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Which 3.5mm eyepeice


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Yes another EP thread again sorry but this is far easier than the 5mm query as I only have 2 options on my radar. (don't mention anything else please :confused: )

Again its for a 12" DOB with Baader coma corrector? Its going to be for very high magnification work though and so that is why I am not looking at lower costing options as I think the two listed are among the best at the prices with good enough eye relief.

3.5mm Televue Delos (£300 ish)

3.5mm Vixen LVW (£200 ish)

Has anyone owned either or even both and feedback please. Can you mention the scope it was/is used in please also?

Cheer all

Steve

PS: I should mention the reason I am looking at individual EP's is the earlier zoom query is probably a no go due to poor eye relief for spectacle wearing me..

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Sorry to confuse things further, but have you also considered the 3.5t6 Nagler? 82 degree fov, very good ep. Possibly not quite up to Delos standards of contrast but I haven't done a side by side so don't know. I picked one up for around £160 if I remember correctly

Stu

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Pentax XW and Delos should both perform well. The T6 Naglers may be slightly behind in terms of contrast. I have some limited experience with the LVW's, but that was a brief glance through a 14" Meade SCT ~F/10, not exactly challenging on performance. On axis views were great (didn't see off-axis), but this was an LVW 13mm.

Mr Spock and John have both used LVW's, so they would be your first port of call :).

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Can't comment on either of these two but I would add the Pentax XW 3.5 into the mix.

Me too - it's a fantastic eyepiece as is the XW 5mm to answer your other thread Steve. I moved to XW's from Nagler T6's and they are truly orthoscopic eyepieces with 20mm of eye relief and a 70 degree AFoV.

I've not used a Delos but the reports on other forums suggest nothing to choose between Pentax XW's and their Delos equivalents.

I tested a set of the Vixen LVW's a couple of years back. Very nice eyepieces but not perhaps quite in the Pentax XW / Delos league I feel. You can occasionally pick up LVW's for around £100 used though and they are great value for that price.

We are being picky and talking about pretty narrow margins of performance differences in all these though - 95% of the time they are all just great :smiley:

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I ought to add Steve, that I have a 12" dobsonian with a focal length of 1590mm so the 3.5mm eyepiece gives 454x. My scope has excellent quality optics but I still find that I very rarely use that sort of power. A 5mm eyepiece gives 318x which is much more useful.

If my only scope was the 12" I'd probably hesitate to invest £200 or so in a 3.5mm eyepiece to be honest.

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Unless your Dob is very fast then 3.5mm is going to be a lot of power for a 12"? Tracking a target well enough to use that power is also tricky unless you're on a driven platform.

edit: oops, I see John just made the same point.

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Like others said 3.5mm is a lot of magnification for a 12" dob, which means most of the time it will just sit in your eyepiece case and almost never get used.

I'd be tempted to get a 7XW and a good quality barlow such as a Baader VIP or a TV 2x barlow.

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You know which one I am going for but I would be using it in a much shorter scope. I don't have one but that's what I would buy, and maybe will. I have a few Delos and all are excellent and may well be the best you can buy of this type. Though are you sure you really need one? 3.5mm will give you over X400 and that for me is too much.

I think it is worth remembering this eyepiece will not have anywhere near as much scope time as the 5mm so that is where I would make the major spend it will give you a more useable power , though in my opinion it is too much. I strongly think 6mm is where you should be looking as I think even 5mm is a bit on the upper limit. I rarely use this type of power from my site, where the conditions are better than the England.

Alan.

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I'd be tempted to get a 7XW and a good quality barlow such as a Baader VIP or a TV 2x barlow.

Hmm intersting idea, I already have a Celestron X-Cel 2x Barlow. Not sure how that stacks up to the TV or Baader ones although its certainly not a cheap job. Any thoughts on using that with a 8mm Delos instead ?
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Hmm intersting idea, I already have a Celestron X-Cel 2x Barlow. Not sure how that stacks up to the TV or Baader ones although its certainly not a cheap job. Any thoughts on using that with a 8mm Delos instead ?

It should be good. One thing to watch though is if the Barlow will increase the eye relief to troublesome distance. The celestron barlows are very good but the shorty types tend to increase the eye relief more than longer barlows. I use a TV long 2.5x and will likely replace this with a powermate soon.

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It should be good. One thing to watch though is if the Barlow will increase the eye relief to troublesome distance. The celestron barlows are very good but the shorty types tend to increase the eye relief more than longer barlows. I use a TV long 2.5x and will likely replace this with a powermate soon.

additional eye relief is not a problem as I am a glasses wearer so it might actually be a benefit, but thanks for the tip
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