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The jury is still out on my new SW UWA 6mm EP on SW 200P


furio

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Hey guys,

I bought a Skywatcher UWA 6mm EP from my speciality shop. It's an inexpensive EP also distributed under other brand names such as Orion Expanse. According to the guy at the shop, since it is mostly to watch planets and not much else, he suggested to me not to go crazy on that size and get something budget-friendly. He pointed at these EPs saying he was impressing when holding them against a little pricier EPs such as Antares W70 (pretty much the same).

These EP have a nice 66 degrees FOV me allowing to watch say Jupiter for a while before having to move the scope.

However, so far, I couldn't get a realy crisp image with it on Jupiter. I can see the colored bands correctly, but I was expecting to see more details. Maybe I didn't have optimal conditions to shoot at 200x, i don't know.

Anyway, my question is, did you guys tried or owned these EPs before? What do you think of them? I cannot compare it myself (no other EP in that size range). I'm asking because I still have the option to swap it in the next few days for something else (i would have to spend more however). Probably an X-Cel LX. 

Thanks!

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I am busting a gut trying to find a decent 6mm eyepiece for 200x magnification on the 8-inch dob.

Although this 6mm would go very nicely in my 3" travel scope, I have discounted it for the big dob as being too risky.

200x is at the maximum for the scope unless conditions are perfect.

I have a 240x combination which struggles to give a clear image, so a 5mm BST or 5mm Xcel will be just as fuzzy for you.

You probably need to try the 7mm Xcel and see what the difference is like at a more tolerant 170x before sending the 6mm back.

I don't think the weather has been good enough for you during the test anyway.

So your viewing experience is typical of what I would expect to see at 200x mag.

And the detail on Jupiter will come and go as you are watching it, whatever the eyepiece.

However, I suspect the 6mm eyepiece will perform according to the £30 budget that these sell for.

Try the Xcel, then decide about the 6mm.

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For the price I don't think they are that bad personally, I recently upgraded mine to a televue radian which from my initial impressions is a noticeable improvement in planetary viewing, but also a whole lot more expensive. That being said,  I got a good few months of pleasure out of it all the same and provided me with some good views in a well collimated and cooled scope, in the 10 inch Dob with a rather more stringent focal ratio too. 

globular cluster resolved well enough, GRS transits and fine details on the bands like festoons have been seen.

The main area where it falls down is the lack in contrast somewhat and makes it harder to see planetary  details. The falloff off-axis  is noticeable too, so while it offers 66 degrees, it degrades somewhat quickly. Overall I would say the image is a bit "soft" even on axis, so it is a bit hard work to get out the details of the views compared to something more expensive, but in moments of good seeing I found it still to be quite a capable little beast.

In the end of the day you are getting an eyepiece with a generous eyerelief for not much money at all, so in that sense you get what you pay for. I agree though for 20 - 30 pounds more in the Xcel range, and the BSTs they are better and getting closer to top eyepieces for not that much extra money. I say that with a little caution since I never tried a BST 6mm, it doesn't exist, and none of the Xcel range, but I imagine so. Certainly my 8m BST starguider is a vey nice eyepiece, but to be fair that reduced mag will always sharpen up the views and it is hard to compare and say how much better.

I wrote a little report last night comparing this eyepiece to a 6mm TV radian in a 5 inch Dob that perhaps will help you a little to give some further impressions.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/207915-a-little-bit-of-cloud-dodging-the-moon-and-jupiter/?p=2211617

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Thanks guys for your comments. Interesting piece Alex. Your review come right on time!

I'm reading a lots of good reviews on X-Cel LX though it has a narrow 60 degrees (I would go with the 8 though, not the 5). There's always the Luminos 82 degrees (7 mm) but I would have to spend twice as much.

I'm still weighting but many thanks.

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I quite like the UWA (misnamed a bit !) 6mm. It works well in F/10 scopes but will show some edge distortions at F/6.

For what it's worth, some of the Antares W70 range are actually the same eyepieces just shoved inside a shiny exterior casing !

