Help choose just one

[cjpat44]

HI folks,

Long time lurker, first time poster. Thanks retroactively for all of the insight here and thanks in advance for any help. I have an Orion XT6, 6" aperture, 1200mm, f/8. I've assembled halfway decent eyepieces at most magnifications. I have a large gift certificate that I need to blow though, and since I do not have any more holes to fill, I would like to buy one great eyepiece. I'm having trouble deciding.

My budget is $500.

I don't plan (I know, haha) on purchasing another premium piece for a few years, so I'm looking to get this in the workhorse range (not for planets) so that I'm using my best piece most often on the most objects.

The ones I've narrowed it down to based on the above criteria, reviews, etc. are the TV Pan 24mm, the Delos 17.3mm, the Delos 14mm and the Ethos 13mm (over budget but willing to pay the difference if it is that much better since it'll be my main piece). 

What would you guys choose? (Also, open to anything I haven't considered) 

Thank you!!!

[John]

Hello and welcome to the forum 

I think there will be champions for all the eyepieces you have listed as they are all real winners in virtually any scope and the differences between them will be more a matter of personal taste than anything else.

If you have a taste for ultra wide fields of view coupled with optical excellence then the 13mm Ethos is a stunning eyepiece. If slightly more modest fields of view are fine but you would like longer eye relief and perhaps a little more viewing comfort then the Delos score heavily. The 24mm Panoptic is reputedly one of the finest 1.25" format eyepieces made.

Others from the Tele Vue range that could be on your list would be the 22mm Type 4 Nagler which seems to get praise heaped on it by all who have tried it.

If you wanted to save a few $'s but still go hyper-wide the Explore Scientific 100 degree eyepieces are very, very good alternatives to the Ethos and should be well within your budget.

It's a tough choice !!!

[Qualia]

Maybe a bit left-field from the initial enquiry and section it is in but bear with me Having played around for a couple of years now, I reckon the reach of a 6" is about the minimum aperture required for all but very wide field viewing. With the 6", you are able to detect all Messier's objects, for example, but without the detail produced by larger apertures. If deep sky were your primary interest - and I get this feeling from the eyepieces selected - I would put some of that $500 towards a secondhand 8" or 10" Dob. Of course, a 6" f8 with good optics would make a really nice planetary scope, but not understanding your given situation, or why the 6" might be preferred to any other scope size or type, it's just a thought, a way of knocking about ideas .

When choosing eyepieces, I always work along the lines of required magnification, exit pupil, true field of view, eye relief, length and weight. If you're looking to buy, a proper choice will depend on your specific circumstances. With that said, if I had a 6" for general DSO hunting and observing, I'd probably be looking at around 60x for medium-low and around 90x for medium high.

Critically speaking, I have a couple of Delos for the 10" and find they produce orthic quality images in the superlative. I mean that quite seriously, they are that good. The comfort is excellent. Eye relief is very generous and with their soft rubber eye cup you can just rest your face in them for long moments on end . Contrast, colour tone, sharpness and light through put is like no other eyepiece I have in my small collection and there is no perceivable coma in stars at the outer edge at F5 in them. The ergonomics and finish is just gorgeous.

The Panoptics (I have 19mm and 24mm) are really, really nice eyepieces. They're small and light so you can carry them about with ease and if using a Dob, you won't suffer from balancing issues. Of course, I don't find them in the same league as the Delos. Don't get me wrong, we're talking Tele Vue here, and they're superb eyepieces. The 24mm will show as much sky as a 1.25" will show and they're as sharp as tack right across the field of view even in fast scopes like my f5. But the 24mm does pincushion on large objects like the Moon or the Sun (a mute issue when mainly it's used for checking out star fields) and the flip up eye cup does attract dust. Of the two, even if I ever go the 17.3mm Delos, they'd stiill both be with me until the end

I can't comment on the Ethos but they also get top marks. To be honest, whatever you choose, you won't go wrong but knowing how they perform, one half of my heart says Delos, the other says upgrade to an 8" or 10" (and then get a Delos ).

