Eyepiece upgrade for for Skyliner 200P.

[lankywolf]

Hi all, I've got a shiny new 200P that Father Christmas bought for me which I'm looking to upgrade with a couple of new EP's and a barlow.

I'm a bit of an all rounder. I like to look at the planets, but enjoy observing DSO's just as much. Are there any recommendations anyone could give for EP's for observing both. Do I need a barlow or would I be better off getting a higher mag EP?

I have a budget of about £140. I'd originally thought about getting the Revelation EP set, but have decided I'll probably get better value buying individually. Obviously with my budget I'm not expecting to get 'Rolls Royce' EP's, but I'm after a significant improvement on the 10mm & 25mm stock EP's that came with the scope.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[alan potts]

Myself I would not buy a set of eyepieces. There have been many happy site member seeking advice for exactly the same scope. The answer I give and I am only copying other more knowledgeable members thoughts are go for a few BST eyepieces, everyone seems to like them. I am sure another member will tell you where to get them , I have just forgotten.

Alan.

[Fordos Moon]

+1 for BSTs here!

[Fordos Moon]

Got mine from Alan at Sky's the Limit on eBay !

[twotter]

Personally I like the Revelation sets, though I have since moved on to use Baader Hyperions which work nicely in my 200P dob, and my TAL refractor too. They come up for sale secondhand for around £65, and together with the fine tuning rings (available from FLO) give lots of options no matter what the viewing conditions.

[lankywolf]

Thanks for the replies guys...

I've had a look at some of the write ups on the BST EP's and they do seem to come highly recommended by people far more knowlegeable than me, so I'm thinking they might be the way to go.

I'm thinking of the 8mm BST explorer for planetry and 18mm for DSO,s. Although I'm not sure if I should go up to the 25mm fopr DSO's. I'm a little reluctant to do that as I already have the 25mm stock EP and I don't want to repeat mags if possible.

I'll probably want a barlow to go with these as well, i've got about £45 left out of my budget. I don't have a clue what to go for .

[crashtestdummy]

I would look on here and astro buy and sell for a few second hand celestron xcel lx ep's.i had the 7mm,12mm and 25mm with my old 200p.or you could get one of the 8-24mm zoom ep's

[rory]

agree, the x-cel lx e/ps are good, but are they that much better than the bst/starguider. i felt there was no difference,but im not very experienced. i now have a hyperion zoom. handy not swapping e/p's.but the jury is out on my thoughts of the views, ive not had enough time using it yet, although i had a cracking view of jupiter with it the other night.

hyperion zoom mkIII second hand= £110-£140. (from 8mm up to 24mm)

bst explorers second hand = £30-£35 each,

x cel lx = £40-£50 each.

personally if your sticking within a budget id say the bst/starguiders are unbeatable value,and the 18mm was my most used of the set closely followed by the 12mm

[crashtestdummy]

what he said ^^^^^^^

[Bill57]

I'm only a beginner but reading all the advice given on SGL I went for the BST Starguiders in 18mm and 8mm. I'm well pleased with these and can recommend them. The stock 25mm Skywatcher eyepiece IMPO is very usable so I think I have a reasonable selection for now.

You won't regret getting BST's.

Have a play here. http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm

[Fordos Moon]

I agree, I use my stock SW 25mm all the time!

[lankywolf]

For the 8mm, there are 2 BST EP's... There's the explorer/starguider and the 58 degree EP which they say is made for planetry observing. I'll be using the 8mm for observing the moon/planets, so what's the difference between the two? I was just going to get the 8mm explorer originally but it seems they're not in stock at the mo, so I'm not sure whether to plump for the 58 degree or wait until the explorer is available again.

It's confusing ain't it this EP malarky?

Thank you all for your advice so far.

[lankywolf]

Also thinking of getting this barlow, cheap and cheerfull, but seems to have a decnt write upo from what I can find. anmyone had any experience with it?

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/barlows/skywatcher-deluxe-2x-barlow.html

[rory]

the standard starguider 60* is the one that gets all the possitive feedback , im not sure on the 58* planetary. however i believe skies the limit will let you try it out before committing . has an exellent reputation for customer service.

but if your looking at getting a barlow, id recomend getting the 12mm ,which can then double up to 6mm which is probably as high as you'll need.

[lankywolf]

Thanks for all the advice folks..... I think I've finally made up my mind, I'm just a little bit torn on one of them.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get the 18mm & 12mm BST starguider EP's, but for my higher mag I'm unsure whether to go for the 8mm BST or the 7mm Celestron X-Cel LX. Is the Extra £20 for the Celestron worth it?

Or indeed, should I get a barlow to use with the 18mm & 12mm to get the higher mags and forget the last EP? I'm not very experienced with barlows and am unsure how much the image depreciates relative to the 'straight through the EP' view, if at all.