Luminos vs X-cel eyepieces

[Rumbold2010]

Hi all, hope at least some of you are getting some decent seeing in. I'm in the midlands and it has been almost universally rubbish for the last few weeks :-/ Anyway, I digress....

I currently have ( and am pretty happy with ) a set of X cel eyepieces to use on my CPC 925. I have the 25mm, 18mm and 7mm, along with both the 2x and 3 x Barlows. Recently have had my head turned by a couple of things. The Luminos eyepieces look great and to start with, I'd look at getting the 10 and 15 mm eyepieces with a view to getting the larger ones when I can afford a decent 2" diagonal too. My question is this - are the luminos eyepieces so dramatically better than the X cels that it's worth replacing the lot? If not, is there a " missing eyepiece" I should add to my collection in your considered opinions?

Thanks all - and whilst on here, again a huge Thankyou for your help thus far. It's been a short but very exciting journey from first viewing to here :-)

Andrew

[rwilkey]

I haven't used the Celestron E-Cel LX's but the Luminos (old Axiom LX's) are pretty good and quite immersive (to use that fasionable word!).  I like them, I have the 10mm Axiom LX and it is a cracker, sharp and clear as a bell, a great medium eyepiece and a great addition in my armoury.

[bingevader]

The 5mm X-Cel LX is good in my opinion. I don't own a Luminos, but they are 82^o, so that'll be quite a difference in FOV. I suppose, the answer is to buy the ones that are "missing" from your set and then see if the difference warrants upgrading the others.

Cheers

[russ]

If your X-Cel's are the original version, ie not the LX model, then the Luminos will be a huge improvement in everyway. However if you have the newer LX version of the X-Cel, then optically the difference will be much smaller. The X-Cel LX is a very nice eyepiece for the money only losing out in apparent field of view.

[Rumbold2010]

Thanks guys. Mine are only a few months old and are the LX model. I think I'll try out a size I don't already have in Luminos and then go from there. The extra 20 degrees FOV does rather appeal :-)