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I am still kicking myself for buying the £20 Seben Zoom with plastic lenses.

That was £20 less to go towards the 6mm Delos fund.

If I bought this Skywatcher as well, or the TMB Planetary 6mm - I would be £60 further away from the Televue.

Regarding the budget eyepieces. last night I used the stock "25mm skywatcher wide view super thingy" in the 3-inch scope, and it gave amazingly detailed views of the moon.

I think the 6mm is from the same family of skywatcher products.

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The Skywatcher 25mm super wide is a 3-element design based on the Kellner. The Skywatcher UWA 66's have 5 or more elements and are based on the Erfle design with a barlow-type lens set in the chrome barrel of the 9mm and 6mm.

Orion (USA) and Telescope Services (Germany) did their own versions of the UWA's but had better coatings. The 9mm UWA is considered the best of the series and a bit of a "sleeper".

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Maybe I didn't have optimal conditions to shoot at 200x, i don't know.

Possibly this also!

I don't know what the weather's been like in Quebec, but it's been pants here.

I think, out of the handful of reasonable nights I've had since Christmas, only on one ocassion was the view of Jupiter decent!

If you are considering other options however, I can definitely recommend the WO SPL 6mm, for those decent nights!  :grin:

Cheers

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Thanks Alex. Great write up.

How does the TV compare with your BST 8mm in terms of image quality and ease of use?

The reason that I ask is that I am struggling with my BST 8mm and considering an upgrade. A darkish sky is a grey mushy grey affair, internal reflections abound, blackouts all over the place (mostly when viewing the moon with a small pupil). In terms of comparisons, all that I have is the MV's and the stock 10mm.

Feel free to tell me to go away and practice with it (it'll save me a few quid if that is the recommended treatment!).

Paul

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Hi, thx,  Paul, I do no know as yet.  I will test it in the 10 inch Dob and will also use the 8mm BST if it ever clears up. I didn't use the 8m BST in the 5 inch at the time at all since even the 6mm gives 108x, on the low side already. 

My sort of gut feeling would be to say before I even start that the 6mm will be used more often compared to the old SW 6mm when seeing allows. The signs were already there in the small Dob that it is easier to extract details from the views. I expect that drop in performance I'll get in terms of contrast from the 8m BST to the 6mm SW UWA will be less pronounced, and therefore make the 6mm Radian more appealing to use. 

The early signs I saw with the small 5 inch Dob, some of the colours that were coming through on the bands  I'll not be surprised if is going to blow my socks off when the time comes to use it in the 10 inch. Personally I didn't think that 8mm BST does a bad job on axis particularly with a nice dark background, but you may also find that if light enters the flextube that will cause some of that contrast loss perhaps. Mine is not flocked or anything yet,  but I do observe from a nicely shielded spot instead of using a shroud ( one in the making soon ).

How good the 8mm BST really is I'll get a better feel after using the 6mm Radian. That being said,  against my pentax XL 10.5mm, also very good  (costly) eyepiece, though a bit low mag, I always felt the BST did well in light of their comparative costs.

sorry for the offtopic, I suppose it would have been better discussed in the other thread where I posted the little review, but may be of related interest anyway.

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Apologies for heading off thread. Purely down to my indiscipline.

I shall await Alex's "first light ii" with interest.

BTW - I'm not suggesting that the BST's aren't great value for money. It's just that I need better. Or, I need to know that I've got pretty close to the best that I can and that I should just get on with observing!

I am afraid that I get a bit obsessive about these sort of things. Just don't get me started on what it takes to get a decent cup of coffee or glass of wine. [think that I had better throw a smiley in here - seems to be the way to lighten things up when you are worried that everyone is thinking that you a bit weird :)].

Paul

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I own one of these and as long as the seeing is good, they give very good views. I use it barlowed (2x) to give 400x and still get crisp views of Jupiter, Saturn and lots of other stuff. If the seeing is poor, no eyepiece will be that great. This is from my personal experience, not someone else's review. Other people may or may not like them, but mine has proved to be very good (not amazing but substantially bettr than anything else in the price range).

