What type of or quality eyepieces did my Zhumell Z10 come with?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I have been asking about Barlow's and then looking at eyepieces a bit lately.  You all have been a ton of help (metric tonne? lol) and have educated me greatly on how and why some eyepieces work and are better than others.

Something has occurred to me.  I do not know my own reference point though since I don't know what eyepieces my Z10 came with besides one is a 30mm 2" which I find comfortable and easy to use and a 9mm 1.25" which gives a clear view but seems a bit narrow. 

Practically that means anything as good or better than my factory supplied pieces would probably keep me happy but I don't know what they are and looking about online has not helped me.   So does anyone know what type of or quality eyepieces did my Zhumell Z10 come with?

Thanks in advance.

[ronin]

Zhumell are it would seem GSO products and GSO make a fair line of plossl's, on the GSO website the plossl's they show look very much like yours. So on balance I would suggest they are plossl eyepieces. Say about 85% maybe 90%.

In terms of quality GSO are quite good, certainly not something that should be consigned to a bin.

Cannot actually locate anything that states exactly what the eyepieces are (seems a little odd), for some reason the eyepieces are mentioned often but not specified, other the 30mm and 9mm. Does the manual give any indication, or does the eyepiece itself have anything on it - like P or Pl  ?

If you decide on additional eyepieces I suggest you determine first a proce per eyepiece that you are happy with as you will get told everything from more GSO plossl's at say $35 up to Ethos etc at $500 and a few more that cost more. So first determine a cost, then ask for suggestions and specify the cost you are happy with.

[Guest]

Hi, the Zhumell is indeed a GSO made product, here in the UK they are called Revelation and are painted white, apart from a few differences in what comes along with the purchase the items look identical, just branded for different markets.

Here is the Revelation 10" link with a better description for you. They are indeed Premium Plossls. And as i have a full set i can vouch for them been excellent "budget priced" variants. The 15mm SuperView is a stunning ep !!

http://www.telescopehouse.com/telescopes/telescopes-by-brand/brand-revelation-telecopes/revelation-10-f-5-m-crf-premium-dobsonian-white.html

[John]

The 30mm is an erfle type design - a 5 element wide angle. Probably this one:

http://agenaastro.com/gso-30mm-superview-eyepiece.html

The apparent field of view is 68 degrees so it will look appreciably wider than the 9mm plossl which will be a GSO and which are also sold under the Revelation branding here in the UK. I recently had one of those and found the apparent field of the 9mm a little less than the advertised 52 degrees. It's this eyepiece:

http://agenaastro.com/gso-9mm-plossl-eyepiece.html

I estimated the apparent field of the 9mm GSO plossl at around 46 degrees. It's going to seem "narrower" than the 30mm of course but optical quality was quite good.

The 30mm seems to show astigmattic stars (seagull shaped) towards the outer parts of the field of view when used in scopes faster than around F/8 so this is noticable (when you look for it) at F/5.

Both these eyepieces are better than the standard 3 element stock eyepieces that come with quite a few scopes these days.

[Guest]

Interesting as the 9mm is sold as 52 deg.  !!! Think an email to TH is in order.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Guest

[ronin]

TH will have to go with whatever GSO/Revelation specify, they in effect have no choice.

On any plossl immaterial of what is given I just assume 50 degrees (nice round number) and then consider that as a good approximation to what it might actually be. Since the end result is dependant on the magnification then a 2 or 4 degree difference at the start is reduced to something close to insignificant by the time I look through it.

[Guest]

Just now, ronin said:

TH will have to go with whatever GSO/Revelation specify, they in effect have no choice.

On any plossl immaterial of what is given I just assume 50 degrees (nice round number) and then consider that as a good approximation to what it might actually be. Since the end result is dependant on the magnification then a 2 or 4 degree difference at the start is reduced to something close to insignificant by the time I look through it.

True....to be fair i am proper impressed with my set for the price.

http://www.telescopehouse.com/eyepieces/revelation-eyepieces/revelation-photo-visual-eyepiece-kit.html

I had to change the 15mm as this ep has no field stop so the edge was fuzzy compared to all the rest that are as sharp as a pin, i swapped it for the SuperView 15mm and its my fav ep

[John]

25 minutes ago, LeeRich said:

Interesting as the 9mm is sold as 52 deg.  !!! Think an email to TH is in order.

If you start down that path I'm not sure where it would end. Many items of astro equipment don't quite match their published specs

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, John said:

Many items of astro equipment don't quite match their published specs

I hear ya John, its a shame really how things dont always match up to what you think your paying for eh still, no big issue i guess, whats a couple of degrees between pennies lol

Thanks for the info still

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Thank you all.  Now I know a general ballpark for what quality i have been using!  it would seem the $40, £30 1.25's I am seeing SHOULD BE comparable to the 1.25 I have.

IMO cost vs quality was going to set my price.  $50 I can justify easily enough so I am happy.  That amount makes sense for what the cost of my scope was also btw.

BUT if I discovered I was looking through a $200 eyepiece I needed to think harder about the purchase even if it meant dragging my feet a few weeks. 

[John]

Over here the GSO plossls sell for around £15 on the used market ($21 approx) and the 30mm 2" Superview eyepieces seem to go for around £25 ($35) pre-owned.