Tele Vue Delos 10mm

[foundaplanet]

The Tele Vue pixies are nothing like that

For unbelievers, heres one about to take up residence in a 20mm Nagler. They were selected for their uncanny resemblance to the founder of the firm

Do the shirts and ties make them premium pixies?..

[alan potts]

I am not one to blow my own trumpet and I could play one too but after 25 years of trying to play notes like Maynard Ferguson gave up. There is a new pastime here in Hull its called cloud spotting, I will see if I can send some blue sky south as it is no use to me. BTW the 5mm XW looks very nice, very nice indeed, it would have been nice to put a few nights in with the Powermated Delos 10mm and the XW. Alan

[Stargazer_00]

Have you not got a scope to play with Alan?

[alan potts]

No, I have a nice collection of eyepieces with still more to come, but it is a bit difficult getting on a plane with a 16 inch Dob. I will just have to wait. I am pleased that some of you are having clear skies you just don't get the rub of the green here and it seem to be getting worse, I hope not.

[Stargazer_00]

if you was any closer id say come round and borrow my 6" for the time you're over!

[Dunkster]

Well all I can say is thanks for bringing the sun up with you Alan

After 2 nights lounging as stargazers do, I'm crackered TFI Friday tomorrow.

What happens if you put 2 eyepieces shiny barrel to shiny barrel

[alan potts]

Dunk, A very small refractor I would guess with far from perfect images. I spent some time just using my eyes and comparing mentally where the stars are here to approximately where I see them, there really is some difference. Things will not have changed so much between now and Monday, take Sirius very low indeed here but back home it was still a fair way above the horizon but well past its best showing. The biggest visual difference is where you see the pole star. I think with us all having scopes we forget just our eyes sometimes, but with the light pollution I can understand that. Alan

[Stargazer_00]

I do actually spend a small amount of time each night just looking with my eyes. As much to gauge how well the sky is that night as anything else. I also use them to work out how long ive been outside as i dont use anything else to measure my time. I "get a feel" for when I need to go in. For instance I went out last night and Leo was just above my house and I knew that it'd take about 2 hours to come across my roof and start rotating down to the horizon based on what I saw on stellarium. I intended to come in around 11ish and when Leo got to what I figured was 11 i started packing up. After the few "just one mores" which delayed me a bit I managed to get packed up and in by 11:20.

The stars are quite useful for more than just looking at, ive found

[Macavity]

They seem like a natural upgrade for us (we) Hyperion owners. If I may be slightly critical, why not add the option of 2" adaptation? I still worry about all that weight hanging on a small diagonal! I never quite understand why the BEST eyepieces in the world look so "mix-and-match"? (Differing chamfers etc. etc.). They optimise them for optical performance, but is there no one at Teleview vaguely into Aesthetics?

Okay, okay, the reality is that I am jealouse, but...

[alan potts]

No I think you have a fair point, some TV eyepieces are a bit of a mixed bag from a shape point of view but I guess that is what you have to do to get what they achieve. Though in a smaller field of view I think Pentax are fairly well thought out and look alike.

Alan.

[Qualia]

We've been having quite a decent spell of cloudless, good seeing evenings. Tomorrow I will head out to the dark site and make further inspections but for now, to all intent and purposes, I'm finding the Delos 10mm going deeper and 'revealing' more than my 9mm BGO, that is, the Delos appears to make objects brighter, so they're a lot easier to see whereas the BGO does reveal them but at a significant drop in light throughput to my eye.

I'm now trying to decide if I purchase 2nd hand (for my b/day) 13mm or 16mm Nagler or a 24mm Pan. I'll have to make a decision soon, for I imagine they'll be snapped up quite quick.

[alan potts]

Qualia,

I find the Delos range, well the ones I have, seem to make things brighter as well, this was given and airing on another thread about light transmission with regards the BGO's and the like having fewer elements. I believe that these newer designs may well a few tricks up their sleeves that some of the older ones don't have. It was interesting that John stated that he had seen reports on transmission and Naglers were near the top, maybe Delos's are even better.

[Dunkster]

No I think you have a fair point, some TV eyepieces are a bit of a mixed bag from a shape point of view but I guess that is what you have to do to get what they achieve. Though in a smaller field of view I think Pentax are fairly well thought out and look alike.

But aren't the Delos just clones of the Pentax anyhow?

