In praise of the old Nag

[mikeDnight]

I think that if you can keep fresh in your mind the feeling you had when you first looked through a particular eyepiece, You'd be able to pick out those special jewels that, for whatever reason, makes them stand out ahead of the rest. With the Naglers, my absolute favorite was the smooth barreled 7mm, which i prefered optically to the later version. Then the 13mm, 20mm and of course the 31mm Naglers stand out as special to me. 

[Alan White]

I used to adore my Type 6 11mm, that was sold here on SGL.
As with others it was in persuit of something else and it's a never ending saga.
I sometimes think less is more in all honesty, just still working on what less should be for now,

 

 

[John]

This was the set that I had about 12 years ago and very fond of them I was too !:

 

 

[F15Rules]

30 minutes ago, John said:

This was the set that I had about 12 years ago and very fond of them I was too !:

Lovely set, John.

Looking at them, I wonder if the main difference from then and now for you is mainly just the larger fov and extra eye relief, rather than outright sharpness and contrast on axis?🤔😉

Dave

 

[Don Pensack]

As we get older and glasses earing becomes more important, we look for longer eye reliefs in eyepieces.

Were it not for that fact, I would still be using Ethos eyepieces at each focal length instead of just below 9mm.

We do have more choices, today, in LER eyepieces, just very few of 80° and larger.

[John]

4 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Lovely set, John.

Looking at them, I wonder if the main difference from then and now for you is mainly just the larger fov and extra eye relief, rather than outright sharpness and contrast on axis?🤔😉

Dave

 

Thanks Dave.

Since then I have moved over to eyepiece sets with Ethos or Pentax XW / Delos eyepieces at their core because I felt that these delivered both the widest views I wanted (Ethos) more eye comfort (XW / Delos) and slight performance improvements over the Naglers in the areas of sharpness, light scatter and neutral tone. The performance differences are slight though - the Naglers are excellent eyepieces.

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by John

[F15Rules]

24 minutes ago, John said:

Thanks Dave.

Since then I have moved over to eyepiece sets with Ethos or Pentax XW / Delos eyepieces at their core because I felt that these delivered both the widest views I wanted (Ethos) more eye comfort (XW / Delos) and slight performance improvements over the Naglers in the areas of sharpness, light scatter and neutral tone. The performance differences are slight though - the Naglers are excellent eyepieces.

 

 

 

Makes total sense, John.

I have really taken to my Morpheus 9mm and 17.5mm EPs, but my older Nagler T2 12mm sits beautifully in between them, is close to parfocal with the Morphs, and to my eyes gives up little or nothing to them in terms of sharpness..perhaps just a little tighter on eye relief, but comfortable for me nevertheless. I've not felt the need to replace the Nagler 12mm with the 12.5mm Morpheus.

I'm also really happy that the Pentax XWs are still available new..having owned the 5, 7, 14 and 20mm versions, I found the 5 and 7s to be outstanding eyepieces and representing great value at £249 new..I'd love to get another 5mm and also the 3.5mm at some point 😉.

Dave

Edited November 25, 2021 by F15Rules

[faulksy]

On 19/11/2021 at 21:31, F15Rules said:

I think it's very refreshing to read of someone who is settled on, and comfortable with, just 3 or 4 eyepieces.

When I think about it, I probably use about 3 of mine (of a modest total of 6) for probably 2/3 of my observing.

I've gone through dozens and dozens of eps in my time, and have probably wasted so much potential quality observing time over the years, just searching for that "Holy Grail" set to cover all eventualities..but not any more.

I have a couple of great scopes, not bad observing conditions with Bortle 4 skies, and slowly deteriorating aging eyes.

Life is too short for me to waste any more of it chasing eyepiece  Nirvana..I'm now just trying to make more of what I do have, than fretting about what I don't!

I salute you and your choice, Bobby👍

Dave

i am happy with just 4 eps

i used to have at the same time : 31 nag, 22mm t4 16mm nervana 14mm delos 10mm delos 6mm delos and a full set of bgo,s

traded them all in and got the 3 amigos. 21,13,8mm ethoses and 5mm pentax. seriously these cover everything and makes life so much easier 😁

[Stu]

I think it’s relatively easy to operate with three or four eyepieces if you have one main scope, and your focus is not planetary. Even if you have a few scopes that are all similar focal ratio then it is quite possible.

Where you need more I think is if your scopes have a range of focal ratios eg f4 up to f15 or even f20 as used to be the case with my OMC200, or if you are into planetary then you will benefit from more. Stacking in the eyepieces at the shorter focal lengths helps catch the right mag for the seeing conditions, or use a zoom.

Back to the Nags, I had a number of them; 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 7mm Type 7s and enjoyed them very much. It always surprised me how small they are for an 82 degree afov with excellent performance. Yes, the Delos, Ethos and XWs are a smidge ahead, but without direct comparison I doubt you would be disappointed with the Type 7s.

I’m also pleased to have a 31mm type 4 back in my eyepiece case again after a few years without. Really lovely views, particularly in my old Genesis.

[Highburymark]

Like Alan, the T6 Nagler I liked the most was the 11mm, discontinued a while ago. Though I never tried the 13mm, which also had a good reputation. 

[niallk]

With my 250px and for quite a while on my 15" dob, I had 3 EPs: Pan24, N13T6 and N7T6 ... and a PM2.5x.

The N13T6 was probably my favourite ep in the 10", and the N7T6 really came into its own in the 15".

I didn't really *need* to upgrade to Ethosessesss, but did.  There's a lot to be said for the lightweight and compact T6 Naglers: I think adding the extra weight at both ends - Ethos (+PCorr2) and counterweight did degrade the damping response on my particular scope a little.

[scarp15]

Really prefer the more relaxed eye relief of Delos and DeLite's. Soon after purchasing a 10mm Delos, around when this range was first released, I started to sell off my set of T6's in 7mm, 9mm, 13mm and 16mmT5 for alternatives. Currently, besides the 21E, I do from time to time, consider selling my Ethos; 6, 8, 13 and settling for Delos and DeLite's. In the Nagler range, I do have a 31T5, which is terrific. 

[John]

1 hour ago, scarp15 said:

... Currently, besides the 21E, I do from time to time, consider selling my Ethos; 6, 8, 13 and settling for Delos and DeLite's....

That goes through my mind from time to time as well. My 1.25 inch eyepieces are Delos and Pentax XW's. Then again I sometimes think about staying with the bigger eyepieces and disposing of most of the 1.25 inch set

I used to be indecisive but I'm not so sure now .....

 

Edited November 26, 2021 by John

[scarp15]

5 minutes ago, John said:

I used to be indecisive but I'm not so sure now .....

Ha ha, yep, I too have become a bit of an expert in indecision.

[RT65CB-SWL]

19 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Really prefer the more relaxed eye relief...

I think as we get older, everything in the human body starts breaking down, eyesight included [and as for those damn 'floaters']…

 

18 hours ago, John said:

I used to be indecisive but I'm not so sure now .....

18 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Ha ha, yep, I too have become a bit of an expert in indecision.

Same here too!

Edited November 27, 2021 by Philip R