Skywatcher Swa 70

[jonbarr87]

Anyone know if skywatcher still makes the SWA 70 eps? At least in the North American market? Im torn between these and the meade series 5000 ones.

[John]

It's interesting when you look on the websites of Skywatcher dealers in the USA because, while the scopes and mounts are there, Skywatcher eyepieces don't seem to be listed

Most of the Skywatcher eyepiece designs seem to be available in the USA under alternative brandings such as Astro Tech, Orion, William Optics etc so maybe Skywatcher have decided to focus on the scope / mount part of the market ?

Having tested some of the Skywatcher 70 degree SWA's a while back for this forum, I think there are probably better alternatives out there for a similar cost to be honest with you. The 68/70 degree eyepiece place is pretty crowded and there are lots of options such as Explore Scientific, Maxvision (unbranded Meade 5000's), William Optics and others.

[alan potts]

Personally I would try to get secondhand Meades or ExSc, I feel they would be better though I have never had anything but the stock eyepieces from SW. I had almost all of the Meade 5000 ranges at some point in the last 7 years and in many cases they push TeleVue close to the limit without ever actually being better. I am not a big fan of the Super Plossl range but the UWA and SWA are very worth hunting down.

[Knighty2112]

Still on sale in the UK at FLO, which have them on offer at the moment., so I'm sure they are also still available in the US and Canada too.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/clearance/sky-watcher-swa-70-eyepieces.html