Next best thing to a Televue

[bendiddley]

Hi all. Yes I'm on a bit of a roll with my posts today, got 2 going already, time for a third me thinks! So I'm thinking about getting myself a 32mm 1.25" EP and I want a decent bit of kit, but I'm reluctant to pay £120 for a televue as it's quite a lot for me and I can't find any second hand ones at the mo, so its got me thinking, is there an EP that is as good as or nearly as good as for less, say £70-£80? Probably a dum question as its probably not possible but thought I'd ask anyway. Cheers.

[Moonshane]

Personally, I'd wait for a used TV but http://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-classic-ortho-bco-eyepiece.html might be a good one to try.

I looked through one of these once too and it was OK http://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-eyepieces/celestron-omni-plossl-eyepiece.html

Not used one but a lot of people like these http://www.firstlightoptics.com/vixen-eyepieces/vixen-npl-eyepieces.html

[nightfisher]

GSO/Revelation 32mm plossl.........1/4 the price of a televue and 90% as good

[rwilkey]

I was lucky enough to nab a TV plossl 32mm off Ebay recently for £80 but haven't tried it yet. Otherwise I would recommend the 32mm PanaView, great in my 200P, however, a little soft at the edges like many widefield ep's at f/5. Up until now this has been my most used ep. I bought the TV for my C100ED though it will work well in both my scopes.

[Mr Fiery Jack]

I use 32mm TV, much sharper than a GSO I used to own. That said the GSO was perfectly useable. You could try a Meade or hang out on a second hand TV plossl, I have bought all my EPs second hand, I don't buy new gear any more, a waste of money I find.

[hunterknox]

Had a 32mm Televue plossl. Now have a 25mm Xcel LX. No regrets.

[Mr Fiery Jack]

That's the ep I had before the 32mm, same as, no regrets.. Are a sharper view altogether. X-cel are very comfy it has to be said, such a shame about the shody build quality.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[bendiddley]

GSO/Revelation 32mm plossl.........1/4 the price of a televue and 90% as good

Good to know its a close competitor. I'd been thinking about one of those as an option but not sure how it would compare. Thanks everyone else for your comments

[hunterknox]

That's the ep I had before the 32mm, same as, no regrets.. Are a sharper view altogether. X-cel are very comfy it has to be said, such a shame about the shody build quality.

Sorry to hear that but it's a fair point that one thing you do pay for with Televue, Pentax and the like is impeccable quality control.

[umadog]

Sorry to hear that but it's a fair point that one thing you do pay for with Televue, Pentax and the like is impeccable quality control.

That's true. What has made TV famous, though, are the wider FOV eyepieces. What they do very well is produce wide-field eyepieces that are well corrected out to the edge and work well with faster instruments. That stuff is hard to do and involves fancy glass so it costs more.

In this thread it seems the OP is considering a Plossl. Plossls have a 50 degree apparent FOV, which is relatively tame from an optics perspective. Consequently, good Plossls are fairly easy to make so a lot of the offerings out there are pretty good. It's when you get to the extreme stuff (basically, whenever you start bending light by big angles) that it really pays to do your homework.

[bendiddley]

That's true. What has made TV famous, though, are the wider FOV eyepieces. What they do very well is produce wide-field eyepieces that are well corrected out to the edge and work well with faster instruments. That stuff is hard to do and involves fancy glass so it costs more.

In this thread it seems the OP is considering a Plossl. Plossls have a 50 degree apparent FOV, which is relatively tame from an optics perspective. Consequently, good Plossls are fairly easy to make so a lot of the offerings out there are pretty good. It's when you get to the extreme stuff (basically, whenever you start bending light by big angles) that it really pays to do your homework.

yes that's right i was referring to the tv plossl, i realised after i made the post that i hadn't specified what type (doh). interesting to hear about plossl's and wide-field ep's, thanks.

[Astro_Baby]

Try a Vixen NPL, bit plasticky but nothing wrong with the views through one of those, nice and contrasty. Almost any good quality Plossl will perform pretty well. Alternately for £70 you could look at some of the wider field designs with a 2"fitting.

