Which illuminated reticule EP?

[Sirius Bizness]

What is a good illuminated reticule EP to go for. Looking to improve my goto alignment and use the SynScan polar realignment function.

Not looking the spend too much so this looks tempting:

http://www.skysthelimit.org.uk/illuminated%20reticle%20eyepieces.html

Has anyone used this one? Are the double cross hairs useful?

The SW one is a tad more expensive:

http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/sky-watcher-illuminated-reticles_t5_s48_u1.html

Do they all work well or should I be looking at specs on illumination, FOV, cross hairs, etc.

Any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated.

[alan potts]

I have the eyepiece that is marketed by Baader under the name Polaris, it is on the TS site at about 95 Euros, I think it is rubbish when I compair it to a Meade 26mm Plossl. Both have a around 25mm F/L and much the same FOV.

So my advice is don't even look at this one, I bought as part of the Baader Vario Finder which is expensive for what it is, 360 euros with holder, I am still not happy with it and it has been back to Baader. When I remove the diagonal and eyepiece and replace it with Meade items, it's fine.

Alan.

[Grotemobile]

Have a look on Astro Buy & Sell.

I picked up a S/Hand one for £20.

Dont use it that much.Would not be

with out it though.Usefull bit of

kit.

Steve

[Sirius Bizness]

I put an ad on ABS but nothing yet. Seems no one has one or they hang onto them. Will probably try the sky's the limit one.

[Grotemobile]

That one does not look to bad @ £38 .

I would go for that.

Steve.

[JamesF]

I did go for that. If all you want to do is line something up in the centre of the eyepiece it's all you need. Paying more is of no benefit as far as I can see. Often I don't even bother to focus the scope when I have the reticle eyepiece in as long as I can see the fuzzy blob is in the crosshairs.

James

[JamesF]

Oh, I would add that the reticle is brought to focus by "unscrewing" the top of the eyepiece and it's helpful to do that even if you don't bother focusing on the target. It does feel quite loose on mine when I have it nicely focused, but not enough to bother me into fixing it. If you want something that feels "high quality" however, this isn't it. It does the job fine for me, but the build quality is consistent with the price.

James

[Steve Ward]

You could try "Al's Reticle" in conjunction with your camera and laptop to drift align . . . worked for me and saved the expense of an illuminated EP.

http://alsreticle.software.informer.com/

Steve.

[JamesF]

I bought the illuminated reticle eyepiece just so I could find the target with my camera

James