TELEVUE 8mm RADIAN or 8mm NAGLER ???

[deepspacehunter]

What do you think would be better ? For my 12"  f/5    Thanks

Mark

[Moonshane]

I don't think there is an 8mm Nagler? There's an 8mm Delos and Ethos. I have the 8mm and 10mm Radian and have used a 10mm Delos and 13mm Ethos. If I were buying now I'd probably get the Delos but I am not minded to do so having already bought the 8mm Radian. It's an excellent eyepiece.

[John]

There are 7mm and 9mm Naglers but no 8mm. What you go for depends on what you want to get from the eyepiece. If you want an 82 degree field that is sharp to the edge then the Nagler is your tool but if you want longer eye relief and a more moderate field of view the Radian's are pretty good. The Radian will need to be bought used now though as they are not in production any more. The smaller field of view of the Radian might show a little less of the scopes coma, if that baothers you.

My 8mm's are the Ethos and the Tele Vue plossl. Both optically excellent but a huge difference in price, spec and weight of course. The 8mm Ethos is probably one of my favourite all time eyepieces though. It has delivered memorable views with my 12" dob of globular clusters, planetary nebulae and galaxies. If you are spending that much money on an eyepiece you deserve some "wow" moments

[Dude_with_the_tube]

there is no 8mm nagler.it will have to be either 7 or 9mm but if its 8mm you are after and it has to be televue,i would personally opt for 8mm Delos or if a wide field is your aim then 8mm Ethos. Radian is good but Delos will be better

[denis0007dl]

I would choose Pentax XW series over any Nagler, Radian and Delos!

[denis0007dl]

Pentax XW series are very affordable in used market, waterproof, and Japan quality, with wide FOV and very comfortable eye releaf!

[rowan46]

I would choose Pentax XW series over any Nagler, Radian and Delos!

except they don't do an 8mm

[denis0007dl]

except they don't do an 8mm

Yup, but this is not reason why not to get 7mm XW, or 10mm!

[faulksy]

just bought a xw 5mm will report back when i have a look through it. as john says the 8mm ethos is outstanding

[John]

just bought a xw 5mm will report back when i have a look through it. as john says the 8mm ethos is outstanding

The XW's are my "other" favourite eyepiece, up to and including the 10mm. Oddly it was having a 10mm XW on loan from FLO and comparing it to the Nagler's I had back then that led me to the Ethos. I wanted XW sharpness, neutral tone and transmission in an ultra wide field eyepiece. The Ethos pretty much does that

I have the 5mm and 3.5mm XW's and they are my staple very high power eyepieces. The 5mm in particular, when used with my 12" dob for 318x, is an outstanding lunar and planetary eyepiece.

Apologies to Mark (deepspacehunter) for digressing though. The differences we are talking about here are very slight and all the eyepieces mentioned in the thread are very good indeed.

[faulksy]

after the 3.5mm next john, cany wait to try this 5mm though and my new 21 e roll on clear skys

[swamp thing]

For deep sky work I'd pick the Nagler because of the bigger field. when I push mag up I like to keep as much of an object in the FOV as possible. Naglers help with this. I like to kinda allow my eye to wander over the whole object,  but thats just me.  

Dont do planets so I wouldn't pick whats best for them......

You can't go wrong with any of the eyepieces mentioned though TBH. Whatever you pick is gonna be a winner. 

[alan potts]

The 8mm Radian is one I have never seen though I have owned the one above and all below. The range are very good indeed and cracking value S/H. I have the Delos and the Ethos and you can't say anything against either of them as apart for FOV they seem to be the same very high quality. I also have the 7mm and 9mm Nagler and there is not much wrong with them either apart from the edge distortion which on some targets annoys me, though less of an issue at higher powers for me.

Pentax XW are also very highly regarded by me and others. I have tested all of the shorter ones and own the 5mm, the 7mm is on my shopping list and is a fine eyepiece that I have used often. Is it better than the Delos range, difficult to answer as there is no direct match below 10mm. The 3 reviews I have written I did prefer them on some targets but not all, it is a draw really.

In truth and I do speak from the stand point of having or have used almost all of these, there really is not going to be very much between any of them if you ignore the FOV, quality wise they are, well quality. There is a school of thought that says the Radians have a colour caste and I really feel this is overstated by many, myself it is not an issue and would not put me off buying another Radian to put beside the three I have.

In short if you want the eyepiece for planetary, buy Radian. For similar optical quality and a wider feild of view, go for the 7mm Nagler.

Alan

[bish]

The Radian is a great ep.  As already stated, no doubt the Delos is a step up. For a while I only used 11mm nag, 8mm rad and 2x barlow.

[denis0007dl]

I like neutral toned image, and this can afford orthos and monos, and from wide field eyepieces, XW does job very well, best of all, and Delos is close!

The XW is great all all arounder with big FOV, comfort eye releaf, sharp images and good enough neutral tone of image!

Radinas, Naglers, TV Plossls produce warm toned image, and I personally do not like this at all!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I would also consider the Pentax XF8.5. Not very expensive new, and a shade better than the Radian in my view.

[denis0007dl]

I agree!