Affordable 1.25" eyepieces - a personal view

[F15Rules]

Hi again

I know not everyone can or wants to use big heavy 2" eps, so I thought this time I'd mention some modestly priced 1.25" eps that I'm currently using. I've used lots of others in the past and if appropriate I'll mention some of those where I think they compare to the ones I currently have..

Again, I'm speaking of these in the context of long fl scopes of F10/F11 so please bear that in mind.

I'll group these into 3 sections, Low, Medium and High power. My scopes have focal lengths of 1100mm and 1500mm. I think my Intes and WO 2" diagonals add around 150-200mm to these figures, so you can work out roughly the magnifications I am getting with each ep.

Low Power:

Meade 3000 Japan Plossl 40mm - this is quite new (to me). I've bought several Meade 3000s after reading some great reviews, especially on CN..some users over there rate them almost up there with Tele Vue plossls. They are quite distinctive, having a TV-esque green lettering and "Japan" stamped on the barrel. You can pick them up for anything between £20 and £30. Having owned most sizes of TV plossls I'd agree, on the basis of being used in long scopes. I think in some slower reflectors the TVs perhaps have more of an edge. The 40mm in any 1.25" barrel can be a bit "tunnel or porthole" like, but they do cover quite a bit of sky and give very low magnifications. Unfortunately, Meade didn't make a 32mm, which I think is the optimum lower power plossl size, so I got one of these. Makes a good finder eyepiece in my Altair 60mm finderscope too!

I've also had Orion Sirius in 40mm and have a Tal 40mm incoming shortly - will be interesting to see how the Tal compares to the Meade.

Meade 3000 plossl 25mm - just a fabulous little ep. I rate this up there with the Tal 25mm plossl, of which I have owned several. Super sharp, low power eps giving great views of many different objects - even Jupiter looks amazing in this ep, with sharp banding even at low power, and framed with the 4 key moons against background stars looks just great.

Note: For a while I did own a Televue 32mm plossl. I have to say that was a superb eyepiece and I have always regretted selling it. They are £120 new, so not cheap, but truly are lovely eps.

Medium Power

Lyra Optic EF (Extra Flat) 19mm 60 deg field. I'll give Glen a plug here, I was looking at his gorgeous Carton scopes on his website and noticed these eps just below his volcano top orthos..He's currently doing them at £40 and so I bought one. Am very impressed with this one, nice dark sky background and very flat field.

Meade 3000 Plossl 16mm (told you I had several! ). Possibly my favourite of the Meade's, a lovely ep with great eye relief and ultra sharp - a fabulous bit of kit. This one barlows down to 8mm too, to make a nice quite high power ep.

Intes Erfle 12mm - this one came with my M603 - no lettering, no writing of any kind on it, but actually a nice ep. I think it's an Erfle, and had quite a wide view, I'd estimate 55-60 degrees. And it barlows very well too.

Another one I've had in the past was a Tal 20mm plossl which I think are quite rare, a Televue 20mm Plossl and a Parks Gold Series 20mm. The Parks was a superb ep which I've since regretted selling.

High power

Meade 3000 9mm. A tad on the tight side eye relief-wise, but nice and sharp and very lightweight if that's important to you. This one completes my 3000 set, although I believe they did 5mm and 6mm versions too.

Orion Ultrascopic 7.5mm - very similar, if not identical to Celestron Ultima and Parks Gold Series. This is one of my favourite eps and is excellent on doubles, Planets and the moon. Great contrast, tight stellar images, good for pulling out that last bit of detail. Highly recommended.

Meade 6mm Ortho. I bought this on ebay on a whim, as I wanted a short fl ortho, and I haven't been disappointed. I am looking forward to using it on Jupiter this season, once we get some decent calm seeing.

I've also used a Tal 10mm with good success - a real cheap workhorse for quite high power, and barlows well too.

Note: I also used to own a complete set of Baader Genuine Orthos..I know these are very highly regarded and I did like mine, but I found personally that I got on best with the longer focal lengths..specifically I preferred the 18mm which I felt was a beautiful ep...and it barlowed really well too...if only they had made a 25mm and 32mm plossl to the same standard!

