Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

Vixen LVW vs Pentax XW vs Delos

GavStar

By GavStar
in Discussions - Eyepieces

Recommended Posts

GavStar

GavStar

Posted
Posted

I've got a range of Delos and XW's which give fine views. However, one of my oldest eyepieces is a 22mm LVW which I love - ultra comfortable and I just can't fault the view. Last night I did a side by side test of the 20mm XW and the 22mm LVW and the LVW won by a good margin for me on both comfort and view. I know it's a personal thing but I'm now seriously considering getting the higher power LVWs (5, 8, 13) and wondered if these were as good as the 22? Any comments much appreciated.

Gavin

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 129
  • Created
  • Last Reply
rwilkey

rwilkey

Posted
Posted

I only have the 13mm LVW and can vouch for its integrity whole-heartedly, one of the best ep's in my collection, superb on the Moon (whole image) and star clusters, an incredibly comfortable ep to use, like your 22mm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
E621Keith

E621Keith

Posted
Posted

I had 42, 22, 17, 13, 8, 5. The optics are very good and coatings are top notch.

Overall, I think the 22 is the best in the series. 5 and 8 is weaker than the longer focal lengths. 8,13,17,22 outperformed my Pentax XL zoom on axis at their focal length.

For 5mm I'd suggest going for the Meade S5K UWA 5.5mm if you don't mind the shorter eye relief on the Meade. The 5.5mm Meade has marginally cleaner edges with less lateral CA in a fast scope. 17 and 13 was very good, until I used them next to my Nikon NAVs. The LVWs showed more distortion from around 50% out at F6. Mind you I never noticed them until I had the Nikons.

Since you are trying to decide between LVW and XW/Delos, I'd suggest you go for the latter if you can afford it. LVW is good but not at the same level as Pentax and TV. If budget is an issue, I'd also suggest getting the ES82/Meade S5K UWA over the short focal lengths LVW. Apart from eye relief, these Chinese 82deg are optically better than LVW at 2/3 of the price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
alan potts

alan potts

Posted
Posted

Interesting words, the Pentax 20mm XW out done. I rated the 14mm XW as not in the same game as the 14mm Delos or the 13mm Ethos. I have to say the shorter ones seem hard to beat, I have the 5mm and have used the 7mm and they are superb.

Nice review from Keith to, welcome back I have not seen you on site for a while.

I think at the shorter end you are best off with either Pentax XW 10mm and less and any Delos you wish.

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RikM

RikM

Posted
Posted

In my f/4.7 dob the Pentax XW 20mm does show the coma in the scope and seems to need a slightly different focus positions to get the sharpest stars in the centre vs. edge of the field (field curvature or a consequence of coma?). This makes it seem not quite as good as the shorter focal lengths I have.

I had an old Vixen LV 30mm and I would rate that as nearly as good, optically, as the Pentax and about the same as the ES 68° that I bought as it's replacement. The stars were sharp and it was very comfortable to look through, but it didn't give the same light throughput or neutral colour as the Pentax and ES.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
E621Keith

E621Keith

Posted
Posted

Interesting words, the Pentax 20mm XW out done. I rated the 14mm XW as not in the same game as the 14mm Delos or the 13mm Ethos. I have to say the shorter ones seem hard to beat, I have the 5mm and have used the 7mm and they are superb.

Nice review from Keith to, welcome back I have not seen you on site for a while.

I think at the shorter end you are best off with either Pentax XW 10mm and less and any Delos you wish.

Alan

Recently, I have to reduce my forum activity due to work commitment. I still post every now and then, but not as frequent as I used to.

I think Pentax 14 and 20 were designed for birder and other spotting scope users. There are rumours Pentax deliberately added field curvature to either correct FC in their spotting scope, or increase apparent depth of field. Delos is probably better for astronomy as they were designed specifically for astronomy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John

John

Posted
Posted

The 10mm and shorter XW's use a slightly different optical design to the longer ones. I used a set of Vixen LVW's on loan for a while (when I wrote that review) and felt that, though excellent, the XW's were slightly better in the shorter focal lengths. The 13mm and 22mm LVW's are really nice though - I felt the 22mm was just as good as the 24mm Panoptic I also had at that time.

I'd not switch my 5mm and 3.5mm XW's for LVW's though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Andrew*

Andrew*

Posted
Posted

In the last week or so I have been comparing 7mm, 10mm and 14mm Pentax XWs to 8mm, 10mm and 17.3mm Delos' looking at the sun in white light, and overall I am much happier with the Pentax's. I find eye placement far easier, and the view is clean and white. I find the Delos always give a colour tint to the sun's surface which changes depending on eye position. Also, there is a bright yellow ring inside the sun's limb which again changes, disappears and re-appears depending on eye position. Really distracting and unpleasant. Users with Delos' in night time use will likely not observe any of these issues. The white sun is very demanding on the eyepiece's colour fidelity. At night, different challenges are asked of the eyepiece and in this case the situation may be very different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GavStar

GavStar

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks everyone for your comments. So following these I've decided to get the higher power LVWs. I'm hoping that I'll find them just as comfortable as my 22mm. I note that generally XWs and Delos are preferred though, so I've got some interesting comparisons to make since I can compare the 5LVW against the Delos 4.5 and 5XW and the 8lvw against the Delos 8 and 7XW. I was expecting to like the XWs much more than I do, so far I prefer the Delos'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John

John

Posted
Posted

Thanks everyone for your comments. So following these I've decided to get the higher power LVWs. I'm hoping that I'll find them just as comfortable as my 22mm. I note that generally XWs and Delos are preferred though, so I've got some interesting comparisons to make since I can compare the 5LVW against the Delos 4.5 and 5XW and the 8lvw against the Delos 8 and 7XW. I was expecting to like the XWs much more than I do, so far I prefer the Delos'.

Having been lucky enough to compare quite a lot of high quality eyepieces, I feel that much of the time it's ergonomic factors and personal preferences that will shape choices rather than optical performance.

There is very little to choose in, optical performance terms, between these quality pieces and, where there is, sometimes it's a case of one design doing very slightly better on one type of object and then the tables being turned when viewing something else !.

We are lucky to have a wide choice in the top, middle and economy sections of the eyepiece market :smiley:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
John

John

Posted
Posted

I've not used a Delos but I have used Pentax XW's (which are reported to be virtually the same as the Delos in terms of comfort and quality) and I've compared the views at some length with Baader GO's and other quality orthos. The XW's get as near as dammit the same optical quality views as the Baader GO's but over a 70 degree field of view and with 20mm of eye relief. They really are that good and, from all I've read, the Delos match the XW's. There is one area that I found the Baader GO superior, slightly, and that was in controlling light scatter around bright objects. For me this meant that the Baader GO's show Sirus B just that little bit easier than the Pentax XW's does. And it is just a little bit.

So, if they wish too, orthoscopic lovers can switch to the Delos or Pentax XW's in the confidence that they will be sacrificing virtually nothing in exchange for that nice wide FoV and comfortable eye relief :smiley:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.