[nightfisher]

That's the ep I had before the 32mm, same as, no regrets.. Are a sharper view altogether. X-cel are very comfy it has to be said, such a shame about the shody build quality.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Funny thing, i had the same problem with quality, and now wont use them

[Mr Fiery Jack]

I went through 3 x 25mm and 3 x 5mm X-Cel LXs' before I got ones without hairs or other particles of unknown debris inside them. Then of course so you use them in anything other than room temperature the end caps contract and are then almost impossible to remove without ripping off the rubber around the eye cups, not that they require much handling before they just fall if anyway.

[knobby]

Just for the sake of balance, I have a 5,7,12 and an 18 mm X-Cel LX and they are all perfect ( I think) maybe I'm lucky but just thought I'd pipe up !

[Mr Fiery Jack]

Glad to hear it. Decent enough views but Celestron appear to have a rather cavalier attitude towards quality control.

[Mr Spock]

I have a Meade 4000 32mm. It's every bit as sharp as any other eyepiece I have.

[bendiddley]

I went through 3 x 25mm and 3 x 5mm X-Cel LXs' before I got ones without hairs or other particles of unknown debris inside them. Then of course so you use them in anything other than room temperature the end caps contract and are then almost impossible to remove without ripping off the rubber around the eye cups, not that they require much handling before they just fall if anyway.

interesting to hear about the debris inside the lx's, i've just got a 5mm and there's some inside that. hoping to get it out with a bulb blower and some wonder fluid. rest have been fine though, end caps are quite tight but don't cause me too much trouble, the views with the lx's are amazing which makes up for it.

[bendiddley]

Try a Vixen NPL, bit plasticky but nothing wrong with the views through one of those, nice and contrasty. Almost any good quality Plossl will perform pretty well. Alternately for £70 you could look at some of the wider field designs with a 2"fitting.

i considered a 2" one as an option but i thought i might find the swapping over of adapters each time a bit annoying.

[Mr Fiery Jack]

I tried to get the bits out using a bulb blower too, not a hope so back they went, most annoying.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[scoobee]

I use 9,12,18,25 mm X-Cel LX EP's no problems, also other club member use them and no reported problems

[nightfisher]

I have kept quiet about mine, but i had a 7mm LX and that had black particles in the field of view, i did not have the heart to return it to the supplier as it was an exchange for a different ep

[bendiddley]

I have kept quiet about mine, but i had a 7mm LX and that had black particles in the field of view, i did not have the heart to return it to the supplier as it was an exchange for a different ep

i'm going to try cleaning mine. did you have any luck with yours?

[nightfisher]

Be careful, i ended up stripping the whole ep, and there are lots of bits inside, the 1.25 barrel unscrews revealing a type of barlow in the bottom, this will allow you access to several glass faces, use only a rocket blower on it

[Qualia]

Funny you mention this because only recently I set up a thread wondering if I had problems with my diagonal - I kept seeing a tiny black dot when something bright passed over it. I was advised to clean my LX EPs and diagonal and give the EPs a turn when viewing something bright to see if the 'small black dot' moved. Well, it did! So, back to cleaning and tonight, once again, there it was, that stubborn, tiny black dot.

Now reading over this thread it might well be something 'inside' the X-Cel itself I never dreamt that this could be the case, so after the New Year festives it will be back to blower, unscrew the barrel and see if I can get the dot removed.

For record, the 25mm, 12mm and LX barlow are absolutely spot on. But the 7mm and 18mm seem to have this little dot about the size of an eye on this 'smilely' -

Regarding the dust cap and rubber eye-band. I have absoluetly no problems with the 25mm, 12mm & 7mm but the 18mm eye-band has come a little loose, but only on one side. However, if I tot up the amount of times this eyepiece has been used, I guess some wear and tear is to be expected.

With this caveat duely noted, Image quality wise I would still recommend the X-Cel LX as really decent mid-range EPs. The view is sharp across the field of view and the contrast is brilliant. I'd rather be rid of my Hyperion, Tal EPs and perhaps even the Baader Ortho before giving up on these little gems.