Well, that's it. You can see it's not a glamorous collection, very functional, but each ep has it's place and can be relied on to give good views in good conditions. Hope that's been of some interest. Let's hear what other affordable eps you are using? - shall we say at c£50-£60 maximum cost used?

cheers to all.

Dave

[John]

Hi Dave,

Another interesting report - thanks again

I agree with you 100% on the Meade 3000 plossls. I've used a number over the years and they were all very nice indeed for their cost. They worked alongside much more expensive "black and green" plossls but were not shown up really. I still have an older "smoothside" 40mm 3000 which has fine Japanese optics within it. No rubber eye cup on this early one though so finding the viewing point involves "hovering"

In the < £60 niche I'd say the Baader GO's were the best I've used (assuming secondhand here !) along with Tele Vue's plossls. The classic circle-T orthos can be had used for less than half that and always provide a quality view, albeit a trifle narrow. The volcano shape of the top of these helps achieve that "intimacy" with the eye lens that is required with the shorter FL orthos I found.

Thanks again for your notes on these lower cost gems

[Spec-Chum]

I'll add my 12.5mm sterling plossl to this list. Superb contrast, brightness and sharp pretty much to the edges on my f6. Nice 55 degree aFOV too.

Only downside is quite tight eye relief and lack of an eyecup of any sort. My eyelashes touch the lens.

A snip at £22 delivered from USA when I got mine. Now has about £10 delivery and you may get stung by customs.

[F15Rules]

Cheers John, it's good to hear you had a similar positive experience with the 3000s..I've also owned 4 element Japanese 4000s and honestly prefer the 3000s. Very much looking forward to trying the 40mm in the light of your comments .

I notice (via FLO update) that Baader are introducing their new chinese made classic range which do go up to a 32mm I think...it will be really interesting to see how they perform...the prices seem to qualify them as "affordable" ..I think the phantom coatings are excellent, I wonder if they will use them on the new Classic range?

Spec-chum (what a great handle that is!! ), you are completely right...I actually had a 25mm Sterling plossl, which I had forgotten to mention. It was an excellent ep - perhaps not the prettiest but optically very very good and great price too. I did notice that from the US you can buy as set of I think it's 8 or 9 of these across the focal length spec-chum (sorry) for around £200 or so - though you may get hit by customs as you say.

cheers

Dave

[Moonshane]

These reports are great Dave and prove that you don't need a heavy wallet to get good eyepieces for slow scopes.

My choices are used Televue plossls and BGOs. I bought as follows:

TVP 32mm £65 used

TVP 15mm new £55

BGO 12.5mm used £50

BGO 9mm used £50

BGO 7mm used £50

not the cheapest but work exceedingly well even in my f4 dob (with paracorr).

[John]

...I notice (via FLO update) that Baader are introducing their new chinese made classic range which do go up to a 32mm I think...it will be really interesting to see how they perform...the prices seem to qualify them as "affordable" ..I think the phantom coatings are excellent, I wonder if they will use them on the new Classic range?.....

FLO have kindly offered to lend me a set to review for the forum when they hit the shelves. I'm looking forward having a good look at, and through, them

[Spec-Chum]

FLO have kindly offered to lend me a set to review for the forum when they hit the shelves. I'm looking forward having a good look at, and through, them

Looking forward to this, had my eye on those (and the turret!)

[F15Rules]

Will look forward very much to your review of the new Baader range, John! Any idea when you'll complete it?

Talking of turret's I found a really nice Astro Engineering one in mint condition recently: it holds 3 1.25" eps and the rotation is very smooth indeed. Of course, since it arrived it has been cloudy...

The nice thing about the turret is also the weight..I use both 2" and 1.25" eps, and of course there is quite a difference in the weight of these..so it can affect the balance of the scope. But using the turret, the weight is almost equalised, as the weight of the turret plus 3 1.25" eps is quite similar to the weight of a 2" ep, heavier, even, depending on the particular 2" ep I'm using..so the balance of the scope seems to be less prone to requiring adjustment.

cheers

Dave

[John]

Will look forward very much to your review of the new Baader range, John! Any idea when you'll complete it?......

I haven't got them yet Dave !