Delos 14mm Pentax XW 14mm and Ethos 13mm

[RikM]

Great write up Alan. Thanks for taking the time to do such a thorough job. I'm also surprised that you found the Pentax so comfortably on the back foot, but you are right, the 14mm isn't as tight as the shorter focal lengths. TV have done a superb job with the Delos range. One thing I can confirm is that eyerelief on the Ethos is a bit tight for spectacle wearers. I'll take viewing comfort over field of view any time.

[alan potts]

Rik,

I remember reading some reviews on CN after I bought the 14mm XW and they give it a much harder time than me. It, as I hoped to get across is not bad eyepiece it is just not as good as the other two, lets face it the other two could be the best on the market. It is like anything if you have nothing else to compare to, you will be happy. I aslo had the 14mm Meade and I would have said that was a good as the Pentax but wider field, however I am working the grey matter here and that is not what it once was.

Thanks for the confirmation on anyone who has to wear glasses to observe.

Neameth,

I will think about it but as I said with having scopes with so different focal lengths can be an expensive hobby. I migth just go with the 12mm for the LX and Mak it would be more useful I think, I haven't writen about the 12mm either.

Alan

[Qualia]

What a spectacular report, Alan and thank you so much for posting it up. Great stuff. You're a fortunate fellow to have these gems to play around with, but we too are fortunate; able to enjoy reviews such as yours and make wiser, better informed decisions if deciding to purchase one of these eyepieces. Thank you

[alan potts]

Something has just dawned on me having read a link John put out on aberations, very good it is too. I use my eyepieces so often when I write these I never remember to write anything with regards to how easy or difficult it is to place the eye in the correct place, so you don't get any black-out or kidney beaning. Sorry!

It is all down to regular use and many of the eyepieces I have do take a bit of getting used to and black-out does occur on may without correct placement of the eye.

For sure eyeguards on the Delos and the like help a great deal.

I will make a note to mention it in future.

Alan

[John]

Thats a good point Alan. When I first tried a Pentax XW I had the eye cup in the lowest position and had lots of issues with black outs. I then read the Pentax instructions ( ) and realised that I needed the eye cup in it's furthest outward position as I was not a glasses wearer - and bingo, no further issues !

[Stu]

Yes, I use the Delos eye guard in its fully raised position and don't have any problems. Similar story with Type 4s too but get the guard in the right place and they are fine

Stu

[Dunkster]

I've started wearing my glasses with the XW, at least in the shorter FLs, maybe I just need to practice more strangely I don't find it to be a problem with the 40 darn Moon was stunting my practising last night, but the forecast is clear again tonight

Much more of a glasses off and get cosy kind of guy BCO, ES82, Ethos no problem!

[Dunkster]

Thats a good point Alan. When I first tried a Pentax XW I had the eye cup in the lowest position and had lots of issues with black outs. I then read the Pentax instructions ( ) and realised that I needed the eye cup in it's furthest outward position as I was not a glasses wearer - and bingo, no further issues !

If I unscrew the cup, it falls off....is that supposed to happen? Maybe I should read the instructions

[John]

If I unscrew the cup, it falls off....is that supposed to happen? Maybe I should read the instructions

Neither my 5mm or my 3.5mm XW's have tops that fall off. They just stop at the top of their travel. I'm talking about the whole of the rubberised section here and I've not applied force to them. The top part of that section does screw right off but I only do that when I need to blow the dust off the eye lenses.

[faulksy]

very nice report alan, so much info, feel like i was there looking through them. well done fella

[emadmoussa]

Fantastic review, Alan. I'm glad I made the right choice

[rgm]

Excellent review.  I observe with XWs, but agree with you that the 14XW might not be a match for the TV eyepieces.  The 14XW is the "weakest" of the XW series and there are better alternatives.  Now go to 10mm and below, the XWs hold their own against all competition.

[AlexB67]

Forgot to say, great read Alan, read it some time ago. I think the 14mm Delos will be my first green and black eyepiece to substitute my existing 15mm BST when the upgrades start coming next year, that is unless  a 6 mm Radians turns up second hand in that time, and I may well grab one of those before that    

[alan potts]

Alex,

I think thst is the right thing to do, the Delos will be available from many dealers and one would hope that the range has a future measured in years, The Radian has all but gone from the shops now and I don't see any one with a 6mm and I haven't seen one second hand for a long time.

Alan

[Stu]

I do actually have a 6mm Radian, and at some point may replace it with a Delos. Strangely, Amazon is a useful place to look because some of the suppliers like TH or Widescreen Centre put older or slow moving stock on there. It is still on their main site but somehow easier to find on Amazon. There are 3 and 4mm Radians on there currently.

Stu

[John]

I do actually have a 6mm Radian, and at some point may replace it with a Delos. Strangely, Amazon is a useful place to look because some of the suppliers like TH or Widescreen Centre put older or slow moving stock on there. It is still on their main site but somehow easier to find on Amazon. There are 3 and 4mm Radians on there currently.

