skywatcher swa 70°

[houston]

My new 8mm eyepiece arrived today and its a monster. Hopefully a bit of clear sky tonight to test it out. If used with 2"ed barlow the weight might be a problem but will see how it goes.

[rwilkey]

Not sure what scope you have, but the 8mm Barlowed to 4mm will probanly be too much magnification, but congratulationd on your new ep, should be a good one.

[houston]

8" dob, yep prob be pushing it. If i like it ill get the 13mm when barlowed about 185x mag.

[John]

I'll look forward to hearing what you think of this eyepiece 

There is very little reported anywhere on this new Skywatcher range.

[alan potts]

Congaratulations on your new eyepiece, I hope it came with a clear sky.

Are these a completely new line or are they another lens system dressed in a different shirt?

Alan

[Daniel-K]

i nearly bought one of these last week but ended up getting a 18mm ES 82deg. id be interested to hear how you find the EP

[John]

Are these a completely new line or are they another lens system dressed in a different shirt?

I don't really know Alan but my money would be on an existing design in a new body shape. If it's nicely put together and priced though thats not necessarily a bad thing 

There are a few candidates which could be clones optically of these. They look very different physically but look at the specs:

https://www.astronomics.com/astro-tech-af-series-70-degree-field-eyepieces_c56.aspx

And look at the Olivion branded 70 degree, 8 element eyepieces here:

http://www.eyepiecesetc.com/OLIVON_TELESCOPE_EYEPIECES_s/1827.htm

Another possibility here, the TS Expanse eyepieces (down the page a bit):

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/index.php/language/en/cat/c70_Okulare-----1-25--Weitwinkel.html

[AlexB67]

I'll look forward to hearing what you think of this eyepiece 

There is very little reported anywhere on this new Skywatcher range.

Something in memory tells me that there was a  rumour you were going to do a report on some of these hand grenade size eyepieces, awaits patiently :0)

Btw I'd be interested what you make of the 8mm Houston, seems as already said very little on these eyepieces so far. I think there was one report on the 3.5mm by a member here who was impressed with it IIRC. If my cheap UWA is anything to go by sky-watcher know how to make budget stuff that performs at a good price I get the impression. 

[John]

Something in memory tells me that there was a  rumour you were going to do a report on some of these hand grenade size eyepieces, awaits patiently :0)

I've yet to see any of the eyepieces. FLO did offer but they and I have been rather busy lately !

I've also still got a box of around 20 orthos any my other half thinks I'm running an eyepiece business as it is 

[bingevader]

Well John, if they are clones of any of those you've mentioned above, they're certainly competitively priced by FLO!

I'm keen to know how they perform.

Houston we await blast off!

Cheers

[Adrian]

I thought they were clones of these:

http://www.celestron.com/astronomy/series/ultima-lx-series/

Or not clones, as they are still a Synta-made product  I'm also interested to hear how they perform.

[houston]

Sorry guys, only thing worth a look was the moon and seeing was terrible.

[houston]

First impressions, built quality excellent, much bigger than expected. See photos!

Very pleased with purchase, only niggle is how tight it was to get into the focusser.

Compared it on the moon with a tmb planetary II 9mm and it was a lot crisper on the craters, very comfortable on the eyes for an 8mm. The whole field of view was nice and crisp right to the edges.

Not sure what else to say really. Uk weather!!

This is it beside 10mm which came with scope.

Then beside 26mm panaview.

[Adrian]

That's Mahoossive 

[ronin]

Concerning "What are they?" think we had this a while back:

Barsta 70s

The first 2 have the same construction, Barsta used to have the construction listed, and focal lengths, the second bunch being the SW 70's.

So I guess with such a match they are the same optics in different externals.

Barsta make the BST's (assume BST is the abbreviation for BarSTa)

I think the first ones on the page are sold under the Astro-Tech name in the US, as are what we refer to as BST Starguiders =Astro-Tech Paradigm.

So at some time I would half expect the 70's (first ones on the page) to appear under the BST range name here.

Equally it is odd how some eyepieces never quite catch on, the Antares W70's were fairly good but never got going.

[John]

Some of the Antares W70's were Skywatcher UWA clones shoved into an alloy body:

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbarchive/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1801526/page/17/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

[bingevader]

Thanks for the pics, that really is huge!

Cheers