I know I supposed to wait before buying eyepieces ....

[ecw199]

I've only had my telescope a weak and I know all the advice is to get used to the scope with the supplied eyepieces first before upgrading BUT I have a little bit of spare cash at the moment and I'd like to spend it on my new hobby before it gets absorb by something else.

I have purchased a telrad and I would now like to get a barlow and maybe an eyepiece to replace the 10mm that came with my scope (SW 200p Dob).

I was thinking this Barlow

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-deluxe-2x-barlow.html

and this eyepiece to replace the 10mm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-8mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-Branded-Starguider-/161232709123?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item258a37e603

These are around my budget £40-£60. I hoping to improve my views of Jupiter (which are already pretty stunning). Not sure if I should be considering the 5mm BST

[John]

I think the 8mm eyepiece barlowed to 4mm will give more power than is useful for much of the time. A 12mm barlowed to 6mm would be much more useful. Jupiter is best at around 150x - 200x even in quite large aperture scopes. The barlow is a decent quality one I've found.

[Pyrodave]

I can recommend the BST's I have the 8 and 18 mm and will be getting more when funds allow, The Barlow is the same as was bundled with my scope and does a good job for the price.

[faulksy]

just to through a cat amongst the pigeons,(because everyone likes bst,s) the views through the bsts were good but i hated the yellow tint through them, i tried the ts h-rs from modern astronomy and found these a lot better and the same price, very similar eye relief as well

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p3440_TS-Optics-15mm-HR-Planetary-UWA---60----1-25--Eyepiece---fully-multicoated.html

this is just a example and is from ts germany, but there the same ones as modern astronomy

[Pyrodave]

Faulksy makes a good point , there are loads of options , why not try and get to an observing session with a local club and take a peek through other folks eyepieces , you may well find that whats good for others is not good for you 

[John]

Faulksy makes a good point , there are loads of options , why not try and get to an observing session with a local club and take a peek through other folks eyepieces , you may well find that whats good for others is not good for you 

I agree too - thats sort of why the general advice is not to rush in to purchasing accessories - there are lots of options !

[ecw199]

Maybe I should just start with the barlow - as one didn't come with the scope?

I think it's the cloudy skies - too much time spent online looking at things to spend money on!!!

[baggywrinkle]

When I bought my SE6 I jumped in with both feet and bought the celestron EP kit.

I used it a bit but found that not all the ep's supplied where either that good or too much for the OTA.

I now have a better collection of carefully selected EP's.

The kits have to be a compromise between quantity and quality. So go for a good barlow and talk to others if there is an astro club nearby.

[Avocette]

The Barlow is the same as was bundled with my scope and does a good job for the price.

This is one of the debatable issues often stated on SGL. There are at least two different qualities of SW Barlows and in my practical experience the ones which come with scopes are not the same as the SW 'Deluxe' one. Little things maybe - the recessed aluminium tube on the Deluxe rather than a smooth chromed steel one, and blackened lens edges on the Deluxe. Not sure if there are different lenses within the Barlow cell - certainly the bundled Barlow has several lenses in the cell, which compares favourably with some 'single lens' Barlows which are occasionally mentioned. Of course time moves on and maybe all the Barlows bundled with SW scopes these days are the 'Deluxe' model.

[jnb]

Although the advice is often to avoid buying eyepieces too quickly if you have the money I see nothing wrong with replacing at least one. Specifically replacing the short focal length stock eyepiece you get in a package. The stock eyepieces are often Plossl design which at short focal lengths have poor eye relief, that combined with a narrow field of view and small lens can make them uncomfortable to use. So replacing that 10mm plossl with for example a 12 or 8mm BST seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

I wouldn't suggest replacing or adding a barlow as that would just mean using budget stock eyepieces with a barlow so no great advantage there and I wouldn't suggest replacing the longer focal length eyepieces as they can often tolerate cheaper construction in those focal length.

I see you've got the 200P dob so basically I'm saying change it from a £280 scope with stock eyepieces to a £330 scope with an extra 12mm or 8mm BST.

Edit - doesn't have to be a BST the point is to replace the worst of the cheap stock eyepieces

[ecw199]

That's what I'm thinking of doing jnb - not rushing into buying lots of eyepieces but just purchasing one to replace the 10mm stock eyepiece which I read everywhere is pretty poor. I've read lots of good reviews of the BST so that seems like a good place to start though I'm not sure wether to get the 8mm or the 12mm. Leaning towards the 12mm as if this was then Barlowed ot would give me a 6mm as well.

[rwilkey]

That's what I'm thinking of doing jnb - not rushing into buying lots of eyepieces but just purchasing one to replace the 10mm stock eyepiece which I read everywhere is pretty poor. I've read lots of good reviews of the BST so that seems like a good place to start though I'm not sure wether to get the 8mm or the 12mm. Leaning towards the 12mm as if this was then Barlowed ot would give me a 6mm as well.

Hi Emily, that sounds like a good plan, the 12mm BST Explorer/StarGuider is a good ep in its own right and Barlowed to 6mm will give you 200x, the maximum in UK viewing conditions and also the optimum for the telescope.

[ecw199]

Hi Robin - thanks for confirming that I had got it right about the 12mm. It's payday tomorrow - so I be sending off for the 12mm BST. Thanks everyone for your help and advice, I'm learning so much from everyone.