My minds telling me no... but my body...

[Fozzie]

Morning,

Another eyepiece question so get out now if you can, save yourselfs!!!

Really new to this, however I have managed to assemble a motley crew of 8 & 25mm TV Plossl, 15, 20 & 32mm Revelation Plossl, 2.5x Revelation Barlow and a celestron xcel lx 9mm.

The scope is an unmodified 200p/eq5, that accepts 1.25 & 2inch glasses.

After an spongy experience with the 15mm and 20mm in an astromaster 130 I was dead set for upgrading in this range, but the view through the 200p is not even comparable, I was disappointed that it was not all that bad..

So the question is, do I really need something else? (or do I have the fever.. I've been considering a 32mm panaview or the 12 & 18mm xcel lx...)

please feel free to spend my money for me, or alternatively tell me to keep it in the bank!

Many thanks in advanced!

[ronin]

Plossl's are fine enough eyepieces, you also stop at 8mm so are not pushing the magnification a lot. This also means you are getting views that are not too narrow.

Revelation again fall in the fairly good region of inexpensive plossls.

So I can understand them working pretty good.

In that situation you have no real reason to go out and spend money on £70 eyepieces.

You  could easily do one test and that is use the 8mm plossl then drop in the 9mm X-Cel.

Then be honest and decide if there is a significant difference and do you consider any improvement worth the additional cost.

The 2 eyepieces are fairly close so a comparison would be fair.

Many get the more costly eyepieces for the additional field of view, and other, like myself, wear glasses and the eye relief is useful.

However I started with plossl's, and the "upgrade" was to BST Explorers, back when they were "Explorers" and when they were £39 a piece. So getting the set of 6 wasn't overly costly then, no more then getting better plossl's actually. So I have plossl's and BST's, and that is going to be it.

I assume that you do not wear glasses, the 8mm would be a bit difficult if you did.

When you may want a nre eyepiece is for Mars next year, it needs more magnification then a single eyepiece will give and not sure if a barlow and the 8mm or 9mm will be good. The 9mm should be better with a barlow on Mars.

However you are getting along fine so not really a need to change wholesale.

I would say the 8mm and 9mm comparison would be useful to you.

[Charic]

Morning,

Another eyepiece question so get out now if you can, save yourselfs!!!

Really new to this, however I have managed to assemble a motley crew of 8 & 25mm TV Plossl, 15, 20 & 32mm Revelation Plossl, 2.5x Revelation Barlow and a celestron xcel lx 9mm.

The scope is an unmodified 200p/eq5, that accepts 1.25 & 2inch glasses.

After an spongy experience with the 15mm and 20mm in an astromaster 130 I was dead set for upgrading in this range, but the view through the 200p is not even comparable, I was disappointed that it was not all that bad..

So the question is, do I really need something else? (or do I have the fever.. I've been considering a 32mm panaview or the 12 & 18mm xcel lx...)

please feel free to spend my money for me, or alternatively tell me to keep it in the bank!

Many thanks in advanced!

Fozzie........Hi, can you give any more detail, as to why the view isn't comparable to the 130? You've some decent lenses there, and through a 200P you should expect great views?

[nicks90]

but the view through the 200p is not even comparable, I was disappointed that it was not all that bad

i think what he`s saying is he was hoping the view would be just as mushy as the astromaster 130 and therefore it was a problem with the eyepieces and a really good excuse to upgrade the lot!

if the views are good and you are happy with the eye relief and field of view, keep what you have and maybe buy some more TV plossls if you can afford them, as they are quality bits of glass. But if the revelation plossls appear to be of a simillar quality to the TVs, then stick with what you have and maybe treat yourself to a 5mm bst for when mars turns up.

[Fozzie]

Hi, yeah the views through the 130 were Mushy the say the least, very poor around the edges, not in focus, just generally blah for 30% (maybe more) of it using the 15mm and 20mm.  I was really looking for an excuse to change them.

I've picked up the TV 8mm & 25mm Plossl's very recently, so I have not had that much time with them.. in comparison I love the xcel to the TV 8mm, wider field of view, easier relief.   I do wear glasses but I am very light prescription so don't wear them for viewing.

I guess my main focus is deep sky at the moment, hence the panaview, but I've also read some good things about 15-20mm (ish) wider view eyes being good for DSO.

Just FYI I have a revelation 2.5 Barlow as well but I think that pushes the mag to much certainly in recent viewing.. (Jupiter and 4 Moons were fantastic the other night in the excel BTW)

[Charic]

nicks90.........point taken.

Fozzie.........BST's have a 60° AFOV, very flat and good eye relief 13mm on the 8mm, and only £49.oo  If you Purchase two BSTs from Alan at Skies_unlimited, He allows to to try them out. If your not satisfied, he will refund, thats his deal. Why buy lenses that are no good for you. Its worth checking his site, and making contact with him. You have to pay up-front, and if you like what you order, you keep, but return what you dont want. WinWin situation.

[Fozzie]

Thanks Charic, I've seen threads on the BST's, I will look into them... I think eye pieces are more confusing sometimes that actually buying your first scope..

Forgot to mention that im being offered them as a Christmas gift, (lets face it, im 32, anything other than socks and paco rabbanne from the parents is an improvement) so if any one thinks I need an entirely new set, now's the time so I can build a case for jury!

[AstroTux]

+1 for the BST StarGuiders.

I purchased some when I took delivery of my SkyLiner 250px Dob, as my Revelation plossl's were just not quite up to it. I had used these for some time in my AstroMaster 130 and been releatively pleased, but when I was shown what was possible with a 250px and good eyepieces I soon changed my mind........... :grin:

Using the BST's in the AstroMaster 130 really shows the difference, so if you've kept yours then I would highly recommend them as you'll discover that it's quite a good 'scope after all  .

Hope this helps,

Alan

[Fozzie]

Hi Astro Tux,

Will look in to these BST's, maybe in time for Santa.

I didn't keep the astromaster when I upgraded to the 200P, the return on it was too good so I traded it in.  Updated the stock eyepieces almost immediately, the imaged corrected 20mm and I got on slightly better than the stock 10mm but I knew there were better out there on a good budget, but it just wouldn't take the 15mm and 20mm revelations..  the 32mm on the over hand it loved!

I actually enjoyed the astromaster, for a while, some nice views, I believe I got M103, M13, M45 and I swear M57, (I spent long enough looking at saying "well what else could it be?!?!") and of course Andromeda

Wont say anything too bad against it.. does need better EP's though to keep you interested!

[rwilkey]

Hi Fozzie, to be honest, I think you need a bit more experience with the ep's you already have, which is a good mix.  Having said that, the first ep I ever bought was the SW PansView 32mm, and that changed my life.

[Fozzie]

Thanks Rwilkey... There's a strong case here for if it's not broken, don't fix it!... Maybe i'll get a jumper or something instead!