[alan potts]

No I don't believe they are, I have the 14mm Delos in front of me and it is different from the 14mm XW I still have, Delos have a larger eyelens and are sexier in their black and green clothes. There is something wrong with me ,14mm Delos 14mm UWA and an XW, though I am selling the Pentax. The UWA is mainly in the top mounted scope on the LX and the Pentax is too good for that position.

The 5mm XW looks nice though, can't wait to try them all.

[John]

The Pentax XW design varies through the range:

8 lenses in 5 groups (3.5 and 5mm)

8 lenses in 6 groups (7mm)

7 lenses in 6 groups (10, 14 and 30mm)

6 lenses in 4 groups (20mm)

6 lenses in 5 groups (40mm)

The Delos range probably varies in optical layout through the range too but I doubt they have simply cloned the XW's.

Personally I feel the best XW's are the 10mm and shorter focal lengths.

[RikM]

Personally I feel the best XW's are the 10mm and shorter focal lengths.

I used to think the same but the 14mm XW has really grown on me, so I will be keen to see how that compares to the 14mm Delos.

[John]

While I'm sure Tele Vue did not copy the Pentax XW design, I find it remarkable that Pentax quietly produced this superb range of eyepieces years ago and you hardly ever see any advertising for them. Likewise the XO and XF's, also superb eyepieces.

As a company Pentax seem to have been a bit ambivalent about the astronomy market. Makes you wonder what they could achieve in an astro eyepiece if they really put their minds to it ?

[Naemeth]

While I'm sure Tele Vue did not copy the Pentax XW design, I find it remarkable that Pentax quietly produced this superb range of eyepieces years ago and you hardly ever see any advertising for them. Likewise the XO and XF's, also superb eyepieces.

As a company Pentax seem to have been a bit ambivalent about the astronomy market. Makes you wonder what they could achieve in an astro eyepiece if they really put their minds to it ?

Probably the same thing that happens when Nikon make an eyepiece . I'm surprised Pentax don't put more into the astronomy market, they probably could rival TeleVue and get a really good market share with a slightly wider range.

[Stargazer_00]

from what i read pentax are likely to pull out of astro altogether and concentrate solely on birding. in fact this is probably what they've already done and it's only pure luck that birding scopes use 1.25"push fit eyepieces which we can use!

[Qualia]

But aren't the Delos just clones of the Pentax anyhow?

That's a far point and did cross my mind when going for the Delos 10mm. My gut feeling is that they are going to be vey close optically. The Pentax XWs have quite a spectacular number of reviews and comments but whenever the Delos showed up in the same argument, I found no criticism.

In design, I figured - rightly or wrongly - that TV have taken around 10 years to arrive at the Delos and 'compete' with the Pentax. In that manner, coming from such a well-respected company, I imagined they are going to at least try and equal the performance of the Pentax XW, and if possible, try to surpase them a notch. The Delos also has this really nice eyeguard adjustment system with a lock ring you just slide it up and down the barrel, then turn the lock ring to lock everything in place. It also has graduation marks on the barrell so you know the relative position of the eyeguard it all times.

In the end, one probably can't go wrong with either and perhaps at the end of the day, in the UK it makes more sense to buy the Pentax from FLO and here in Spain, the Delos

[Dunkster]

My comment was tongue-in-cheek, and it's been said before, but still it raises some interesting points and I agree with all of 'em

Strikes me as a real shame that Pentax aren't really interested all that much in astro, indeed what would they really be capable of if they tweaked for astro? Would they even need to be tweaked? The 1.25" designs seem to hold their own with a much more recent design from renowned astro specialists.

When all is said and done, I don't think anyone can go far wrong with either. The Delos is available in more and different focal lengths. The XWs were once available in 2" too, but no more.

I went with the shorter XW because I already had the XW40 and like sets that look the same

[alan potts]

well I now have the 14mm and the 14mm XW though I have a customer for Pentax. I am going to give them a lot of scope time together and if I see anything worth writing about between them then I make a post on it, I have a feeling they are not going to be that different. I have often put the XW 14mm against my 14mm UWA and there are differences to be seen with those two (cost being the largest), but I think we all know that. The Meade is only used on my LX 200 top-mounted 70mm scope and it will be staying there.

I think the only reason I went for the 14mm Delos is because I am an addict and can't resist a good buy, which I have to say is not a very good reason for wanting one.

Alan

[Stargazer_00]

thats the best reason in my opinion