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Next best thing to a Televue

bendiddley

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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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 :eek: 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' - :confused:

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.

glad the others are ok. my 7mm and 12mm are fine just the 5mm is the problem. i'm going to send it back as i've only had it for a week.

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kirkster501

kirkster501

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I really rate the BST explorerers. They are fabulous. I do a direct comparison between a Nagler and a BST and whilst the Nagler is better is it 10X better? No it isn't, nowhere near and not better enough to justify the massive difference in cost. If I had to sell something to raise funds (I don't fortunately) the TV EP's would be the first to go for this reason.

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John

John

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I really rate the BST explorerers. They are fabulous. I do a direct comparison between a Nagler and a BST and whilst the Nagler is better is it 10X better? No it isn't, nowhere near and not better enough to justify the massive difference in cost. If I had to sell something to raise funds (I don't fortunately) the TV EP's would be the first to go for this reason.

Did you really expect the Nagler's or any other other premium eyepiece for that matter to be "10x better" ?.

Once you get above the base level eg: BST Explorers, good quality plossls, etc the improvements in performance will always be incremental and those increments get smaller as the price increases. It's the same with scopes - a Takahashi FS102 is not 10x better than a Skywatcher ED100 in performance terms despite the massive price differential.

It's down to the individual whether they are prepared to pay for these small improvements.

The great thing about forums is that folks go into such purchases with a clear understanding of what they will and won't get. Then they can make informed buying choices :smiley:

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Let's not forget that TV do all the inventing and the rest do all the copying...

Plossls aren't optically demanding and honestly I don't see much difference between a TV32 I have and a Meade Series 4000. It's in the more demanding designs that TV show their class.

Olly

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rory

rory

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It's not as bad as you might think, especially if you have compression fittings.

yes thats what im planning on doing, use the centring adapter 1.25" which sits in the 2" focuser,so i can remove the whole thing like i would any eyepiece to replace it with my 2" aero.

( thats my 2" aero thats not been out of the e/p case since bought !! :mad: )

on the x-cel lx range,ive enjoyed the views, nice and sharp with 60 degree fov, and feel solid. no issues with the optics at all, only gripe is the eyecup coming off as others mention, ive reglued a couple and since then they were fine.

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Spec-Chum

Spec-Chum

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what are compression fittings?

They use a brass compression ring that's usually tightened by one screw. It much easier than having 2 screws and doesn't mark the barrels either.

Incidentally, I have the tube from my Barlow permanently attached to my scope with the Barlow lens removed as both the 2" and the 1.25" adaptor are compression.

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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Did you really expect the Nagler's or any other other premium eyepiece for that matter to be "10x better" ?.

Once you get above the base level eg: BST Explorers, good quality plossls, etc the improvements in performance will always be incremental and those increments get smaller as the price increases. It's the same with scopes - a Takahashi FS102 is not 10x better than a Skywatcher ED100 in performance terms despite the massive price differential.

It's down to the individual whether they are prepared to pay for these small improvements.

The great thing about forums is that folks go into such purchases with a clear understanding of what they will and won't get. Then they can make informed buying choices :smiley:

i had tried an bst 8mm but didn't get on with it because of kidney beaning/black outs, didn't get that with the x-cel lx which is why i've bought 3 so far.

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John

John

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i had tried an bst 8mm but didn't get on with it because of kidney beaning/black outs, didn't get that with the x-cel lx which is why i've bought 3 so far.

I found that with the Pentax XW's to start with. I then read the instructions that came with it and realised that, for a non glasses wearer, like me, the eye cup needed to be twisted up to more or less it's highest position. Not problems from then on :smiley:

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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I found that with the Pentax XW's to start with. I then read the instructions that came with it and realised that, for a non glasses wearer, like me, the eye cup needed to be twisted up to more or less it's highest position. Not problems from then on :smiley:

yep tried that and it didn't make any difference. must just be my wonky eyes lol

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scoobee

scoobee

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

How did your cleaning go?! I did say that my Celestron X-Cel LX eyepieces were free from dirt but looking at them it seems all four are dirty, any tips on how you cleaned yours?

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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How did your cleaning go?! I did say that my Celestron X-Cel LX eyepieces were free from dirt but looking at them it seems all four are dirty, any tips on how you cleaned yours?

i tried cleaning the 5mm with a brush and some baader wonder fluid/wonder cloth but it didn't work. the other 2 eyepieces 7mm and 12mm are both crystal clear.

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Mr Fiery Jack

Mr Fiery Jack

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I fear that the debris are internal, I have contacted FLO for some advise on cleaning them, but just dont want to go down the road of stripping them

I sent mine back, 4 times to various suppliers. I have gone right off Synta EPs' as a result.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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bingevader

bingevader

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Just to throw a spanner in the works!

I'd go with rwilkey's 2" suggestion!

I was only out for an hour on New Year's Day, first time since before xmas, at least half of that was with a 32mm Panaview!

So, there's no need to worry about having to swap it over all the time! :grin:

Cheers

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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Just to throw a spanner in the works!

I'd go with rwilkey's 2" suggestion!

I was only out for an hour on New Year's Day, first time since before xmas, at least half of that was with a 32mm Panaview!

So, there's no need to worry about having to swap it over all the time! :grin:

Cheers

noooo... no more spanners lol :)

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