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Which 5mm ED?


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Hi folks, i'd really appreciate advice/recommendation please. I've got an Orion 80ED f7.5 (600mm FL) and i'd like to buy a 5mm EP to give me 120x for planetary viewing. I'm not sure what all my options really are but the two that I am considering just now are, 1) a BST Explorer Dual ED 5mm 'Starguider' EP, and 2) an Orion Epic ED-2 5mm EP ..... I'm very interested in any opinions that anyone may have of these EPs or any others that may be quality alternatives. I have seen a fair difference in price between my two options on the web but I don't mind what the costs are, I just wish to choose the quality option, particularly in relation to my Orion ED80 ..... Many thanks :D

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I have a 5mm BST Starguider. It's a nice build quality, gives pretty good contrasty images. Comfortable eye relief. I wasnt disappointed with it for the price. :)

Looking at what you have you might be better off with a 12mm BST Starguider and barlow it to 6mm. 6mm is more comfortable on planets in my opinion and a 12mm will serve you well for DSO.

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The Orion Epic 2 ED I am looking at (from SCS astro) it is the same as the BST, just costs twice as much.

There is an Orion Epic ED-2 which is an earlier eyepiece - Astroshop.eu

I was looking at the earlier Orion some time ago, copies/clones were sold by Widescreen Cemtre as I recall. For whatever reason they never caught on. So not sure if they had a shortfall in performance or anything. Price was reasonable as I recall so not too expensive.

The BST's were Astro Tech produced/designed and (I think) more recent.

Assuming the older Orions are not optically the same as the AT's/BST's the AT/BST's have become very popular for whatever reason.

From the simple fact that the BST's have a lot of people using them and generally very happy I would say the BST's.

One other alternative to the BST's are the Celestron X-Cels, little more and very similar performance.

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The Orion Epic 2 ED I am looking at (from SCS astro) it is the same as the BST, just costs twice as much.

There is an Orion Epic ED-2 which is an earlier eyepiece - Astroshop.eu

I was looking at the earlier Orion some time ago, copies/clones were sold by Widescreen Cemtre as I recall. For whatever reason they never caught on. So not sure if they had a shortfall in performance or anything. Price was reasonable as I recall so not too expensive.

The BST's were Astro Tech produced/designed and (I think) more recent.

Assuming the older Orions are not optically the same as the AT's/BST's the AT/BST's have become very popular for whatever reason.

From the simple fact that the BST's have a lot of people using them and generally very happy I would say the BST's.

One other alternative to the BST's are the Celestron X-Cels, little more and very similar performance.

Yes they have become a bit of a hype. I have three and they are good, but have never tried more expensive ones so cant really tell. For 47 pound a piece, you cant really go wrong....

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Thanks guys, just a thought .... how about if I were to barlow my 10mm Plossl giving me 120x? How would such optical quality compare to the BST 5mm ED option? Thanks :)

As you have the Shorty Plus 2x barlow, which is a very good quality barlow, the result could be pretty pleasing, depending on the quality of the 10mm plossl of course.

I'd certainly try it before splashing out dosh on a 5mm eyepiece.

The BST 5mm will have a barlow / smythe lens set in the barrel anyway so the plossl-barlow combination is no more complex, optically.

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Hi guys, decisions, decisions! :D ... What's a budding planetary observer to do?! :)

I've got an Orion 6mm Edge-On, which has yet to see 'first light' due to damned clouds and winter weather .... That will give me x100 :)

I could barlow my bog-standard 10mm to give me x120 and maybe eek out that wee bit more detail and beauty in both Jupiter and Saturn, or i could buy one of the 'superior'(???) quality 5mm EDs that are available ...??? Or, i maybe could treat myself to a better quality 10mm .... Invest in something that will last a life-time and give me beautiful views with minimal abberations ....???

I didn't realise that the 5mm would effectively already be 'barlowed'!! :D

On balance i'm probably too strongly tempted by the BST ED ..... But i have not yet decided :D

Donald

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Your scope will handle 160x quite easily so a 4mm or even a 3.5mm eyepiece would be useful on the moon, planets and binary stars. Small aperture, well corrected refractors seem to be affected less by variable seeing conditions and can be pushed to their top limit more often than other, larger aperture designs I've found. I regularly use 200x with my 102mm ED refractor.

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I'm thinking about this so much at the moment! :D

I've got a BST 12mm ED which I just intend to use on it's own, but I could Barlow it up to x100 just to see how well 'barlowing' works .... Like I've said though, I've got my 6mm edge-on planetary, so I don't really need to Barlow my BST 12mm :)

What I'm thinking now is getting a 'premium' 10mm of some sort and barlowing that to x120 ... If this would be optically comparable to a 5mm ED? Also I'm liking the idea of getting a BST 8mm ED and barlowing that to x150 ....? :)

The nagler 3-6mm zoom option sounds so good .... It would satisfy my high power viewing for many years to come I am certain but at such a high cost ...! I doubt I could afford that option really ..... BUT, it is my birthday on Monday .....?!?!?!

Thanks guys :D

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Hi folks, i'd really appreciate advice/recommendation please. I've got an Orion 80ED f7.5 (600mm FL) and i'd like to buy a 5mm EP to give me 120x for planetary viewing. I'm not sure what all my options really are but the two that I am considering just now are, 1) a BST Explorer Dual ED 5mm 'Starguider' EP, and 2) an Orion Epic ED-2 5mm EP ..... I'm very interested in any opinions that anyone may have of these EPs or any others that may be quality alternatives. I have seen a fair difference in price between my two options on the web but I don't mind what the costs are, I just wish to choose the quality option, particularly in relation to my Orion ED80 ..... Many thanks :D

The Orion Epic ED's are exactly the same as the BST/StarGuiders, stick to the BST's as they are cheaper.

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I liked mine. Nothing wrong with it, good build quality like the others. Looking at what you have you should have a fair idea what it will give. The 12mm BST barlowed would be a similar view just lower mangification.

It even performs OK barlowed to 2.5mm although it's questionable if you ever really need it that high mag, it's fun just to see what it looks like and one day the sky might be perfect enough for it to actally give good views.

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