Eyepieces for Celestron 127EQ

[entropia]

I want to upgrade the original eyepieces that came with my telescope.  Would it be a good idea to get the eyepiece and filter kit from Celestron, which is about $125 (even more expensive than my telescope) or should I buy 1 good eyepiece or get a good Barlow instead? I wish I could buy it all of them but my budget won't let me so I would like to know if someone had the same telescope and what worked better for them. Thanks in advance!

[Alfian]

Hi, on the one hand eyepiece kits often offer good value for money, but on the other hand you have no choice as to the eyepiece size and you may find that you will not use some eyepieces and some filters that much. I'd be more inclined to buy specific eyepieces according to what you find your needs are and a step from the standard issue eyepiece to a half decent plossl should make a noticeable difference.

Am I right in thinking that the 127EQ is a the 1000mm  (f7.9) Bird-Jones style reflector. If so a wide field finder eyepiece  would be handy - a 32mm would give 31x.  An additional  20mm would give 50x and using a 2x Barlow would give 62x with 32mm and 100 with the 20mm. Thats a useful range for a lot of observation although you could add a planetary eyepiece later or earlier (depending on what you want) a 12mm (83x) barlowed would give 166x.

I've just looked at The Celestron Eyepiece kit as sold in the UK by amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-94303-Telescope-Piece-Filter/dp/B00006RH5I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387366252&sr=8-1&keywords=celestron+eyepiece+filter+kit

This is reduced from £190 to £130  so maybe contradicting myself - IF the "superior grade" eyepieces are Celestrons Omni Plossls - and IF the barlow is a good one this is quite a good buy. Three seperate plossl eyepieces and a barlow will cost a little bit more than this.  Mmmm interesting choices!!

[rwilkey]

I would avoid kits, as Alfian suggests, better to buy individual ep's and get what you want in focal lengths, the so-called RRP on Amazon is vastly exaggerated, the usual price for this is £149.95, so typical of Amazon.  The ep's as well are the standard Celestron Plossl's not the posher 'Omni' plossls.  Having said that they are not bad, however, the colour filters will not get used.  My advice would be to shop around a bit more and also check out the sticky on 'Eyepieces - the very least you need'.

[Markstar]

Hi, Entropia...

I also have the Celestron 127eq. I recently upgraded the EP's to 3 of the BST Explorer range (25mm, 15mm and 8mm) and I am very happy with them - in fact I now have the 5mm EP en route as well...you will see quite a few comments on this forum suggesting that they are the best you can buy for the price.

Regards,

Mark

[Special K]

+1 for those BSTs they are great. I have a 130mm reflector and they work great. They don't break the bank either and lots of sizes to choose from

[Alfian]

I would avoid kits, as Alfian suggests, better to buy individual ep's and get what you want in focal lengths, the so-called RRP on Amazon is vastly exaggerated, the usual price for this is £149.95, so typical of Amazon.  The ep's as well are the standard Celestron Plossl's not the posher 'Omni' plossls.  Having said that they are not bad, however, the colour filters will not get used.  My advice would be to shop around a bit more and also check out the sticky on 'Eyepieces - the very least you need'.

Robin, thanks for clarifying my "IF".  I had a gut feeling they couldn't be Omnis. The BSTs do seem to get a good press - defintely worth a look.