e/ps 10"

[sam mayo]

i have a 250px ssw and also i have brought an 8mm 12mm bst eps with them is a 15mm vixen 50" fov standard 10 and 25mm eps. i want a low mag wide fov ep what would people recommend for my scope budget is £100 i have read reviews but cant come to a suitable conclusion help would be very much appreciated thanks sam

[JamesF]

I've been in a similar boat recently and ended up buying the Tele Vue 24mm Panoptic second hand. The general opinion seems to be that any other make is going to be a bit "soft" at the edges. If you're willing to accept that however, perhaps one of these would fit the bill?

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Explore_Scientific_30mm_70__eyepiece.html

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Explore_Scientific_35mm_70__eyepiece.html

James

[pvaz]

Hi Sam.

The bad news is that Widefield EPs are the most expensive ones. :/

With a limit of 100 it's not easy to pick one that will perform well at f/5. I'd either try the ES 30mm 70º or play it safe and get a good quality 32mm plossl.

http://www.telescopehouse.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2etelescopehouse%2ecom%2f&WD=explore%20scientific&PN=Explore_Scientific_30mm_70__eyepiece%2ehtml%23a0218730#a0218730

[pvaz]

I need to type faster, James.

The 35mm might be a bit of a stretch, at f/5 it will produce a 7mm exit pupil.

[sam mayo]

ok thanks will have a look !

[JamesF]

It might, yes. The 30mm might be a better bet.

James

[sam mayo]

is there much more option with £150

[JamesF]

Not an awful lot I don't think. Eyepiece prices climb rather steeply when you get into wider fields of view. Second hand you might find something. I thought Alan Potts had a few wide eyepieces in the classifieds, but perhaps he's already sold them.

James

[rory]

if new ,then i here the skywatcher aero is a fairly good bit of glass. the 30mm 2" is £130 on flo. having said this theres alot to be said for a good quality 32mm plossl ,which can be had really cheap.

[JamesF]

On AB&S there's a 24mm Panoptic for £160, or a 34mm Meade 5000 SWA for £150. You're back to the exit pupil issue again with that second one though.

James

[JamesF]

if new ,then i here the skywatcher aero is a fairly good bit of glass. the 30mm 2" is £130 on flo. having said this theres alot to be said for a good quality 32mm plossl ,which can be had really cheap.

The Aero might be an option, yes. Not sure about a Plossl though. They're only about 50 degrees AFOV aren't they?

James

[rory]

The Aero might be an option, yes. Not sure about a Plossl though. They're only about 50 degrees AFOV aren't they?

James

quite right james. im just wondering as he's not used lower power apart from the 25mm stock e/p, he might be suprised by a good 32mm gso/meade.

what about the meade hd ,do they have a 32mm ?

[paul schofield]

+ 1 for the Aero ED 30mm. Mine gets a lot of use in my 200p and it is a great e.p, comfortable too with 16.7mm eye relief. An added bonus is its weight, not too heavy for a 2 inch e.p. I think they come in at around the £125 mark.

Also people speak highly of the Panaview ep's, they come in 26mm, 32mm or 38mm and are considerably cheaper at around £80, never tried the Panaview myself.

[JamesF]

That's a fair point. I used to use my 32mm Revelation Plossl a huge amount in my other scopes. It's fairly hideous in the 250 though. Not at all happy at that focal ratio. It would definitely have to be a good quality one.

I'm losing track of what Meade do and don't do these days. Their range seems to be going through a bit of a shakedown at the moment.

James

[rory]

That's a fair point. I used to use my 32mm Revelation Plossl a huge amount in my other scopes. It's fairly hideous in the 250 though. Not at all happy at that focal ratio. It would definitely have to be a good quality one.

I'm losing track of what Meade do and don't do these days. Their range seems to be going through a bit of a shakedown at the moment.

James

actually, i never thought about the focal ratio, perhaps not then . i assumed being only 50 or 52 degrees it would have been ok. the meade 5000 hd 2" is about £80 new by the way.

right enough from me as i dont know what im talking about .

(by the way i always write degrees, because ive no idea where to find the degree symbol !)

[sam mayo]

i take it the skywatcher wide view arnt that great

[sam mayo]

wat about this

William Optics SWAN eyepiece

[rory]

i take it the skywatcher wide view arnt that great

if your refering to the s/w stock eyepiece that come with the set up , well generally people agree they do the job,but once you get to use something of a higher quality theres no going back.

[John]

wat about this

William Optics SWAN eyepiece

The SWAN's are decent in slower scopes (F/7 or slower) but you will see quite a lot of edge distortion in your 250PX as it's a F/4.7.

Of the eyepieces mentioned above I'd give the nod to the Skywatcher Aero ED 30mm. A used one should be within your original £100 budget and might just be the best low power / wide field option at that price point.

The great thing about buying used is that you can usually recover most of your investment if / when you decide to sell on and move on again.

Remember that 2" eyepieces need 2" filters though. Thats another item that will be on your wish list soon if it's not already !

[Spec-Chum]

If your prepared to wait a week or so for delivery you could take a punt on this http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=350608345220

My sterling is fantastic.

[sam mayo]

thanks will have a look at the aero john was looking at the pannaview 2" but the aero is on the same page but missed it lol great replys

[rory]

in the great scheme of things sam,if your rushing to get this e/p for the up coming star party you were talking about,i would resist and hold fire on a purchase . you would no doubt get to chat with a few experienced astronomers and even try out eyepieces ,so id have said a better choice might be made after the event.

[Capricorn]

In the 32 plossl range there are the Vixen NPL at 30mm fair bit less then your budget, another option is the 32mm TV Plossl. Presently £120 but there is a 10% discount making them £108. Good on f/5 scopes from reports.

Catch seems to be that there isn't too much above 25mm and a "wide" 25mm costs more then a 32mm plossl and will still often not quite produce the field of view owing to the higher magnification.

[Spec-Chum]

The 25mm BST shows the same fov as the 30mm npl. I'm not sure which would be sharper tho, but i'd guess on the npl.

[sam mayo]

thanks some great opinions helped a lot,im guna pull the triger on the aero 2" 30mm i think, see how that goes!