televue choice for fast scope?

[alan potts]

I have had most of the Meade 5000 series, and I can say though not as good as Televues in my opinion ,they do perform well in an F5.26 scope. This though is not as fast as the one you are getting so I am not totally sure how much effect the extra speed will have on the Meades.

I did change the whole lot for Televues and Pentax, not because the others were poor but I do prefer them.  It may be a good idea to see if you can pick up a Maxvision and try it, after all Pen and Tele whilst magic are not cheap..

Alan.

[Moonshane]

nice wordplay Alan. Pen and Tele .....magic - excellent

[alan potts]

Shane,

They are one hell of an act too.

Alan.

[bingevader]

Thats you sorted then.

Is it? Oh, I thought I had a little gap between 9.7mm and 6mm. 

Now how about the OP ?  

ES, Meade, Maxvision, half the price very nearly as good! 

Very clever Alan!

[AlexB67]

I would not forget the pentax range  as a option too if you are thinking premium, I love my old pentax XL 10.5 in the f4.7 SW, I can say that much, last night I had some great views, In fact I went as far as using the SW super 10 mm plossl a good deal to compare. Why you may ask when I have the XL anyway, well, most of the time I use glasses when observing, but since I have no astigmatism in my left eye pat from just being short sighted,  I wanted to train a bit to see if I could get used to the smaller FOV tight eye relief eyepieces again, the aim if I am okay with it, a nice orthoscopic and/or TV plossl for high power could be added to my collection.

During the night I was swapping to an fro between them, It is fair to say that the SW super plossl is no TV of course, but the differences in this case showed for sure.  The pentax XL is a 6 element eyepiece, it still beats the throughput of the SW plossl with less elements though, a darker sky background  for sure, galaxies had that little bit more around the core too in some cases, a notable contrast gain, bigger FOV and just easier to work with without having to glue your eye to it, BUT it is the consistent performance and ease of teasing  out details across the FOV that stood out the most.   On axis the 10mm SW  super plossl did surprise me on a couple of targets now having gained a more experience since I started, actually it is not  that bad at all, especially If I keep  the target fairly well centered.  Jupiter showed up nicely, revealing much detail on the bands, though again with slightly reduced contrast.

For me It is also about future proofing by now. While my dream 10 inch scope would probably a 10 inch OO VX at 6.5 or so, on the other hand  I am glad I have a f4.7 now. I imagine in years to come should I end up with a 14 - 16 inch or so the f ratio will be tight anyway, probably f4 - f4.5, so this instrument will just provide a test bed much closer to that, so if I buy that pentax or TV now, I am set for that without having to worry. 

I should say though even a BST or MV especially performs well in this scope I find, just not as consistent as my pentax across the FOV, but it is another focal length entirely than some of the others I own, so I can't read too much into that.

edit: I should add that without having used them, I feel a quality ortho, TV or equivalent will be not be expensive however, and will no doubt work great in the SW f4.7 if you can tolerate the eye relief and smaller FOV.  

[Orange Haze]

Think there is a lot to be said for buying quality and future proofing yourself. While im slightly giddy about obtaining my new 10" Dob, I hope its just another step on the journey and one where I want to take my eyepieces with me. Would put me off upgrading again if I thought I had to keep upgrading my eyepieces each time.  I was at one point determined to get a goto dob but recent success star searching and the extra £500 outlay changed my mind.

[allen g]

Tele vue by any standard makes great lenses.  I own 5 (ethos, nagler and delos) and would not trade them for anything.  One you own them you won't consider anything else - hope I don't sound partial but I they make any scope look better.  It is just a matter of fov that you enjoy - I would recommend that you view through a few and then choose you love.  When I view the entire veil with my 31 nagler or frame Pleiades with my 10 ethos it is WOW!  take you time and make the right selection and then the addiction will begin. best of luck.

[Druid]

I have an ancient but superb Televue 101 and wear glasses.

I find 4.5mm, 8mm, 14mm Delos and an Explore Scientific 24mm Nagler-clone gives me all the coverage I need for that scope. I'm still trying to figure out what I need for my C11. 

[Doley68]

I'm yet another televue convert. Spent many years chopping and changing cheaper eyepieces. 

I have slowly gathered a collection of second hand Radians. Premium eyepiece for an affordable price.

I have even turned my Barlow into a Powermate! I'm expecting to still have them when I'm old and grey(about now then).

Chris.

[AWR]

At the wide end, I love my 35mm Panoptic in my 12" f5 dob.  I guess the 27mm one would give similar views in yours. 

Andrew