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Apologies for heading off thread. Purely down to my indiscipline.

I shall await Alex's "first light ii" with interest.

BTW - I'm not suggesting that the BST's aren't great value for money. It's just that I need better. Or, I need to know that I've got pretty close to the best that I can and that I should just get on with observing!

I am afraid that I get a bit obsessive about these sort of things. Just don't get me started on what it takes to get a decent cup of coffee or glass of wine. [think that I had better throw a smiley in here - seems to be the way to lighten things up when you are worried that everyone is thinking that you a bit weird :)].

Paul

That's the trouble with the Maxvisions - you need better quality eyepieces for the high magnifications above the 16mm.

The Explore Scientific 82 degree range is £60 something UK pounds with free postage for USA residents (or £90 with UK delivery and import tax) 

But they only do a 6.7mm at 180x.

I own one of these and as long as the seeing is good, they give very good views. I use it barlowed (2x) to give 400x and still get crisp views of Jupiter, Saturn and lots of other stuff. If the seeing is poor, no eyepiece will be that great. This is from my personal experience, not someone else's review. Other people may or may not like them, but mine has proved to be very good (not amazing but substantially bettr than anything else in the price range).

For £30 it should be able to make it onto my birthday pressie list for the 3-inch scope.

Weird - I was looking at these for the very first time today.

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I am afraid that I get a bit obsessive about these sort of things.....

So do I, I'm afraid, where eyepieces are concerned anyway  :embarrassed:

They are half the optical system (or more even) though so it's worth taking some trouble over choosing them. 

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I'm sick of moaning on about needing a 6mm, so I bought one for myself.

It should work OK on both scopes, and it is only £30.50p delivered to the door.

I hope this is the one we were talking about

SW%20Ultrawide%20LE%200504%201%20261.jpg

Yes that's exactly the model we are talking about.

Possibly this also!

I don't know what the weather's been like in Quebec, but it's been pants here.

I think, out of the handful of reasonable nights I've had since Christmas, only on one ocassion was the view of Jupiter decent!

If you are considering other options however, I can definitely recommend the WO SPL 6mm, for those decent nights!  :grin:

Cheers

I suspect this might be the case. Last night it was a nice clear sky but I couldn't resolve anything above 100x. When I was looking at moon at 48x, it was a nice view but with that athmospheric effect like when you look far away through heat wave during the summer.

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Always had a soft spot for the cheapy UWA. Bought the 9mm again recently as part of my youngest sons xmas present, to use in his Skymax 90. My other son has the 8mm BST for his C6. We compared the two and in those two 'slow' scopes the UWA fared extremely well against the BST. And in the f6 ED80 it still held up well. And for only £17 new delivered from China what more can you ask.   

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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried my 6mm on Jupiter in the 8" dob tonight.

It worked well at 200x mag, near zenith, with good seeing conditions.

Sitting between the Barlowed 16mm MaxVision (165x) and the 11mm ES 82o (240x) it had a hard act to follow.

When the seeing was good everything was good.

When the seeing was bad, everything went fuzzy.

So it matched the MV and ES eyepieces OK, and they are 2x and 3x more expensive.

At first impressions, it looks like the 6mm is going to be well used and well liked.

I need to view the moon to see what the edge to edge focus is like, and the optical performance in general.

I tend to nudge it back to the centre on planets.

So if the middle bit is good, I'm happy.

I was happy tonight on Jupiter with: 200x mag, a 66o wide view, generous eye relief, and good light capture.

Although it did suffer slightly from irritating reflections while I was getting used to the new eyepiece, or maybe they were blackouts.

I am happy because it gives me some valuable breathing space to save up for a 6mm TeleVue (or to win the lottery)

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Thanks Reeny for your feedback! Funny because I just swapped my 6mm tonight for a Celestron Xcel-lx 7mm. I liked the 6 mm but couldn't see that crisp image of Jupiter... it was just a little bit fuzzy although i was able to see the cloud belts.

