm and a Barlow? that gives you the 9mm you're thinking of as a bonus.

Hate to throw a spanner in the works, but I'd always go for a lower mag and a Barlow first.

[Qualia]

That's a tricky one. You'll have to work out what magnification you think you'll be using the most this autumn. I have almost all the X-Cel LXs and the LX 'shorty' barlow and to be honest, they're all smashing EPs in the forgiving f/10, so whatever you choose I don't think will cause you any problems in your more demanding f/5.

If it helps, I think my most used in the collection are the 7mm, 18mm and 25mm. The 12mm does get used, but not as often. So, if I were you, I'd buy the lovely low-power 18mm or 25mm and barlow it when the need arises.

[pvaz]

Having the 7mm already, I'd go with the 12mm. It's a very good focal lenght for most DSOs.

[TractionMan]

I'd go for the 12mm as well in this case. Great EP's indeed and the work more than fine in a fast scope. Good luck with your choice.

[bendiddley]

Well I've bit the bullet and gone for the 12mm! Last one in stock on amazon too, now I can sit back and enjoy the "i've got a new eyepiece coming my way" feeling lol

[Moonshane]

I have two concerns as follows:

the 7mm gives 171x and this might be too much quite often in the UK as seeing will prevent using so much magnification. the 9mm gives 133x and this is likely to be more useful more of the time.

also barlowing an eyepiece with 16mm eye relief will create a long eye relief of maybe 30-32mm. I'd find this annoying.

my eyepieces are tightly bunched at the higher power end and therefore I'd recommend this as it works for me but YMMV of course. personally, I'd buy the 9mm and suspect this will become your 'workhorse' eyepiece in this scope with the 7mm very useful on the moon and excellent nights of seeing.

[MJWales]

Another vote for the 12mm X-Cel LX from me. It's my most used eyepiece. Incidentally, with my 1000mm and 1200mm focal length 'scopes it gives a nice full-disc view for solar/lunar.

[johninderby]

I have the 7mm, 9mm and 12mm and the 9mm is the least used of them. So I'd have to agree with most of the previous replies and recommend the 12mm.

John

[Capricorn]

I would go for the 9mm tio use when the 7mm is too much for the conditions.

Really the solution is simple 9mm and 12mm.

[great_bear]

the 7mm gives 171x and this might be too much quite often in the UK as seeing will prevent using so much magnification. the 9mm gives 133x and this is likely to be more useful more of the time.

Wow... I'm surprised you find 171x troublesome so often - and if I was forced down to 133x I'd pack up and watch telly...

I find that on the majority of occasions (three out of four times when it's good enough to bother observing?) then 230x is no problem at all, provided that the scope has fully cooled down, the object isn't over people's houses, and it's late enough at night for our own planet to have cooled down and not be sending up waves of heat everywhere (1-2am?). If I'm lucky (about one in four times?) I can manage 330x seeing good planetary/lunar surface detail in the binoviewer. Once in a while (one in ten or probably fewer) 408x proves marginally useful if not exactly "clean" - (it's more "interesting" than useful really...). But a night when 330x is working well - not particularly unusual by any means - is an exciting evening indeed...

This is using Meade 5000 "Plossls" in the binoviewer on the Mak 180 on an HEQ5.

J.

[Moonshane]

the problem with where I live is that every direction is above someone's house. don't get me wrong I regularly use 300x+ on double stars and moon (even using 500x+ occasionally at the zenith on good nights) but e.g. Jupiter is not a fan of powers in excess of 150x most of the time and I don't think you see much more detail above about 150x on most objects

the other issue is I often observe in less than optimum conditions!

[bendiddley]

Wow... I'm surprised you find 171x troublesome so often - and if I was forced down to 133x I'd pack up and watch telly...

I find that on the majority of occasions (three out of four times when it's good enough to bother observing?) then 230x is no problem at all, provided that the scope has fully cooled down, the object isn't over people's houses, and it's late enough at night for our own planet to have cooled down and not be sending up waves of heat everywhere (1-2am?). If I'm lucky (about one in four times?) I can manage 330x seeing good planetary/lunar surface detail in the binoviewer. Once in a while (one in ten or probably fewer) 408x proves marginally useful if not exactly "clean" - (it's more "interesting" than useful really...). But a night when 330x is working well - not particularly unusual by any means - is an exciting evening indeed...