Stu

I keep wondering if it's worth moving from Radian's to Delos but, so far, I've not read anything that convinces me that it would be worth the £100+ per eyepiece investment. Any differences there are (apart from the FoV) seem to be miniscule.

Having moved from one excellent eyepiece to another at some cost in the past and not having made any worthwhile gains in performance, I'm somewhat cautious these days.

[Stu]

I'm sure that is correct John. It's not a priority for me, I'm certainly happy with what I've got. Would quite like an opportunity to use it at some point soon, it is getting beyond a joke!

Stu

[Stu]

I was reading some reviews on CN today which were saying the Delos was significantly better than the T6 Nagler. As with other things, I'm sure the differences are small in reality, and particularly under our skies.

Stu

[Dunkster]

Equally important maybe is in what scope were they better? They seem to obsess over differences only visible in desert skies with a 20 inch scope

[John]

Equally important maybe is in what scope were they better? They seem to obsess over differences only visible in desert skies with a 20 inch scope

Good point. I'm highly skeptical of some of the differences they claim to see - I've owned and used a set of T6 Naglers in the past and found them very fine eyepieces. The differences between them and my current Ethos and XW's are slight at most really, to my eyes at least. 

[AlexB67]

Thanks for the review again Alan, certainly it was one ingredient in swaying one way or the other with the final purchase. 

So the day arrived and the 14mm Delos has been added to the collection.  For me the main factor swaying towars the Delos more than anything was more to do with field curvature, In a faster newts such as I own this will be worse than some other scope designs since the mirror curvature in this case adds to that of the 14mm XW making it worse.  However a paracorr goes a good way to alleviating said issue from what I understand and the pentax works well with that. 

Now all I have to do is wait and get to use it. I recall talking to RickM one time over PM observing with the some people up their way not hugely far form me, he has the 14mm XW and the same scope as me as well, so perhaps if it should ever happen we meet we can get to try them side by side one day to see if we can spot the difference

[alan potts]

Alex,

I see you got the 14mm Delos congratulations, it is a very nice eyepiece. The Pentax is very good as well, I am sure you know I say many times differences and faults at this level are slight with a very large 'S'. I read a good deal about the Pentax XW on other sites and I feel they over play the curvacture, i hope I did not. I could see it in all scopes but you have to look for it. I am putting the 14mm  D against the 14mm Meade S Plossl having made a start last night before it was storm stop play. I don't know if it was conditions but I couldn't see a think on Mars, just an orange blob, even collimated the scope but no joy.

Alan.

[RikM]

Thanks for the review again Alan, certainly it was one ingredient in swaying one way or the other with the final purchase. 

So the day arrived and the 14mm Delos has been added to the collection.  For me the main factor swaying towars the Delos more than anything was more to do with field curvature, In a faster newts such as I own this will be worse than some other scope designs since the mirror curvature in this case adds to that of the 14mm XW making it worse.  However a paracorr goes a good way to alleviating said issue from what I understand and the pentax works well with that. 

Now all I have to do is wait and get to use it. I recall talking to RickM one time over PM observing with the some people up their way not hugely far form me, he has the 14mm XW and the same scope as me as well, so perhaps if it should ever happen we meet we can get to try them side by side one day to see if we can spot the difference

I'm up for that if we can get something organised and the weather cooperates

[AlexB67]

Rick I'll PM you.    Had a little first light with it last night, very good, but mostly the kind of targets I would use it for, the moon wasn't  helping, but couple of things noted or first impressions

Superbly corrected across the FOV.

While I can notice  small bit of field curvature in the pentax 10.5 XL for example, not enough to ever annoy me though, it is very minor, the Delos 14 seems to have even less, if any that I could notice to the eye bar the last fraction.

Vey positive bite in focus point.

scatter around brighter stars seemed very well controlled, though I have nothing to compare to in this focal length, just an impression, lots of pinpricks stars 

Comfy in use, not real preference for the design of clickstop on Radian, the twist cup on pentax or what's on the Delos. They all work ,but I am not to fussy about that kind of thing personally.  None of those features have ever given me any trouble on any of those eyepieces and do what they are supposed to.

Seeing Saturn was up and looking quite good I was looking at this for quite while, another useful experiment was the compare the XW 7mm and Delos 14mm in my 2x barlow. Another reminder if I do want something like a 2x I'd be well served to get something better like an extender/powermate or quality barlow. In this case the difference and reduced contrast was easy to see straight away. I suppose putting a 200 pound eyepiece in a 10 pounds barlow is bound to come with some consequences and it is not a judgement on the Delos.

Happy chappy so far, but  until the darker skies come out  I will learn this new beast better.

[alan potts]

Alex,

I am sure the Delos range is flat field so there shouldn't be any pin-cushion at all, I have not noticed any in the Delos's  I have and I do look fairly hard.

Alan