Well... tonight i've got that crisp image of Jupiter I was looking for. I was amazed about how much detail the new ep could sort out. I was able to see more cloud belts and they were well defined. I saw 3 moons at first because Io was hiding behind Jupiter. The Galileans moons were actually real spheres, not just star-like views. Then Io came out from behind Jupiter, it was so much smaller because of its position but i still had a nice view on it.... another kind of detail i couldn't see before. WoW!

I hesitated between the 5mm and 7mm but thought the 5 was pushing the scope a bit too much on most night (240x) so I settled for the 7mm (170x). I'm glad i did because the mag is just perfect.

Also, the Xcel-lx are really comfortable to use with that huge twist cup.

On the cons side, i miss the 66 FOV a bit and the Celestron is a huge EP... but those tradeoffs are so counter balanced by the viewing that i'm all sold :)

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The Celestron X-cel will be a much better, more tolerant eyepiece Furio.

I get the feeling that the focus will be mushy at the edges on wider targets.

It was noticable last night - and needed frequent nudging to keep the target in the middle.

In summary - the SW 6mm gives a good quality view, nearly as sharp as a Revelation Plossl at 200x, but with better eye relief, and 66o which makes it easier to keep the target centered.

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On the cons side, i miss the 66 FOV a bit and the Celestron is a huge EP... but those tradeoffs are so counter balanced by the viewing that i'm all sold :)

I got the SW 66o as a stop gap to match my 68-degree MaxVisions, and 82-degree Explore Scientific.

52-degree plossls are too restrictive,

And I don't need the full 82 degree panorama (the extra view is hidden around the corner anyway)

So 70-ish is good enough for me.

The 6mm Televue Delos is firmly on the wish list to match my 165x Maxvision.

It would complement your X-cel as well.

I wish they were a bit more affordable.

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Yes i would love to have the chance to see through TV Delos, but they are out of mu budget for now.

I'm starting so I'm choosing my EPs carefully because my budget is tight, having just paid for the scope and now the Xcel-lx. However, i could envision a couple of more Xcel-lx in a near future... i'm thinking the 12 mm and 18 mm. Would probably start with the 18 since I have 10 mm and 25 mm SW super plossls (which just lost their SUPER after comparing with the XCel and UWA 66) :)

The Luminos are also less expensive than they used to be so they might be interesting as well.

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Yes i would love to have the chance to see through TV Delos, but they are out of mu budget for now.

I'm starting so I'm choosing my EPs carefully because my budget is tight, having just paid for the scope and now the Xcel-lx. However, i could envision a couple of more Xcel-lx in a near future... i'm thinking the 12 mm and 18 mm. Would probably start with the 18 since I have 10 mm and 25 mm SW super plossls (which just lost their SUPER after comparing with the XCel and UWA 66) :)

The Luminos are also less expensive than they used to be so they might be interesting as well.

If your budget is tight buying second hand is a good option if you want to get premium, another if you are prepared to sacrifice on FOV and eye relief  also.  If you still want that bit of wide FOV and eyerelief  some of the predecessors of never models are about half the price of newer series, like the TV Radian and the pentax XL  I bought, which is the predecessor of the XW series.

Buying the golden oldies second hand you are pretty much in the territory of getting excellent premium eyepieces for  less money. Fair enough that brand the Delos will  be a little bit better in some areas, for example 72 versus 60 degrees as well, but as it happens I find 60 degrees plenty for planets for example, I could live with less if I had to. After all with the SW 6mm UWA I used about 30 degrees of it to keep things sharp and I managed for many months with some excellent views to be had. The Pentax XL may not be quite a good as an XW and slightly less FOV, 65 versus 70 degrees, but they are small margins in performance as good reviews will tell you.

I don't know how old my XL and Radian are, but they are so solid and well made.  Usually people buying that expensive stuff look after it. I have yet to fault that decision of buying second hand good quality and  managed to get a Radian and a Pentax XL for less money than a single Delos or XW   :smiley:

I guess we all like brand new shiny things, but in all honesty my two second hand eyepieces look pretty new to me and my wallet looks somewhat less ragged after it :smiley:

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