What do you think, GSO or Explore Scientific?

[zoneca]

I'm going to buy a 30mm 70° 2" eyepiece and found GSO & Explore Scientific. Which one will be a better choice? The price is not much different. And does the 2" ep better than 1.25" in term of image quality?

[John]

The 2" format allows the field of view to be larger but does not increase image quality.

I've tried a few GSO wide angle eyepieces. They were low cost but showed a lot of distortion in the outer 50% of the field of view with the F/6 scope I had at the time. They were much better at F/10.

I think the Explore Scientific is likely to be a better option in your scope.

[cs1cjc]

The Explore Scientific 70° series is an older series of eyepieces which no longer appears on their web site, http://www.explorescientific.com/eyepieces/. I am not sure that it will be better than the GSO. At somewhat more expense, I am impressed with my Baader Hyperion Aspheric, but others write kindly of the Sky-Watcher Aero series, at a similar cost.

[Stargazer_00]

Im not sure either would look that great in a 12" dob (F4.9).

70 degrees are usually bad performers in fast newts I thought. Something about that AFOV is rining a chord in my mind but I can't nail the memory attached to it.

John what are your thoughts on this, you would know far better than I.

[John]

Im not sure either would look that great in a 12" dob (F4.9).

70 degrees are usually bad performers in fast newts I thought. Something about that AFOV is rining a chord in my mind but I can't nail the memory attached to it.

John what are your thoughts on this, you would know far better than I.

Actually, now I think on it, I agree with Chris. Not being strong on ES's past lines I'd fogotten that the 70 was the older model and it's the 68's that are the new, and better, ones.

Perhaps the original poster could give us an idea of his budget then we could think about other options around 30mm. The focal length is sensible with an F/5 scope to maintain a usable exit pupil but budget wide field eyepieces do tend to struggle at those faster focal ratios.

[Stargazer_00]

Might also be an idea to post the websites of the astro outlets in Indonesia that you can buy from as I'm aware importing is prohibitive in that region and the choices within the region are limited.

[russ.will]

I guess we have to factor expectations too. It would be easy for me to dismiss the Panaview (or any other Erfle like the GSOs) due to the softness at the edge that he will experience in a 300p. Then I remember that I spent more on a coma corrector than my Panaview cost, just to correct a £250 ES82 30mm eyepiece!

Given zoneca's current EPs, I feel a 32mm SW Panaview (or GSO 30mm Superview) is going to give mind blowing vistas and a definite step up in overall view compared to the current selection.

Russell

[zoneca]

http://www.astrobargains.com/Telescopes-EPs.htm

This is the store i found the 2 eps i mentioned above. No wonder they put it as a sale item due to outdated already. Basically, I want to buy 2 eps for my collection. 1 wide angle low power ep (50x) for star hoping/dso & 1 high power (250-300x) for planetary. I'm not sure how high the magnification of my scope can handle without losing quality. I notice there's a brand name William Optic, any idea about this brand?

[Stargazer_00]

Hi Zoneca,

Are you able to import where you are? The choice on that site is incredibly limiting comapred to what you are able to get on the international open market.

[bingevader]

Your choice is a bit limited on that site.

Are there other sites near you that you are prepared to purchase from?

Or, as Stargazer_00 has said, can you import?

If so, then an idea of budget too, would give people a better idea of what to suggest.

From where would you buy the Williams Optic EP if you were to get one?

The 6mm SPL is good for planetary in my 'scope, as is the PanaView, but I've no experience with a 12"!

Cheers

[zoneca]

That's the problem. Import is limited to certain goods only. A few week ago I bought a turn left at orion book from amazon and everything was just find. I received my book and very happy with it. Then I tried to order a firstscope but couldn't send to indonesia, same issue to other items such as eyepiece, finder & barlow.

Here we have local retailer that supplies wo, orion & vixen eps.

http://www.prominencescope.com/

And I also have an option to purchase from singapore. But troublesome. This would be my last option.

http://www.astro.com.sg/

I'll spend less than $300.

[Naemeth]

Personally I'd rather TeleVue Plössls than either of those two eyepieces, much nicer in a F/4.9 scope .

http://www.astro.com.sg/astro/generate_section_Final.cgi?sesid=dntsid_292890MjtRRrZLUvY&secno=65136&crc=54923678

Say, an 8mm and a 32mm? It's a bit over budget, but will give great views.

Ignore the 40mm and 55mm, they will both give an exit pupil that would be unusable, and I suspect that the 32mm may be difficult too unless your skies are very dark.

[Qualia]

I realise there maybe a degree of import duty/tax, but via the 'agreements' of APEC, WTO, ASEAN, I would have thought Japan would be Indonesia's main exporting partner. It's a silly question, but have you looked into importing from Japan whose market will be a fair bit more significant.

[alan potts]

I find myself agreeing with Stargazer00 on this one I do not think either will win any prizes at F4.9. I fear you may be disappointed with both. Alan

[russ.will]

Alan, Having had a 32mm SW Panaview and a 26mm Superview in the past, I can catagorically agree that they won't win any prizes in an F4.9 Dob. They're still considerably better than the stock EPs though. The SW 32mm is still a great finder EP and is very comfortable to use - Just don't look too close to the edges!

@Zoneca is that $300, or S$300?

Russell

[zoneca]

@russ.will: US $300

With this budget I can spend on getting Celestron kit which comes with 5 eps, color filters & a barlow. But I'd rather spend on better eps because people always mention that we do not need many eps, only 2 or 3 most of the time.

[Stargazer_00]

That's the right idea for sure. Do you know if you can import from Japan?

[zoneca]

@Stargazer_00: Not sure can import from japan or not...

Any idea about brand potitioning in term of image quality? Which brand reserve the first position, second, third and so on... any input will be helping us the novice in knowing about what are we buying.

[zoneca]

I found this web, check this out http://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/ae6.html

[Stargazer_00]

Who got that photo of my eyepiece collecton?

[alan potts]

I see the man in this link being in direct completion with me for most eyepieces, nice set of XW's

Alan

[zoneca]

Finally I got my first 2 TV eps. Naggler 22mm & 11mm. Bought them in singapore. Used but in good condition. Will try it after new year... yeah...

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