Best planetary eyepiece

[dweller25]

I have a 128mm refractor which has a focal length of 1040mm.

The planetary eyepieces used are :-

7mm Pentax XW giving x148

6mm TV radian giving x173

5mm Pentax XW giving x208

I used to view with BGO Orthos and TV Plossls but found the short eye relief hard work, the above eyepieces are VERY comfortable to use.

The Pentax XW's even get the thumbs up from my wife.

[alan potts]

Pentax or Delos.

I would think hard about the exact F/L you want and let that make your mind up. At the lower focal lengths there is only 3.5mm where they both make one, I have never seen the Pentax 3.5mm but must say it would have to be from outer-space to be a great deal better than the Delos, I'm sure there is little or nothing in it.

Alan

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Apart from focal length, I would let the choice of Delos or XW depend heavily on what is available second-hand, and if none are available, simply buy the cheaper type (Delos over here, XW in the UK I gather). Both are equal in performance. I have heard that Delos EPs can produce a red "ring of fire" during daytime use, which the XWs do not. So for white light solar the XWs may have the edge.

[astrokoma]

My first try for systematic solar system obseration was with UO HD orthos (full set).

After two years of use i switched to 3,4,5 Radians and 7,9 Naglers (warmer colours, convinience).

I owned the UO products and the TV products together for several months so my decision to keep TV was very safe.

(same OTAs, same nights, same....eyes).

Now, my Radians have been replaced with the excellent Nagler zoom 3-6mm, and the the 7,9 Naglers with an 8mm Ethos.

(safe choosing procedure also).

Naglers are excellent planetic performers also....

[Moonshane]

I think the overall point here is that at the sort of quality we are all referring to, the choice is not really to do with brands (or even models) but to do with preferences re eye relief, field of view and weight. thankfully we have options which satisfy all of these preferences for all of the users and at relatively decent prices too.

from my own perspective I enjoy the differences between different types of eyepiece and this is one reason I have a good selection. sometimes I want to use a wider field so it's the Radians, sometimes I want to split a close a difficult double so it's the nagler zoom and sometimes I want a pin sharp narrow field and to get closer to the eyepiece so it's the 7,9,12.5mm orthos.

the other reason I have lots of eyepieces at the short end is that the seeing at high mags is so variable and my scopes have quite long focal lengths so I have 3-6mm,7mm,8mm,9mm,10mm, 11mm, 12.5mm, 15mm, 20mm and 25mm in my small and high power artillery. with my 1600mm focal length these resullt in the following magnifications:

25mm 64x 20mm 80x 15mm 107x 13mm 123 x 12.5mm 128x 11mm 145 x 10 mm 160 x 9mm 178x 8mm 200 x 7mm 229x 6mm 267 x 5mm 320 x 4mm 400 x 3mm 533x