[AlexB67]

All such nice choices but seeing you invited the question. You are building up quite a nice budget so have you considered a bigger Dob ? . Not saying you should, and not that I own such nice eyepieces, they would be a good future investment in any scope.

What I can say owning a 5 inch Dob and a 10 inch  Dob. While these eyepieces certainly give nice improvements over midrange ( how much is somewhat open to personal view) but they'll not show anything new. The focal ratio of  you current scope is friendly anyway so the cheaper eyepieces will probably already show fairly sharp field  across the FOV If that is a consideration.   

A jump of 4 or 5 inches of aperture would open up a whole new world of targets and improve existing ones.  I had this consideration to make too, and after buying a 5 inch scope I felt I would not to build too much  of a costly eyepiece set around it and got set on a bigger scope fairly early on. Once I did the eyepiece consideration became more important to me.

In any case, good luck with your choice, it's a tough one since all will no doubt be great. That is not to say they will not give much pleasure in your existing scope, but just to throw the thought out there    It is not the first time I have heard comments from people buying lots of eyepieces and sort of forgetting how cheap Dobs are, and once they buy one with a bit of extra grunt of 4 inches extra or so saying they should have bought one earlier.

Edit: Doh !  Qualia beat me to it with a lot of it anyway. sorry for repeating.

[cjpat44]

Thanks gents for the thoughtful, considered responses. To be honest, I had not considered upgrading the scope as this one was a gift from my wife and one that she was (and is) particularly proud of because of how much I enjoy it. I fear it may be too soon, but youve definitely given food for thought. I am somewhat limited in what used equipment I can go after because i am using a $500 amazon gift card, so I have to buy through them, but I could always buy a new scope with the gift card and try and allay some of the cost by selling my 6".

As far as my needs, I've just found that the local light conditions and aperture of the scope make it difficult to produce really good views of planets at higher magnifications, so I figured if I were going to go big in one area I should play to the scope's strengths.

As you alluded above, the sacrifice is about 30% in true field to go from the 24mm pan down to either the Ethos or the larger Delos, but it does seem from most accounts that (not even counting the increased mag) the optics of the Ethos/Delos are SO impressive that the trade off is worth it.

I hadn't considered the 22mm t4 Nagler, but I am now, thanks!

[Phil Creed]

The 6" f/8 Orion dob, IIRC, only has a 1.25" focuser, so I'd nix the 22T4 for now.

If I had a "on an island with one eyepiece, what would it be?" scenario, it would be the 13mm Ethos.  A do-it-all eyepiece for sure.  All strengths, no weaknesses.  Barlows very well and puts up a great image on planets, too.  I used to own one, but I need the longer eye relief of...

...the 14mm Delos, which is the one I'd recommend.  It's the same field of view as the venerable 13T6 Nagler, only with a LOT more eye relief and comfort.  The clarity of both the Ethos and Delos series is *amazing*, but the Delos is substantially cheaper.  I'll second what others have said--It's like having a wide-field ortho, only unlike an ortho, you avoid that transcedental experience where your cornea "becomes one with the eyepiece."

Though I do have to wonder--for $500...why not use it to get a larger scope?  That certainly puts an 8" f/6 in your budget, and a 10" f/4.7 if you sell the 6" f/8.  Same focal length, same tube length.  Just a thought.

Clear Skies,

Phil

[Joves]

How long have you owned the 6"?

[cjpat44]

Joves, I've had the 6" for a little over a year a half. It was my first scope after using binoculars for a while (I still have a soft spot for the binos). I have to drive about 30 minutes to use it as I live in a condo downtown, so since I have to load the scope (whichever it is) into the car anyway, you fellas definitely have me mulling the larger scope. I'm pretty torn between the upgrade now or grabbing the eyepiece now and upgrading in a year or so when my wife won't feel like her gift wasn't good enough