Which magnifications?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Well, there are these EPs:

They also do a 65mm

[Dom1961]

So what's the overall opinion for the first eyepiece to buy next month, bearing in mind that I'm currently using the stock ones

[Roysten]

My personal opinion is to go for the 8mm. You'll get better magnification than what you're getting now with the 10mm and with the stock Barlow would also have the 4mm equivalent. With a 5mm you wouldn't be getting as many different magnifications (as the Barlow with the 10mm would also be 5mm, albeit it lower quality viewing) and the 2.5mm equivalent may be pushing your scope depending on what it is that you're looking at.

Just my two pence from a beginners point of view.

[Night Hawk]

Apologies if there is a link to this on this thread. This link does give recommended EPs for an 8inch dob. http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/43171-eyepieces-the-very-least-you-need/

[Dom1961]

My personal opinion is to go for the 8mm. You'll get better magnification than what you're getting now with the 10mm and with the stock Barlow would also have the 4mm equivalent. With a 5mm you wouldn't be getting as many different magnifications (as the Barlow with the 10mm would also be 5mm, albeit it lower quality viewing) and the 2.5mm equivalent may be pushing your scope depending on what it is that you're looking at.

Just my two pence from a beginners point of view.

My scope didn't come with a barlow

[Dom1961]

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/info_0218725.html will the extra 70° make much of a difference? And what is the degrees of view anyway?

[SpaceWalker]

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/info_0218725.html will the extra 70° make much of a difference? And what is the degrees of view anyway?

Yes, of course, it'll make a difference, the 70*AFOV eyepiece theoretically will give you 0.2*TFOV extra than the 25mm BST Explorer. You can easily check out the eyepiece simulator in Stellarium  to see if you like the view or not. Although, this Erfle is good for slow scopes like SCT at f/10. In your scope it'll show blurry outer area, ~25%, so in practice you won't get more sharp field than in the 60*AFOV BSTs. IMO, a 32mm or 38mm Panaview would be a better choice, than the ES70. I have the 32mm Agena SWA,  same as the Panaview. It's also not perfect off axis showing astigmatism in the last 20-25% of FOV, but provides very good light transmission/contrast. Even better would be a 28mm or 24mm Maxvision.  I also can recommend this 9mm SkyWatcher Ultra Wide. I have Agena rebrand of this and it's pretty good DSO performer on a  budget, it's significantly wider than 60* and this is noticeable, and quite sharp off axis.

As for your question, if I were you I'd go for DSO eyepiece first, e.g. 12mm BST Explorer or so. And a 1.25" 2x Barlow.