celestron x-cel lx

[The Flinty Fox]

Hi.

I am on the verge of purchasing a celestron x-cel lx 5mm of 7mm eyepiece. I understand that they are well corrected and so will work well in my 150p F5 telecope. Is this correct?

I feeling the 5mm more than the 7mm as this will give a nice round 150x.

I am currently barlowing my 10mm npl vixen using the supplied 2x barlow which i cannot seem to get on with.

So would the purchasing of the above eyepiece be a sensible decision.

Any suggestion much welcome.

Cheers.

[rory]

they are very good eyepieces with 60 degree fov and good eye relief at high mags , flo sell them at great price . also the starguider range from "skys the limit " are generally rated as good but at a lesser price.

[rwilkey]

+1 for the BST Explorers/StarGuiders from Sky's the Limit

[Mr Fiery Jack]

+1 for the BST Explorers/StarGuiders from Sky's the Limit

Gone off X-cel, quality control not great it has to be said. The BST are as good and much cheaper.

[Eigen]

Another +1 for the BST Explorers here, I will go a step further and say that they are at the very least as good as the X-CEL LX, HD-60 etc.

[Spec-Chum]

The BST range are fantastic. I deeply regret selling my 8mm :-(

Might get another one at some point...

[Chris]

I vote BST starguider, I tried my new 8mm BST last night for the first time with my 200p on Jupiter and it was excellent, the FOV is big and flat I couldn't see the image break down even as Jupiter drifted to the edge, the colour was good and the eye relief was fantastic! very comfy viewing:) the build quality is very nice as well with a good qaulity twist up eye cup.

For 47 quid I think its brilliant!

Not sure you should go as high as 5mm (150x) though on a 150p?

[The Flinty Fox]

Very interesting thanks for the replies i'm tempted.

But would the bst be an improvement over the barlowing of my vixen10mm npl? The npl is a good eyepiece it's the barlow i'm not sure about.

Well i've still got some christmas money which needs to spent on something. Hmm.

Or maybe I could give the barlow another chance. The other night it wasn't performing too badly but the seeing wasn't that great. If I can get a night of good seeing it might show its true potential.

Anyway thanks for the help.

Cheers.

[Qualia]

In my forgiving f/10 I have nothing really to complain about. The views with the LXs are delicious, they're well corrected, there is no distortion at the edges, there is wonderful contrast and colour, and the star image is sharp, pin point, throughout. There have been complaints about the twist up eye-cap peeling off when folk take off the dust cap but I have not experienced this and if it does happen, I don't see any problem putting it back on again and if need be gluing it in place. There is also concern that some examples of the LX range have had what can only be described as little plastic bits, or a dark looking dust mote within the EP itself. This I can confirm with my 18mm but not with the 25, 12, or 7. When looking at something bright like the Sun or Moon, the 18mm appeared to have a tiny little spot within in it which I tried to clean away and only made matters worse .

With that said, I still think they're great eyepieces for their mid-range price and if you can pick them up secondhand for around 40 to 45 quid, they will certainly be a nice upgrade from the usual stock of EPs supplied with telescopes.

Hope this helps

[Moonshane]

when you say you are not getting on with the 10mm barlowed, what is it that's not working well? if may be that the scope is not cooled enough or conditions not good enough to use 150x. the view will dim too with more and more magnification (even with a prime 5mm eyepiece rather than 10mm plus barlow). the NPLs are reputedly pretty good so I'd see how you get on over a longer period first.

if you don't have a red dot finder (I use Telrads and have used Rigels) then this might be a better buy for now.

[Pig]

The X-CEL LX are superb eyepices esp for the price.

[Telstar]

Hi

I have a 7mm LX and am very happy with it. Very clear views and wide FOV too. I get better views with my 7mm X-Cel than with my 14mm Explore Scientific barlowed through a Televue Barlow.

Pad £70 for it at the time and think was good value for money. I haven't tried the BST though so can't compare

Tel

[The Flinty Fox]

Hi.

As it was clear tonight thought I would have another look at the supplied barlow. Does any one know if it is the deluxe/economy version?

Anyway decided to do a side by side test with my 20mm SW plossl plus barlow and 10mm npl both giving 75x.

Looking at Jupiter I would say that the 10mm npl at the slight edge giving slightly better detail on the cloud banding, slightly brighter and and a little whiter in colour but in all not a massive amount in it. The 20mm SW plossl + barlow at times showed a bright circular glow around Jupiter (is that scattering?)

Looking at Castor in Gemini was similar to Jupiter but without the big round glow. The 10mm npl showed a slightly cleaner split.

The barlow was better than I thought it was going to be but the 10mm npl just seemed nicer to look through.

having said all that the seeing didn't seem that brilliant and being very cold the scope took a long time to cool.

Anyway to cut a long story short and as I already have a red dot finder I've gone and ordered the 6mm classic ortho. Sorry I couldn't help it, they look so nice. Thanks for all you help though everyone, everybody on SGL is so helpful it lovely.

Cheers.

[Donkeiller]

Got my 18, 12 and 7mm XCel-LX Eps for $69 Go well with my BSTs

[chrisgtl]

Interesting thread as I am in same boat as the OP. I was a couple hours away from ordering a 5mm Celetron X-CEL LX but stumbled across this.

I may have to have a rethink after seeing all the +1's for the BST range.

[Qualia]

Interesting thread as I am in same boat as the OP. I was a couple hours away from ordering a 5mm Celetron X-CEL LX but stumbled across this. I may have to have a rethink after seeing all the +1's for the BST range.

Ay, but is also a good idea to skip around the threads. The BST is probably a great range for quality of glass and cost, but that doesn't imply it outperforms other similar priced EPs. By way of example this most recent thread has some interesting insights and comparisons made by Lionel.

[chrisgtl]

Ay, but is also a good idea to skip around the threads. The BST is probably a great range for quality of glass and cost, but that doesn't imply it outperforms other similar priced EPs. By way of example this most recent thread has some interesting insights and comparisons made by Lionel.

Looks like I am back to the X-CEL LX range then. lol

Thanks for the link, it made for a lovely Thursday afternoon read.

[Pig]

Go for it I have 3 of them and they are fine. you will not be dissapointed. If I thought they were Rubbish I would say so and save you your money.