This is using Meade 5000 "Plossls" in the binoviewer on the Mak 180 on an HEQ5.

J.

Thanks for your update on your experience with viewing high power. I have to say I was thinking I had had quite a bit of success with my 7mm lx using it on several nights with no issues, so was sure I wasn't just lucky with those nights. Good to hear how much success you've had with your EP's.

[Hex]

I have a full set of X-CEL LXs' and concur that the 9mm is my least used ep. I was going to up grade to TeleVue until very recently. I was advised that I might not see much of a difference in my fl 9 refractor, they were right, I couldn't tell the difference between the X-CEL and Radions', a lucky escape.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[great_bear]

the problem with where I live is that every direction is above someone's house.

Ah... That'll do it every time... I have to wait until my chosen object is clear of the houses and in a straight line across the back gardens between the terraces. My pack-up time is dictated not by time of day, but by when the moon/Jupiter etc start to move back over the other houses - since it's game over at that point...

[simon]

12mm :-)

[rory]

im im the middle of switching to x-cels and have yet to add a 18mm ,BUT i will say for general observing i found my 18mm bst was used most often along with the standard 32mm plossl .

i guess im trying to say is the 18mm would be a good choice in your 200p giving around x66.and like another poster suggested a barlow later could also double it up as a 9mm (x 132)

i often found the 18mm gave good views over many dso's. where as the higher mags were kept away more often than not. thats my penny's worth. if not the 18mm then go for the 12mm (x100) i think the 9 and 7 are to close if youve nothing else to fall back on.

[great_bear]

Worth noting perhaps that if the XCell LX are indeed the same as the Meade HD-60, then the 7 isn't a 7 at all, but actually a 6.5

J

[Qualia]

my eyepieces are tightly bunched at the higher power end and therefore I'd recommend this as it works for me

Completely different set up and f/ratio but I've ended up with exactly the same result, 5mm Hyperion, 6mm Ortho, & 7mm LX for planets, lunar and sunspot work and splitting doubles then a significant jump to the middle and lesser power EPs for DSOs I can capture and open clusters/star fields. I've also found that in general, Jupiter doesn't like high magnifications, 150x being that sweet spot.

[rory]

there were some x-cels on e bay new unused going for £60 in a few lengths.

ive had to put some small slits in the top cap on my x-cels as it feels like im going to pull the eyecup off. this is common with these apparently. has anyone else modified the covers/caps.

[bendiddley]

there were some x-cels on e bay new unused going for £60 in a few lengths.

ive had to put some small slits in the top cap on my x-cels as it feels like im going to pull the eyecup off. this is common with these apparently. has anyone else modified the covers/caps.

I got around this by not pushing the cap all the way down, it still seems to stay put nicely as I too found it too tight, but it is easy to get it off this way.

[bendiddley]

thanks everyone for your advise, it has been very helpful

[Qualia]

Ive had to put some small slits in the top cap on my x-cels as it feels like im going to pull the eyecup off. this is common with these apparently. has anyone else modified the covers/caps.

This is a curious one and not the first time this has been mentioned. From my perspective, I think it may have to do with individual cases rather than the series per se.

I have a range of the XLs and of these 5 EPs, four came from different suppliers (prefer to distribute my cash between well-meaing souls). Each set from a given supplier has its own peculiar feature but in general, the 7mm and 18mm from Sevilla and the 12mm from Madrid work a dream, their dust cups slid off with ease and the screw up eye relief is firm and with a nice solid feel about it. The 25mm from Barcelona, on the other hand, has its cap too tight feeling as if I'm 'going to pull the eyecup off' and the eye relief slids too freely as if it has been oiled or over-used. The barlow is lovely, its as if it receives the given EP with a kiss.

[Damo636]

Worth noting perhaps that if the XCell LX are indeed the same as the Meade HD-60, then the 7 isn't a 7 at all, but actually a 6.5

J

Good point!