BST Explorer/Starguider

[Charic]

42 minutes ago, FLO said:

The manufacturer appears to list a 6mm.

Do you have that link or PM me.

 

39 minutes ago, FLO said:

..................'Dual ED' elements while others say a single ED element....................

When I purchased my EPs they were described  as having " two separate ED glass elements of different glass types in its optical system......"

[ronl]

The BST Starguider has dual ed elements, and the BST Explorer is single, the Explorer is 

a planetary eyepiece, and cheaper than the Starguider, I bought an Explorer but it's

not that good for anything else but the Moon.

 

 

[nightfisher]

6 minutes ago, ronl said:

The BST Starguider has dual ed elements, and the BST Explorer is single, the Explorer is 

a planetary eyepiece, and cheaper than the Starguider, I bought an Explorer but it's

not that good for anything else but the Moon.

 

 

I was not aware of any difference between starguider and explorer, they look identical, it was stated the name was changed due to a legal issue

[Charic]

....not even I knew that! cheers ronl.
I was of the understanding that Explorer only  became Starguider due to copyright branding? 

Some time back I  also posed the question why these ED 60s were not in a group of their own, my suggestion was the Paradigm ED, as they seem to have appeared first, but there are so  many others out there, this is my latest assumption of whats available, there could be more!............Orion Epic II ED,  BST Starguider ED, BST Explorer ED,  Astrotech Paradigm Dual ED, Agena Starguider Dual ED, TS N-ED, Olivon ED (BST Stargazer / ED-SGL), Photon ED, lacerta ED.
Did I really make one of them up? 

[ronl]

Sky's the Limit don't sell the old Explorers any more, they call the dual ed element eyepieces

Starguider/Explorer now, I bought my explorer a few years ago.

[Charic]

....a quick look on Sky's does say "Explorer- branded Starguider" when viewing the 8mm.

I still chuckle at 365's description, if you check everything you end up with an 8mm  BST Explorer ED Starguider Lacerta, but their image clearly shows the 8mm Starguider.

[John]

I can remember when the name changed from BST Starguider to BST Explorer. Sky's the Limit were the only UK retailer of that version of the design at that time and they explained that the name chance was due to another brand already using that name. No optical design changes were mentioned in fact the vendor was at pains to explain that they were just the same as I recall.

 

 

[spaceboy]

I agree they are the same Explorer / starguider. I am though aware there was an Explorer eyepiece which did get confused with the BST Explorer but then I'm also aware there were a few "BST" eyepieces that got confused with each other, Flat field etc.

[Charic]

Article removed.

[FLO]

51 minutes ago, Charic said:

... why pay for something if it doesn't do what you want it to do?  ( back then, that was a big win for  the buyer - now this is law in the UK for distance selling). 

Charic...  oh, never mind. 

[BeerMe]

There is a cheaper BST line than the Explorer/Starguider EPs that I've came across on Ebay.  Pic attached.

The cheaper ones appear to be a 58° FOV...

 

 

[BeerMe]

I'd love a 32mm version but AFAIK they only do up to 25mm?

[Roy Challen]

2 hours ago, ronl said:

The BST Starguider has dual ed elements, and the BST Explorer is single, the Explorer is 

a planetary eyepiece, and cheaper than the Starguider, I bought an Explorer but it's

not that good for anything else but the Moon.

 

 

I had an Explorer a few years ago, 8mm, bought due to the hype surrounding them - I thought I must give them a go! Turns out it was rubbish, worst eyepiece I've owned for a good long while.

[John]

32 minutes ago, Roy Challen said:

I had an Explorer a few years ago, 8mm, bought due to the hype surrounding them - I thought I must give them a go! Turns out it was rubbish, worst eyepiece I've owned for a good long while.

Maybe that illustrates what FLO were saying about variable quality ?

 

[StarryEyed]

It has been said in another thread and elsewere that quality control seems to vary as the focal lengths get shorter with these eyepieces. After all the reading I have concluded that I would just trust vixen for the shorter lengths.

[spaceboy]

1 hour ago, Roy Challen said:

I had an Explorer a few years ago, 8mm, bought due to the hype surrounding them - I thought I must give them a go! Turns out it was rubbish, worst eyepiece I've owned for a good long while.

I'd be interested to know what eyepiece you compared it to, to come to that conclusion and in what scope along with what eyepiece you eventually ended up with ?? As has already been said though QC will be variable in all mass produced budget eyepieces and this is why many are happy to pay a premium on TV EP's as QC is a lot tighter.

[Roy Challen]

9 hours ago, spaceboy said:

I'd be interested to know what eyepiece you compared it to, to come to that conclusion and in what scope along with what eyepiece you eventually ended up with ?? As has already been said though QC will be variable in all mass produced budget eyepieces and this is why many are happy to pay a premium on TV EP's as QC is a lot tighter.

