my bgo,s

[faulksy]

Based on Johns on site report on the Hutech range how can the BGOs still be changing hands at silly prices. I bought a 9mm the other month for over the odds but it was not that badly priced at 80 pounds. I would wait for the Hutechs to come in again with FLO, I bought the 12.5mm from them but believe it was the last one for the moment. I also went for the 18mm Kasai which by all accounts is not second best. How anyone can now advertise these at inflated prices and expect people to pay when clearly the same is on offer for 89 pounds is beyond me. I can also understand people wanting a set of them just to keep the eyepiece case looking pretty. I would wait and buy new from an outlet we all trust! Alan.

good point alan

[A McEwan]

I only just found and read this thread. I knew my BGO's are good, and I knew there was some difficulty in getting them after the factory disaster, but I hadn't realised how high the used prices had got! Wow - my set is really worth something now, and I only paid £50 tops for each one, if I remember rightly...

Ant

[nightfisher]

I only have one BGO, the 18mm but its a right keeper, the rest of my ortho`s are circle T

[alan potts]

I was able to get an hour of scope time with the 9mm and 7mm which I aquired while in England the other week. Apart from the annoyingly small FOV they really are rather sharp. However putting the 10mm Ethos against the 9mm BGO and the 7mm against the 8mm Ethos, apart from the obvious I couldn't say one type was sharper than the other. Not bad when you think you could once buy a full set of them and still have enough left for a meal in Gordon Ramsays, intead of the Ethos. But for me the FOV wins me over.

Not a fair comparison but you can have Ethos without an overdraft.

Alan

[John]

Nice report Alan

Thats why I think the BGO's (and their replacements) are very worthwhile, if you are prepared to deal with the eye relief / narrow FoV / small eye lenses.

[alan potts]

John,

Hardly a report by my standards, just an observation. If you are on a budget these are cracking eyepieces and hard to beat.

Alan

[John]

John,

Hardly a report by my standards, just an observation. If you are on a budget these are cracking eyepieces and hard to beat.

Alan

We'll call it a jotting then - still a good one though

[Qualia]

Nice one, Alan. Your findings are pretty much how I've figured it. I just wish you still had the Delos knocking about, to see how you rated the comparison. I sometimes get the feeling that my Delos 10mm goes just that little bit deeper than the 9mm but remain completely open to the idea that this could be just wishful thinking, or some dodgy psychological persuassion as such.

Weather here has been awful for ages and ages, day after day of winter cold and rain but when it clears again (sometime in June I imagine) and I can get out to the darkish site I will try to continue the experiment.

[alan potts]

I have the Delos 14mm which I could look at in relation to the 12.5mm Hutech which will be interesting. The problem at the moment is not clear sky but clear stable sky. There is so much heat at the moment and it's getting hotter. I was using the Moon last night just to look at the 9mm BGO and the 10mm Delos and others and at times it was almost as if the surface had a crystal clear stream of water flowing over it. Not very good for making an assessment as to if one is sharper than the other. You have to pick your moments, maybe it will be better getting up early, this gives things a chance to settle down.

I still have a few sweets in the candy box to look at but I will have to be careful and not get carried away just because the sky is clear. Something makes me think it is easyier in Autumn but I will wait and see.

[alan potts]

I have just noticed a mistake in the previous post of mine. I meant to put 10mm Ethos not Delos.

I got back out after last night for a second time and used the 6mm BGO, I think this one is at the limit of what I can use unless i trim my eyelashes. I know there is only 1mm in it but the 7mm is much more friendly. I think to reiteratre something John has often said, you have to be in the mood for these eyepieces. I think though I would look upon them in a different light if I didn't have Naglers and Ethos at 1mm steps on and all around these BGO's, the Televues do rather spoil you for FOV. Thinking back to my 12.5 inch Newtonian of the 70's that was pretty much all I had then, eyepieces with FOV or between 40-50 degrees, this was much the norm and what you haven't had you don't miss.

I am looking forward to a good night on Saturn, last night was just too active for spending any time with the scope at powers much above X120, I can imagine if I had pushed the power up to X250 all I would have seen was a yellowish blob.

Alan.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I really like my Pentax XF8.5. Excellent little EP. I never liked the poor eye relief of the Orthos at short focal length. If you can handle the low eye relief, you might not want to change.

[alan potts]

I had every intention of getting one of the Pentax XF's but sort of got carried away with the Delos range around that and an Ethos at 8mm.

I am sure it is a quality eyepiece but I think I have locked the wallet now, well for a while.

I wonder what is next; longer Delos, more Ethos and shorter Delos or maybe a new range of Naglers. I don't really know where they could improve, maybe eye-relief on the T6's a tad sharper on all, who knows. You could even say why change anything it's not as if they are bad.

Alan.

[alan potts]

I have to say the BGO's have taken me in a strange way. I have a 21mm Ethos and a 31mm Nagler as well as other gems that have not been near a scope yet in three clear nights. Never thought that would happen.

Alan

[Moonshane]

I have to say that despite trying my best to like it, my 13mm Ethos never gets used on the moon. I much prefer my 12.5mm BGO as it is just better to my eyes. I have a problem (minor) with apparent chromatic aberration with complex lenses on the moon and also prefer my 32mm plossl to my 26mm Nagler on the moon for the same reason. for all other objects they are great but even then I prefer my BGOs on planets and doubles too. I have always found Radians and Panoptics and my Nagler zoom to be perfect so maybe it's just the 'ring of fire' extreme wide fields (i.e. 82 and 100 degree televues) I have a problem with on the moon.

[alan potts]

I think of all the members on site I have got to know in a fashion you Shane must be one of the most happy with his eyepieces, I know I haven't been a member for much more than a year but I can't remember you changing one, well done.

Alan.

[Moonshane]

ha ha

you are quite right Alan. when I bought my eyepieces I planned them carefully as I wanted to make sure I covered as well as possible any future scope I might own. this sounds impossible at first but if you use the attached table it gives a pretty good idea of how you can gauge the eyepieces you buy.

I have added to this list a 25mm plossl and a 20mm plossl as I hope to add these to my armoury soon (the 25mm for a little more magnification on the sun with my 6" f11 newt and the 20mm in preparation for some Hb targets as it gives the ideal elements for such objects for my scopes)

hopefully the attached is useful to others.

don't get me wrong, I'd like some more eyepieces (17mm Delos or Nagler springs to mind plus maybe a 24mm Panoptic - doesn't everyone??) but when I buy one I do tend to keep it. the same goes for my scopes actually. I have had my smaller and larger scopes both for a few years now and it's only the middle one that I changed relatively frequently on the basis I was working up to the 12" f4 I now have which is ideal as a grab and go.

eyepieces and scopes.xls

[crazyjedi]

The only kit I have ever ditched (gave away)is the stock lenses that came with my SW. My wife thinks I'm a bit of a hoarder but I'd say I was a collector of cool stuff

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I sold my orthos (25 and 5mm) with my 6"F/8. Haven't regretted the sale of the orthos. I think I am converging on a more-or-less stable EP set (apart from getting a reticule EP for the finder, I haven't changed for a year now ). A few additional EPs at gaps in the focal-length line up might be filled (5 or 6mm for the faster scopes), maybe replacing the 12T4 with a Delos 12mm, or even a 14mm (why not both ), and maybe replace the XF8,5 with a Delos 8mm (and even then I might keep the XF8.5mm permanently in my solar scope).