1980's Vixen Plossls

[moriniboy]

Are these any good, they look like this, I can't see photos of the exact ep on Google but this is close enough.

Also any idea of an approximate price?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I had one of those (came with my scope in 1995), and it was very good indeed. I preferred it to the 25mm Circle-T Ortho I had at the time. A colleague of mine bought the 26mm from me when I got my Nagler 22mm. Difficult to say how much I would pay for one. In good condition prices for similar Plossls range from GBP 25 to 50

[Peter Drew]

These eyepieces were well thought of in their day, the 35, 40 and 45mm focal lengths had rather long eye relief. The 17mm, 22mm and 26mm were the best of the range. 

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Silvertops are good.sharp field stop,comfortable to use,however,might struggle in fast ratio scopes on edges.These are becoming a collectors item and some focal length like 30mm are becoming hard to find.Will perform flawless in F6 and slower scopes.Also a great for binoviewer.price wise difficult to say but i would expext to pay more then 35-40 quid for a good sample.

[dweller25]

I have two 26mm Celestron silvertops as in the photo above. Thay are used as a bino pair and are excellent.

I bought the first in 1986 and added the second a month ago.

Well recommended.

[Peter Drew]

Of historical interest, the 26mm Vixen Plossl was the reason for the founding of Astro Promotions Luton. A large number of this eyepiece was made available to Astro Systems Luton and they were offered as a promotion to the general public at a very reasonable price. The promotion was so successful that other items were bought in quantity and sold on the same principle. Astro promotions ran in parallel with Astro Systems and eventually superceded it, the latter fading away until it was wound up.         

[ronin]

Got to ask: Why a title of 1980's Vixen Plossl's, then have an image of a Celestron plossl ?

Only asking as with a Vixen plossl I would expet to see Vixen on it not Celestron, rather like buying a TV plossl, it may seem odd but I would honestly expect TeleVue on it not Meade.

[moriniboy]

Simples, no matter what I have searched I can't find a photo of the exact Vixen one.

Then I found that they might be the same as Celestron, hence the similarity.

If I buy them will post a photo as a record.

[John]

Back in the 1980's Vixen made equipment for Celestron and a few other companies including Orion (USA), Tele Vue and, believe it or not, some Tasco scopes were made by Vixen too.

I've owned a few of the Vixen "silver tops" and some were branded Celestron. They were pretty decent plossls I seem to recall but I tend to prefer eyepieces with eye cups to help position the eye and keep stray light out.

Vixen also made eyepieces marked as orthos in both the flat topped and volcano topped designs but they were in fact a symmetrical design rather similar to the plossl (I took a couple apart to clean once !). I've owned a Vixen made but Celestron branded 32mm Erfle a a few years back. Vixen used to put a (v) mark on stuff that they made even if the rest of the branding was another companies name.  

The Vixen "silver tops" do have a sort of simple elegance to their design though. I think my favourite was the 30mm  

[nightfisher]

I have a few of the skywatcher silvertop plossl`s and i have to say i rather like them, the shape lends them very well to A-focal work, and the optics are better than you would think, i would like to think the Vixen ones are optically better

[ChrisLX200]

My 22mm Vixen Silver-top is my most used eyepiece, mainly because I made it parfocal with my guider. They are excellent workhorse eyepieces.

ChrisH

[moriniboy]

Here's a photo of the ep's, I understand 17mm was also available so will keep my eye open for one.

[nightfisher]

so did you get these, they should be strong performers

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Here's a photo of the ep's, I understand 17mm was also available so will keep my eye open for one.

P1050189.JPG

these are not the true "vintage"  full metal coat silver tops like the one on first post,but later run,still optically brilliant and very very nice performing plossls.Worth having a set of them as they are relatively cheap and beautiful.A lot of astronomers use 26mm in bino viewers.

You got there a nice 3 plossls there mate!

[John]

Interesting. Those were the 2nd generation ones I think. The 1st gen ones tops were all silver and in 1 piece rather than having the black section on the top. I've no idea if there were any optical differences - probably not.

Edit: The "Dude" beat me to it ! 

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Interesting. Those were the 2nd generation ones I think. The 1st gen ones tops were all silver and in 1 piece rather than having the black section on the top. I've no idea if there were any optical differences - probably not.

Edit: The "Dude" beat me to it ! 

Sorry John lol,

you are absolutely correct,1st gen where solid metal top with orange lettering,2nd run introduced black top section but the same orange lettering,still,where produced in the same factory in japan and had the same optics,as such,optically no difference.Later these where moved over to Taiwan/China factories and thats where it goes down the hill.

P.S. Both 1st and 2nd run should have lettering:Japan with V in the cirlce stamped on the barrel.

For use:1st and 2nd generation are the ones you want,for collectors its the 1st gen they are after.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Dude_with_the_tube

[ChrisLX200]

Here's a photo of the ep's, I understand 17mm was also available so will keep my eye open for one.

Nice collection - but you need the 22mm as well

ChrisH

[John]

I used to have the 7.5mm "black top" made by Vixen but branded Celestron. It was a nice plossl but when I came to part with it I had a job to shift it even at £20. Of course the smart buyers pick up good things for a song when they fall out of fashion a bit 

I reckon the days of dirt cheap Circle-T orthos are gone now as well - I bought 5 mint ones for £80 a few years back but they seem to command more like £30+ each these days for clean ones. 

[m.tweedy]

I have a vixen branded celeston 50mm. never seen one before or since i got it. Nice bit of glass.

Edited July 9, 2014 by m.tweedy

[NGC 1502]

Here's a photo of the ep's, I understand 17mm was also available so will keep my eye open for one.

P1050189.JPG

Indeed they made a 17mm.  Here's mine, the rubber eyecup is a retrofit, Ed.

[wookie1965]

I picked up a 10mm some months back first time I used it I was in awe so clear and bright fantastic for double stars and loses nothing when I barlow it with my Tal X2,  I am keeping my eye open for anymore now.

[Alan White]

Now that’s a thread revival, nice ep though.

[dweller25]

On 09/07/2014 at 19:08, moriniboy said:

Here's a photo of the ep's, I understand 17mm was also available so will keep my eye open for one.

I had the all silver Celestron equivalents of these three eyepieces, bought from Astro Systems of Luton in 1986 🙂

Still have 2x26mm for my binoviewer

[Franklin]

Came across this review on the web so I thought I'd revive the thread. I have the Vixen 26mm, 22mm, 17mm, 10mm and 7.5mm 2nd gen with black tops and they perform very well in my refractors.

test plossl silver 26mm vixen , Davide Sigillò; Test Telescopes, Eyepieces, Barlow, Mounts (davidesigillo.eu)

[bosun21]

I owned the 26 and 17mm. The 17mm was the sharpest plossl I’ve ever looked through. I have no idea why I do these things, but I sold them both 🙄. I now find myself hankering after a pair of the 17’s for binoviewing.