I can't remember exactly which EPs I had at the time but I'm fairly sure I had 3 MaxVisions, a TMB planetary clone, a BGO, a TeleVue plossl, some Vixen EPs, and a few others. So it was in strong company and in a comparison would have struggled. As it was, I think it would have struggled if it has been my only eyepiece. I had entire flocks of seagulls from half way out from the centre. The nearest rival, the TMB, was fine in the same scope (an Altair Astro ED 70).

The experience put me off the whole design and left me wondering what all the fuss about the BSTs was. This doesn't seem to be the case with most people, so maybe I just managed to pick up a poor example.

It's a shame really, as what's not to like about a 60 degree, long eye relief, sub £50 eyepiece?

[spaceboy]

As you say it's a shame as bad ones do seem to get through. I had wanted an ES 24mm 68° N2 eyepiece for some time and with one not coming up used I decided to buy new. I was not at all impressed on first light in my f/5 but gave it several more nights to redeem itself only to throw in the towel and contact the supplier who on this occasion were Bresser / ES themselves. They were very unhelpful and in the end I decided to cut my losses and took a large loss and sold it on. (I wouldn't use ES in Germany again!!!) The person who had it off me seemed happy enough with it but I can hardly blame them at the price they got it for. They may though have had a slower scope than me?? I later purchased a Maxvision 24mm which I felt blew the socks of the more expensive ES24mm so I'm not at all convinced the ES was a good example.

I admit I found the BST 18mm to start to show weakness with the 25mm being pretty poor. I'm aware that there was a 32mm "starguider" under a different brand name but I only found it under the different brand and never as BST explorer / starguider. I can't off the top of my head remember what brand it was (think it was olivon) only that it was available in the U.S. I assume this was even worse than the 25mm and is the reason why explorer / Starguider stopped at 25mm.

All said and done though I do feel the BST starguiders offer superb value for money and there isn't much else in that price range that offers such performance, comfort and finish. So much so that after years of owning various other ep's I now find myself back owning BST starguiders and other than the loss of 22°-40° AFOV over my previous ep's I'm more than happy with mine.

[John]

I think the above posts illustrate the problems with variable quality. I've owned both a BST Starguider 8mm and the ES 24mm 68 within the last 3 months and my examples were both good performers in my scopes down to F/5.3. And they were working alongside the likes of Pentax and Tele Vue.

Raising quality costs money though because you either need to introduce much more stringent checks during production or reject a good % of finished articles. Not really easy to do while keeping the cost to the consumer low. And we do like low don't we ?

 

 

 

[FLO]

On 1/3/2017 at 16:52, FLO said:

I will see what I can do...  

I bet you thought we'd forgotten 

BST StarGuider ED eyepieces

 

[bingevader]

Very pretty!

[Charic]

I think some folk have a revulsion or an issue when buying from eBay, as prior to this,  this was the only way to obtain the Starguiders from, what was then, the only  recognised UK retailer, and the cheapest at the time, for the Starguiders, 

I may have mentioned sometime in the past of my liking to the BST Starguider brand!
Now their in your face,  here, available from FLO, maybe folk won't feel so bad to buy them, as FLO are seen as a genuine and reputable outlet. Not that young Alan wasn't! 

I still require that elusive 6mm?

[FLO]

1 hour ago, Charic said:

I think some folk have a revulsion or an issue when buying from eBay

Perhaps, like me, they don't have an eBay account  

1 hour ago, Charic said:

I still require that elusive 6mm?

They no longer list it but I'll see what I can do. 

Steve 

[Charic]

It would be great to have one. Its the only reason I own the 6mm WO SPL as an alternative to the BST, mentioned to my by @rwilkey, and now I own the full set of SPL's ( must be a habit)

I like the discounts, but more than 7 and 20% did not make sense at first, but bought in pairs for bino-viewers makes total sense!

Lastly, I'm aware of the various names adorned to similarly constructed eyepieces, available from different vendors ( I would still only have the one brand even if  Atro-Tech produced one! ) and Its often been mentioned that the e-bay retailed Starguiders  were always the cheapest at £49. I wonder how long this will last?

[FLO]

1 minute ago, Charic said:

I like the discounts, but more than 7 and 20% did not make sense at first, but bought in pairs for bino-viewers makes total sense!

The 7+ 20% offer is there for those who want to buy a complete set, those who (as you say) have binoviewers and for astro clubs and societies (a handful of members might choose to combine their requirements into a single order to achieve the discount).

The barlow can also be used to boost the numbers. I.e. one eyepiece and the barlow achieves 10% discount, three eyepieces plus barlow 15% or six or more with a barlow 20%. 

HTH, 

Steve