Supplied Diagonals and Eps

[Gary70]

I was wondering when or if there is a need to replace the supplied diagonal and/or eyepieces that get supplied with a new telescope.

Does the added cost pay off for visual observing?

[Pig]

Hiya Gary, It depends on how much cash you have and how sure you are that your going to keep the interest up.

I changed everything rather quickly, scope, eye pieces etc... but I am completely hooked.

It certainly made a huge difference to my observing experience. However, my original equipment was a lot cheaper hence the big pay off. Pheeeeeew

[ronin]

Replacing the diagonal is I think not nexessary at first, you may want to later and that will most likely be to get a better one that is both flatter and more reflective. Be aware that a 88% reflection is most likely not noticable from a 95%. The quality and flatness is most likely the main step up.

Eye pieces, well the 2 supplied are not really enough and most likely not the best choices in focal length. If you had an f/5 or f/6 scope I would say a 6mm, 8mm, 12mm and 25mm, you could swap the 12mm and 25mm for 15mm and 30mm.

The customary 10mm and 20mm are not in there.

Better eyepieces will almost certainly improve the visual aspect.

[Mem]

I changed the diagonal of my SE6 after several months and this did make a slight diffrence to brightness but the biggest change you can make is eyepieces, I have tried several different eyepieces and it is very much of more you pay the better the viewing/seeing will be, it's worth saving and buying tele vue, I tried to convince myself it was just marketing but could not ignore the diffrence in quality, I have generally bought 2nd hand TV eyepieces at a fraction of the cost of a new one.

[damnut]

Hi Gary70,

Its not so much a need as to improve your viewing. If your scope is fairly new get used to the ep's that have come with it, you also have not let us know what scope & eps you have and what your targets are so it is difficult to recommend new ones. There is a great guide to eyepieces on the forum by Warthog, well worth a read.

If you are in the budget conciious area then the BST explorer eyepieces are worth a shout as are the Celestron Xcel. One step up the Baader Hyperion and after that pockets need to be deep.!

Also check out the classifieds, but best of all go along to a local astro meet and see what other folk are using, they are usually happy to let you try kit in your scope!.

Cheers

[E621Keith]

While it's not strictly necessary, the kit eyepieces are generally the first thing to be replaced.

It really depends on your budget. BST explorer and X-cel LX are good option, but even a Vixen or GSO plossl can be a considerable improvement over most kit eyepieces.

Whether to replace the diagonal depends on the scope you use. It will be a good time to upgrade to a 2" dielectric diagonal when you upgrade to more expensive eyepieces.

[Gary70]

I just shifted a mac 180, got a TAL 125R (achro) in the pipeline, (I know the mac is lovely) when I first started I looked into refractors and foolishly talked myself out of it, but I think I am stuck on refractors and a nice Russian will do nicely.

just thinking of how to spend some spare cash I got before I fritter it away on tat.