Second hand 10mm TV Radian

[MattJenko]

I recently picked up a second hand 10mm TV Radian from a fellow SGLer and have finally managed to give it a proper outing.

I have been out a few times before now to try it out, but that was from my back garden and mostly curtailed work nights or nights when I have been concentrating on imaging. Last night however was a proper session with the 10'' Dob at a darker site (albeit still a 'school' night)

Also at the site was a C11 so I had something to compare to. My first few uses of the TV had been quite impressive, but not earth shatteringly so. Tonight was slightly different. My finding skills with the Dob are now much better, so after a few swaps with a 2'' 28mm eyepiece, I simply left the Radian in and managed a few objects without the need for changes.

No night of mine is complete without a good look at M13 at the moment, so this was the first target. The scope had been out for a bit, so fully cooled. The cluster was very nicely sized in the field of view, with enough space around it to give a really pleasant composition as well as enough space to allow decent viewing time before a move was needed, thanks to the decent width the EP gives. After a few moments, the individual stars resolved into pure pin-pricks within the cluster, like a frosty morning spider's web and the overall effect was the best I have seen of this object, and I have looked at it quite a bit! Some people came out from the dome where the C11 was and were commenting the view was actually brighter and clearer in the Dob, and I couldn't disagree.

Next were a couple of nearby nebulas, the ring, which was clearly visible, but still very small and then the dumbbell. This proved to be much more impressive and the ghostly egg timer was also nicely framed in the EP and gathered equally impressive comments from the people present. I certainly haven't seen it better than that in any scope/EP before.

A few doubles followed, the head of Delphinus (gamma I think) clearly seen as a very pretty little coloured pair, with the orange (dare I say a hint of gold) and blue partners clearly visible and pleasantly split. Albireo was very colourful and split as far apart as to almost make it look completely distinct from each other. I also saw a very nice one in Casseopia, with a tiny orange star next to a much brighter whiter neighbour, a very nice contrast and a great object for the EP to show off with.

All in all, a really impressive outing for this eyepiece, which has obviously been well looked after. This has put my mind at rest regarding second hand items, and thanks to Simonfromsussex for selling it to me and taking good care of it. The eye relief on this EP is perfect for me as a glasses wearer, and thanks to all here in this forum for such a wealth of information, without which I would never have acquired this lovely little eyepiece on my own and would have ended up with something inferior and almost certainly more expensive.

Matt

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice report. I had one of these until an offer on a secondhand Pentax XW 10mm came along. It was my workhorse planetary EP for ages. Realy nice and comfortable with their great eye relief and excellent sharpness.

[John]

Good report Matt - I think the Radians are great used buys - I have the 4mm and 3mm

[Rustysplit]

Nice report Matt. The Radians are excellent ep's. I started off with the 18mm as my first foray into premium eyepieces. I liked it so much I sought out the whole set, and enjoy using them all.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Nice report Matt.

Personally I think the TV Radian e/p's are/were underrated. I have a 6mm and it is a pleasure to use. Maybe because the 'Instadjust'* gives varying eye-relief. When I purchased mine it was the Radian or another well known 6mm wide angle. Honestly though, I think I made the decision long before I saw one.

* TeleVue patent

[Mr Spock]

I have the 10mm too. I use this along with my Vixen NLV 10mm and can never decide which one I prefer

[swamp thing]

Radians never fail to impress IMO great eyepieces. 

Like Phil I think they are often underrated.

Enjoy

[mdstuart]

I have heard they are not as good as some eyepieces in terms of transparancy...I would be interested to see if you can see fainter stars with another eyepiece compared to the radian

Mark

[SimonfromSussex]

Nice report Matt, so glad it arrived safely and you are enjoying the views through it!!!

Great little eyepiece and it compared very well to my other tele vue designs in my opinion.

I didn't notice any transparency issues but I guess its always hard to make comparisons when the other eyepieces I'm comparing are different powers. 

A side by side vs delos/ethos 10mm would be good, I suspect there isn't a lot in it.

Sadly I have the wide FOV bug hence the sale..........

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The Radians I had had a very, very slight yellowish cast compared to the Pentax XW and XF that replaced them. Otherwise they are outstanding. Didn't worry me for planetary work one bit. The XF 8.5 was a shade more transparent, and could occasionally spot slightly fainter stars than with the Radian 8mm. Not a great deal of difference. The main attraction of the XWs was their larger FOV.

[alan potts]

Great report Matt.

I still have the shortest 3 Radians they are great Planetary eyepieces, I once had the 6mm and 10mm and I liked both of them too. Personally I am a firm believe that the yellow colour caste gets blown up somewhat, unless there is a more noticeable caste using some of the monster scopes our friends over the pond seem to have. Michael's observation with the XW 10mm is using one of the most colour neutral eyepieces ranges I have seen, I have the 5mm of both and yes there a small difference but I can live with that. I like the Radians on Jupiter more than any other eyepiece, can't wait for it to come back to the night sky.

Alan

[John]

The longer focal length Radians (including the 10mm) have been measured as having a max light transmission of around 95%-96% whereas the shorter ones seem to average 2-3 % less. Nothing really to worry about with those figures. Kasai orthos seemed to be around 96%.

This is the data that I'm referring to:

http://www.astrosurf.com/gildup/Eyepiece.doc

[MattJenko]

Thanks for the kind feedback.

I will be keeping an eye out for other second hand ones (although there appear to be new ones on some retailer sites for £190). I have a bit of a high power gap at the moment, and am very tempted by the Vixen SLVs if the urge to buy gets too much for me and I can't wait.

[rowan46]

for  £190 you can pick up used pentax  xw's, radians are good but pentax are better

[jason dufton]

What about televues are they good?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

for  £190 you can pick up used pentax  xw's, radians are good but pentax are better

Better, but roughly twice the price. The current second-hand price of TeleVue Radians makes them a really good deal. If I had to choose between a pair of Radians or a single XW (let's say a 10mm and 8mm vs a single 10mm) I would prefer to have the former as planetary set.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

What about televues are they good?

 Radians are a particular line from TeleVue. I have never heard of bad TeleVue eyepieces